Auferstehungskirche Barmbek

In Hamburg-Barmbek-Nord, at the Tieloh, the Auferstehungskirche Barmbek rises as a round church clad in clinker brick. Concrete ribs carry the outer dome, and its baroque lantern houses the bells. Inside, a flat inner dome spans the nave, which seats 400, with 230 more places on the gallery. The building serves the Evangelical-Lutheran congregation of Nord-Barmbek.

For centuries, worshippers in Barmbek walked to neighbouring churches for their services. Only in the early twentieth century did North Barmbek gain a church of its own. A panel under Wilhelm Emil Meerwein judged the competition and chose the plan of the young architect Camillo Günther. The plan followed the Wiesbaden Programme, which saw the church as a gathering place where altar, pulpit and organ form one unit. Building work started in 1916, and the consecration followed in May 1920. Ceramics by Richard Kuöhl cover the exterior walls. Angels hold inscriptions, Melanchthon and Luther appear as busts, and biblical scenes run in half-relief. Inside, a natural-stone pulpit and an artificial-stone font stand near the altar. There, Axel Bünz's mosaic traces the path to Golgotha above Kuöhl's carved Last Supper. The Walcker organ, built in 1924, counts among the region's largest and most prized, with roughly 2,600 pipes.

The Second World War destroyed much of Barmbek, yet the church itself came through undamaged. The community house next door, though, suffered severe damage. The ensemble around it, community hall, pastorate and garden courtyard alike, has enjoyed protected status since 2000. When the sound-steel bells ring, they strike a triad over streets that once lay in ruins.