View source for St. Paul's Church, Frankfurt am Main

{{Short description|Church and national assembly hall in Germany}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2015}}
[[File:Frankfurt Paulskirche außen 2011a.jpg|thumb|upright|Paulskirche]]
[[File:Frankfurt Am Main-Paulskirche-Ansicht vom Maintower.jpg|thumb|upright|Paulskirche seen from the [[Main Tower]]]]
[[File:Paulskirche Exterior.JPG|thumb|The exterior of Paulskirche]]
'''St Paul's Church''' ({{langx|de|'''Paulskirche'''}})<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.frankfurt.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=3828&_ffmpar%5B_id_inhalt%5D=1240072 | title=Paulskirche | website=frankfurt.de | accessdate=22 December 2014 | language=de | archive-date=5 July 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705092513/http://www.frankfurt.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=3828&_ffmpar%5B_id_inhalt%5D=1240072 | url-status=dead }}</ref> in [[Frankfurt|Frankfurt am Main]] is a former church building used as an exhibition, memorial and meeting place. It was built between 1789 and 1833 to replace the medieval "Barfüßerkirche", which was demolished in 1786, and served as Frankfurt's main [[Protestantism|Protestant]]-Lutheran church until 1944, when it was replaced by St Catherine's Church. From 1848 to 1849, the delegates of the [[Frankfurt Parliament|Frankfurt National Assembly]], the first parliament for the whole of Germany, met in the neoclassical circular building designed by architect Johann Friedrich Christian Hess. Alongside Hambach Castle, St Paul's Church is thus regarded as a symbol of the democratic movement in Germany and a national symbol. However, almost nothing remains of the interior from this most important era for St Paul's Church and the history of German democracy.
==History==
The [[Free City of Frankfurt]], then governing its legally non-separated Lutheran [[state church]], commissioned {{Interlanguage link|Johann Andreas Liebhardt|de}} to construct the oval-shaped central church building in 1789.<ref name="Beseler Gutschow 1988 810seq">{{Interlanguage link|Hartwig Beseler|de}} and Niels Gutschow, ''Kriegsschicksale deutscher Architektur: Verluste, Schäden, Wiederaufbau; eine Dokumentation für das Gebiet der Bundesrepublik Deutschland'': 2 vols., Neumünster: Wachholtz, 1988, vol. II: 'Süd', pp. 810seq. {{ISBN|3-926642-22-X}}.</ref> The new church building was to replace the former ''Church of the [[Discalced]]'' (Barfüßerkirche), which had been torn down in 1786 due to dilapidation.<ref name="Beseler Gutschow 1988 810seq" /> Constructions halted during the [[Napoleonic wars]]. The new building was completed between 1829 and 1833 by {{Interlanguage link|Johann Friedrich Christian Hess|de}},<ref name="Beseler Gutschow 1988 811">Hartwig Beseler and Niels Gutschow, ''Kriegsschicksale deutscher Architektur: Verluste, Schäden, Wiederaufbau; eine Dokumentation für das Gebiet der Bundesrepublik Deutschland'': 2 vols., Neumünster: Wachholtz, 1988, vol. II: 'Süd', p. 811. {{ISBN|3-926642-22-X}}.</ref> whereupon the [[organ loft]] was disconnected in 1833. Between 1786 and 1833 Lutheran services were held at the [[Old St Nicholas Church]] in the [[Römerberg (Frankfurt)|Römerberg]] square to the south, also owned by the free city and then actually used as garrison church for its troops.
