Ship of Fools: St Nikolai, Wismar, Germany

The Mystery Worshipper

Ship of Fools: St Nikolai, Wismar, Germany

Authentic preaching and pulsating organ music in a Gothic church made of 3 million bricks

Read the full Mystery Worshipper report here

Portola

I would like to add a comment to my report: The mother church of brick Gothic is St. Marien in Lübeck, which has the highest nave among these types of churches: 38.5 meters. St. Marien served as a prototype for 70 brick Gothic churches in the Baltic Sea area. I can't say enough about the attractiveness of these monumental churches, which dominate the skylines of several Baltic Port cities. Because the coastal area is mostly flat, these brick Gothic churches are like beacons, visible from far distances.

Nick Tamen

Thanks so much for the report, @Portola. It’s very interesting.

I’m guessing you don’t have any idea what was used in place of the Apostle’s Creed or you’d have identified it. Am I right about that? If I am reading the Nordkirche’s website correctly, they recognize as confessional statements the Nicene Creed, the Apostles’ Creed, the (Lutheran) Augsburg Confession and Book of Concord, and the Theological Declaration of Barmen. They also reference Catholic and Reformed confessional statements and unnamed statements from other traditions.

Portola

Yes, Nick Tamen, you are right about the creed. The author or source of this creed was not identified and it was not handed out to be read aloud by the congregation. It was an attempt to formulate the faith with contemporary and poetic language. It was not based on the Apostles' or Nicene Creeds, but it did have a triune structure. I understood it as an attempt to reach out to people who do not have a Christian background. It was an anonymous witness to Christian faith, not a confession of faith by the congregation as an act of worship.

Nick Tamen

Thanks, @Portola. My curiosity is really piqued, but I guess I’ll have to live with never knowing.

Forthview

St Mary's Gdansk/Danzig is one of the three largest brick built churches in Germany.
Since the other two are in Ulm and Munich St Mary's must be the largest of the brick built churches referenced by Portola in the Baltic area.

Forthview

I've just noticed that I shouldn't be mentioning St Mary's Danzig as being in Germany.
Since the end of world War II it has been in Poland.

Portola

Thank you, Forthview, for mentioning the churches in Danzig, Ulm and Munich. I just checked out the heights of the ceilings: St. Marien Danzig has the lowest at 29 meters, the Frauenkirche in Munich has 37 meters, the same as St. Nikolai in Wismar, and the ceiling of St Marien in Lübeck is 38.5 meters. How these huge brick churches were built is beyond my comprehension. The Minster in Ulm has the highest church tower in the world, 161,5 meters, and the ceiling is 42,6 meters at the highest point, but it is not a pure brick church, consisting of a mixture of sandstone, limestone and bricks.

Bishops Finger

The enormous church of St Bartholomew, Brighton, is the tallest brick church in the UK - 41 metres...plus another 2.7 metres for the cross at the (liturgical) west end.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Bartholomew's_Church,_Brighton

Whether or not it's as attractive a building as St Nikolai, or any of the other big Baltic churches mentioned, is a matter of opinion. It towers over the neighbouring streets in the same fashion, though.

Portola

Thank you, Bishop's Finger, for pointing out St. Bartholomew, which is a unique church. I could not find any information regarding the height of the ceiling, which would be much lower than the external height of the roof. Looking at how dark the interior of the church in Brighton appears to be, brings me back to what I indicated in my report: namely, that St. Nikolai had large, high windows which flooded the church with sunlight, illuminating the red bricks, creating a warm, other-worldly atmosphere for worship. This inner warm glow is what sets St. Nikolai (and St. Marien in Lübeck) apart from other brick churches. In many of the interiors of the Baltic churches the interior bricks had been covered with plaster and painted white, which gives the sanctuaries a bright, but cold, light. When the interior bricks are left uncovered, the sun creates wonderful effects.

Bishops Finger

I take your point @Portola about the height of the ceiling in St Bartholomew's - something I'd overlooked, but it's clearly visible on the interior photograph. It will, of course, be somewhat less than 41 metres!

I visited St Bart's many years ago, and recall how dark it seemed to be, and how much awful (to my eye) Anglo-Catholic tat there was in the place...

Turning back to your Report on St Nikolai, a congregation of 50 at what was (I presume) the principal service of the day sounds rather sparse, but I see from their website that there are several other churches in the city.

St Bart's, Brighton, is one of many Anglo-Catholic places in the area (some have been closed in recent years), and offers Mass on Sundays and several weekdays - I wonder if their attendance is comparable to St Nikolai?

Alan29

I grew up in Brighton. As a young RC I used to pop into those Anglo-Cath places for a nose around, and used to leave somewhat nonplussed, a feeling I still have about that wing of the C of E.

Forthview

St Mary's in Danzig is a huge church. Until WW2 it was the Lutheran Oberpfarrkirche St Marien. With the expulsion of Germans after WW2 and the resettlement of Poles who had been expelled from Eastern Poland which became part of Ukraine, the church has been used since early 1950s by Catholics It is now the concathedral with the former RC cathedral at Oliva on the edge of Gdansk. I think the walls have been painted white giving this white cold light which Portola mentions. Most of the white walls are fairly bare although there is a large copy of the (famous ?) icon of Our Lady at the Gate of Dawn in the former Polish city
of Wilno,now Vilnius in Lithuania.

Bishops Finger

Alan29 wrote: »

I grew up in Brighton. As a young RC I used to pop into those Anglo-Cath places for a nose around, and used to leave somewhat nonplussed, a feeling I still have about that wing of the C of E.

Yes, I know that feeling, too...


The bright and light interior of St Nikolai sounds most attractive, and those churches in the C of E which (for whatever reason) have lost their gloomy Victorian stained glass are IMHO much the better for it.