Dietrich-Bonhoeffer-Kirche (Köln-Lindenthal)
A Protestant parish centre with a pentagonal single-hall church, built 1979/80 in the Deckstein part of Cologne-Lindenthal and named after Nazi-era resistance figure Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
The Dietrich-Bonhoeffer-Kirche is a Protestant parish centre with an attached church, built in 1979 in the Deckstein part of Cologne's Lindenthal district. It is named after the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who resisted National Socialism.
Source: Wikipedia
At a Glance
- Type
- Small single-hall church with a parish centre
- Ground plan
- Pentagonal
- Architects
- Dr. Schulze Jöhnssen & Vieten
- Built
- 1979, consecrated 1980
- District
- Cologne-Lindenthal (Deckstein)
- Denomination
- Protestant (Cologne-Linksrheinisch church district, Evangelical Church in the Rhineland)
- Materials
- White sand-lime brick, grey exposed-concrete frame, slate-clad roof pyramid
The four corners of the church are entirely free of supports: only central concrete posts within the walls carry the beams, leaving the corners open.
Things to do here
- Explore the unusual pentagonal church hall with its support-free corners
- Trace Hans Lauten's stained-glass cycle from chaos to reconciliation
- Admire Thaddäus Schröder's metalwork on the altar cross, font and candlesticks
- Look up to the open oculus at the apex of the wooden ceiling pyramid
- Attend a service of the Protestant parish of Lindenthal
History
The building grew out of a retirement home planned for Deckstein from 1970 onwards: the district pastor of the day proposed combining the intended place of worship with a parish house for the area's Protestant community. Once the idea was accepted in 1972, the firm Dr. Schulze Jöhnssen & Vieten was commissioned to design and build it. The laying of the foundation stone and the topping-out ceremony were held together on 28 August 1979, and the church was consecrated with a festive service on 11 May 1980. The organ was added afterwards and was played for the first time on 12 July 1981.
Architecture
The church occupies a corner plot where the street "An der Decksteiner Mühle" meets Gleueler Straße, east of the retirement home run by the Clarenbach institution, with the parish rooms attached. Its floor sits slightly below street level. Plinth-less walls of white sand-lime brick rise about one storey to an encircling band of stained-glass windows; above them are an attica and a five-sided, slate-covered roof pyramid, shifted slightly to the east and ending in a box-like top. Inside, central concrete posts on the four walls carry the beams above and below the windows, leaving the corners of the room free of supports. The wooden ceiling pyramid opens at its apex into an oculus, echoing a tent metaphor from the Book of Revelation.
Furnishings
The altar, altar candlesticks, church cross and font stand together with two Baroque angel figures on a single-step platform at the eastern tip of the hall. The altar cross, font and candlesticks were made by the metal artist Thaddäus Schröder and were ready for the consecration. The coloured glasswork is by Cologne glazier Hans Lauten, who installed it before the church opened; its imagery begins in the east with chaos and the creation of light out of darkness and runs through depictions of the elements and the seasons to reconciliation.
Timeline
- 1970Planning begins for a Deckstein retirement home to which the place of worship would be attached
- 1972The proposal to combine church and parish house is accepted; the architects are commissioned
- 1979Foundation stone and topping-out ceremony on 28 August
- 1980Consecration with a festive service on 11 May
- 1981The organ is played for the first time on 12 July
Map
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Sources & links
Auto-generated, last verified: 2026-08-26
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