In 1830, the free city issued the "deeds of dotation" (''Dotationsurkunde'') fixing its long-lasting practice of owning and maintaining the church buildings in [[Altstadt (Frankfurt am Main)|its old city centre]] (so-called [[Free City of Frankfurt#City-owned dotation churches (Dotationskirchen)|dotation churches]]; Dotationskirchen), but leaving their usage to congregations of the Lutheran state church or parishes of the [[Catholic church]], newly emancipated during the [[Napoleonic era]].<ref name="Nord Spiegel 2005 p. 33">{{cite book | last1=Nord | first1=I. | last2=Spiegel | first2=Y. | title=An den Rändern: theologische Lernprozesse mit Yorick Spiegel; Festschrift zum 70. Geburtstag | publisher=Lit | series=Theologie, Forschung und Wissenschaft | year=2005 | isbn=978-3-8258-8319-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QxQ7-mpo_swC&pg=PA33 | language=de | access-date=7 March 2022 | page=33}}</ref><ref name="Frankfurt Interaktiv 2018">{{cite web | title=Paulskirche | website=Frankfurt Interaktiv | date=1 June 2018 | url=https://frankfurt-interaktiv.de/sehenswuerdigkeiten/paulskirche | language=de | access-date=7 March 2022}}</ref> The ''deed of dotation'' statutorily established the eternal gratuitous [[usufruct]] of nine city-owned church buildings by six Lutheran congregations and three Catholic parishes. Other religious groups, such as [[Jew]]s and [[Reformed Protestant]]s were not part of that government funding.
[[File:Paulskirche Frankfurt am Main 1848-1849.jpg|thumb|The entrance of the pre-parliament in St. Paul's Church on 21 March 1848, by [[Jean Ventadour]] (1822–1880)]]
Because of its typical [[Protestant]] centralised design (''Predigtkirche''), allowing everybody easily to hear the reverend or speaker,<ref name="Beseler Gutschow 1988 810seq" /> it was desired as the meeting place for the Frankfurt Parliament in the course of the [[The Revolutions of 1848 in the German states|German revolutions of 1848]].<ref name="Frankfurt Interaktiv 2018" />
From 31 March until 3 April 1848, the building was the meeting place for the ''Vorparlament'', which prepared the election for the National Assembly.<ref name="Wollstein 2010">{{cite web | last=Wollstein | first=Günter | title=Vorparlament und Paulskirche | website=bpb.de | date=21 January 2010 | url=https://www.bpb.de/shop/zeitschriften/izpb/9879/vorparlament-und-paulskirche/ | language=de | access-date=7 March 2022}}</ref> On 18 May 1848, the National Assembly met for the first time in the church, and was therefore named the Paulskirchenparlament.<ref name="Beseler Gutschow 1988 811" /> Until 1849, the National Assembly worked in the church to develop the [[Paulskirchenverfassung|first constitution]] for a united Germany. The resistance of [[Prussia]], the [[Austrian Empire]] and a number of smaller German states ultimately destroyed the effort.
In May 1849, there were a number of uprisings to force the implementation of the constitution,<ref>[http://www.lwl.org/westfaelische-geschichte/que/normal/que835.pdf Constitution of the German Empire ("Constitution of Paulskirche") of 28 March 1849, in full text]. {{in lang|de}}</ref> but these were destroyed with the help of Prussia. On 30 May 1849, the Paulskirchenparlament was dissolved. After 1852, St. Paul's was again used for Lutheran services.
In March 1944, during [[World War II]], the church was destroyed along with much of the Frankfurt [[Innenstadt (Frankfurt am Main)|wider city centre]] in the [[Bombing of Frankfurt am Main in World War II|Allied Bombing of Frankfurt]].<ref name="Beseler Gutschow 1988 811" /> As a tribute to its symbolism of freedom and as the cradle of Germany, it was the first structure in Frankfurt the city rebuilt after the war. However, the city itself wanted to make use of the to-be-reconstructed building, thus St. Paul's Lutheran congregation and the city concluded to exchange the congregation's [[usufruct]] to this building for that of old St. Nicholas Church, only damaged by bombing.
