Cologne: St Elisabeth

1930 – 1932

Architect: Dominikus Böhm

Werthmannstraße 1, Cologne-Hohenlind, Germany

The listed hospital church of St. Elisabeth is one of the first examples of modern church construction in Cologne, built from 1930 to 1932 according to plans by Dominikus Böhm.

Hospital Church

The church building adjoins the elongated six-story hospital complex to the north at right angel.

The latter was built at the same time according to plans by architects Hans Tietmann and Karl Haake.

The traditional type of a three-nave hall church was realized by Böhm in an unusual way: The clinkered steel skeleton construction is provided with a semicircular, building-high chancel end.

Interior

Inside, light enters the church hall through high round-arched windows on the east side.

The central nave is at the ground floor level of the hospital, the outer naves and the choir at the first floor level.

This results in a spatial separation of the healthy and sick church visitors: side aisles and galleries were reserved for the sick.

Choir

The raised choir room with its altar moved out of the apse can be reached via a room-wide staircase with fifteen steps.

The painting of the choir with the depiction of the Last Judgment was done by Peter Hecker in 1949/50.

Crypt

In the crypt of the Elisabethkirche there are colored windows designed by Dominikus Böhm and ear doors designed by Ewald Mataré in 1937.

The Man of Sorrows, sculpted from elm wood by Ewald Mataré in 1939, was also originally in the crypt and has only been in the upper church since 2003.

Kölner Werkschulen

The tapestries from 1932 were created by the Kölner Werkschulen.