User:Anton Maienfeldt/Auferstehungskirche, Dresden

The Auferstehungskirche ("Church of the Resurrection") in Dresden, the capital of Saxony, Germany, is a Lutheran church building in the Plauen district to the southwest of the city centre. A church building on the same site has been documented since the 15th century and is assumed to have existed since the 13th century. In the course of time, the church was extended and fundamentally renovated several times. It received its present appearance during the reconstruction in 1900–1902, which effectively amounted to a new building, and during the renovation in 1996–1999. The exterior was designed in the style of Renaissance Revival whereas the interior is dominated by wood and stone sculptures in the Art Nouveau style; significant parts of the Art Nouveau interior were, however, removed during a renovation in 1953. On the church grounds are the abandoned churchyard and, since 1912, a parish hall with rooms for parish work and administration as well as flats for members of the parish staff.

Location
The Auferstehungskirche is located in the Plauen district on the Hahneberg, a foothill of a mountain range, which is hardly recognisable as such any more due to the urban development. Over the centuries, the church's elevated position has always provided sufficient protection from the floods of the Weißeritz river, which flows through the lower part of the former village of Plauen. As older pictures show, the church was visible from afar until the turn of the 20th century. The transformation of the Plauen village into a suburb of Dresden meant that only the church tower now overlooks the surrounding buildings.

Preliminary note
The following description of the phases of church building in Plauen near Dresden is, in accordance with strict art-historical interpretation, exclusively oriented towards the current state of research. The mention of a dominus plebanus, a lower clergyman, in 1296 or the first documentary mention of Plauen in 1206 testify to an early history of church buildings, i. e. a (permanent) place for the performance of sacred acts. However, this cannot be proven or localised. That also applies to the late-Gothic gate on the west side of the tower: it does not date from the 12th century as is claimed in several sources (e. g. Dittrich and, following him, Dubbers ); in fact, the Gothic style did not appear in the Holy Roman Empire until the 13th century. Gurlitt dated the gate to the late-Gothic period and thus to the second church building from 1466–1467 as early as in 1904.

The first building
The first church (or chapel) building in Plauen near Dresden can be dated to around 1300, as a Dominus Petrus plebanus (a lower clergyman) is mentioned in documents from 1296 and 1299. In 1329, the church's patronage passed from the monastery of Seußlitz to the council of Dresden and, in the course, "Dominus Ulmann de Plawin" was mentioned by name.

Today's Plauen church still stands on the same site as the first church. This was discovered during the reconstruction in 1900–1902 when the then construction supervisor, architect Reinhold Gast, determined and recorded several original ground plans in the cleared church. Since there are no further notes on the determination of these ground plans and as the south wall and the tower were not or not completely removed, information on the ground areas of the church buildings before 1700, for example, must be regarded as uncertain.

During the Hussite Wars in 1429, the church of Plauen was probably almost completely destroyed.

The second building
In 1466–1467, the council of Dresden restored the church as its patron. The consecration "to the Holy Archangel Michael and all other Holy Angels" was performed on 17 March 1467 by the Bishop of Meissen, Dietrich III von Schönberg. The church had two altars and the right to grant indulgences. Processional stations presumably extended as far as to the Hoher Stein as a place of pilgrimage.

The consecration document handed down by Christian August Freyberg has not survived as an original but is confirmed by several objects dating from the 15th century. These are the gate on the west side of the tower (which was the church entrance until 1878), a sacrament box, two vault keystones in the church, and two bells (today in the Dresden City Museum). The vault keystones suggest that the second church building was extended eastwards in the width of the tower and spanned by two cross vaults. The tower built (or repaired) at that time retained its shape and height until 1893.

When the Reformation was introduced in Saxony in 1539, the church initially lost its independence and was, until 1563, incorporated with six other villages into the St. Bartholomäi hospital which was located near today's Freiberger Platz in the Wilsdruffer Vorstadt district until its demolition in 1839. The Plauen pastor was assigned the parish office at the hospital's church.

Third and fourth building
In 1610, the (once again independent) community of Plauen took out a loan "for the construction of its church". Details on the start and duration of construction and the type of work have not been handed down. According to the ground plan drawing for the building stages, it is supposed to have been an expansion to almost double the floor space. The first picture of the church from 1627 shows a ridge turret which may have been added during this rebuilding.

From March 1700 to December 1701, the building had been extended again, now having 321.60 m2 floor area with 303 seats and 150 gallery seats (4th church building, see photo on the right) whereas the tower remained unchanged, but the ridge turret was removed.

Fifth building
The poor condition of the church and the growing population of Plauen led the church council to undertake a comprehensive renovation of the fourth church building in 1878. The interior underwent a remodelling whereby seating space was gained. A new sacristy with 48.50 m2 of floor space was built on the south side. The church was reconsecrated on the 4th Sunday of Advent in 1878. In 1881, the owner of the Plauen Hofmühle ("Court Mill"), Gottlieb Traugott Bienert, had a gas line laid to the church at his own expense, so that it received adequate lighting and evening services became possible. In 1892, the Leipzig tower clock factory of Bernhard Zachariä made a new clock for the church and installed it. The process revealed considerable damage to the wooden spire, necessitating a renovation in 1893 during which the tower was raised and a new peal of bells was hung.