St. Paul's was reopened on the centennial of the Frankfurt Parliament.<ref name="Beseler Gutschow 1988 811" /> Due to financial restraints and an altered concept of use, the original inner form was dramatically altered by the architectural team of [[Rudolf Schwarz (architect)|Rudolf Schwarz]].<ref name="Beseler Gutschow 1988 811" /> An inserted floor now divides the basement—which currently serves as a display room—from the actual hall in the main floor.<ref name="Beseler Gutschow 1988 811" />
[[File:Paulskirche Rotunda.jpg|thumb|The interior of the Paulskirche rotunda]]
[[File:Friedenspreis-ffm-2009-magris-005.jpg|thumb|right|Ceremony for the 2009 [[Peace Prize of the German Book Trade]] in St. Paul's]]
In 1963, [[US President]] [[John F. Kennedy]] gave a major speech in the Paulskirche during his visit to the country.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=9303 | title=The American Presidency Project | website=presidency.ucsb.edu | accessdate=1 April 2015 }}</ref>
For the 150th birthday of the German democratic experience in 1998, St Paul's once again attracted public interest.<ref name="www.bundespraesident.de 1998">{{cite web | title=www.bundespraesident.de: Der Bundespräsident / Reden / Rede von Bundespräsident Roman Herzog anläßlich der Veranstaltung "150 Jahre Revolution von 1848/49" in der Paulskirche zu Frankfurt am Main | website=www.bundespraesident.de | date=19 May 1998 | url=https://www.bundespraesident.de/SharedDocs/Reden/DE/Roman-Herzog/Reden/1998/05/19980518_Rede.html | language=de | access-date=7 March 2022}}</ref>
Today St. Paul's is no longer used as a church, instead it became a venue used for various displays and events. The most well-known is the annual awarding of the [[Peace Prize of the German Book Trade]] during the [[Frankfurt Book Fair]].<ref name="Spiegel 2021">{{cite web | title=Debatte über rechte Verlage auf der Buchmesse: "Ich mache mir richtig große Sorgen" | website=[[Der Spiegel]] | date=24 October 2021 | url=https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/literatur/frankfurter-buchmesse-2021-debatte-ueber-rechte-verlage-auch-bei-friedenspreis-verleihung-a-b6c7c928-6c54-4627-ac8c-db971fea1115 | language=de | access-date=7 March 2022}}</ref><ref name="Frankfurter Buchmesse">{{cite web | title=Get to know Frankfurter Buchmesse | website=Frankfurter Buchmesse | url=https://www.buchmesse.de/en/about-us | access-date=7 March 2022}}</ref><ref name="FRANKFURT.DE - DAS OFFIZIELLE STADTPORTAL">{{cite web | title=Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels | website=FRANKFURT.DE – DAS OFFIZIELLE STADTPORTAL | url=https://frankfurt.de/themen/kultur/literatur/preise/friedenspreis-des-deutschen-buchhandels | language=de | access-date=7 March 2022}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}[[File:Plaque Paulskirche.jpg|thumb|Plaque commemorating the first assembly of the [[Frankfurt Parliament|Frankfurt parliament]] of 1848]]
==Further reading==
*{{Citation |last= Rose |first= Shelley |title=Place and Politics at the Frankfurt Paulskirche after 1945 |journal= Journal of Urban History |place= Cleveland |publisher= History Faculty Publications |year= 2016 |volume= 42 |url= https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1086&context=clhist_facpub | issn=0096-1442 | doi=10.1177/0096144214566968 | pages=145–161|s2cid= 145273579 }}
==External links==
* {{Commons-inline|Paulskirche (Frankfurt)|Paulskirche}}
{{coord|50|06|40|N|8|40|51|E|region:DE-HE_type:landmark|display=title}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1789 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire|Frankfurt Main Paul]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Frankfurt|Paul]]
[[Category:Churches in Frankfurt|Paul]]
[[Category:Frankfurt Parliament|Paul]]
[[Category:Frankfurt-Altstadt]]
[[Category:Neoclassical church buildings in Germany]]