5/5 Ellen K. 3 years ago on Google
At
the
beginning
of
the
19th
century
the
church
had
become
too
small
to
meet
the
needs
of
the
parish,
but
expansion
was
postponed
several
times
due
to
internal
disagreements
within
the
parish
and
other
obstacles,
while
minor
works
such
as
the
purchase
of
new
altars
and
an
organ
were
undertaken.
Starting
in
1886,
three
proposals
for
the
new
church
were
submitted,
but
these
were
rejected
by
the
parish
until
the
designs
by
the
young
Cologne
architect
Erasmus
Schüller
were
accepted
with
minor
changes
on
January
12,
1887.
The
old
church
was
demolished
in
April
1888.
and
construction
of
the
new
one
began
on
September
2
of
the
same
year.
Schüller
died
in
1890
at
the
age
of
29,
so
that
the
last
construction
phases
were
supervised
by
the
architect
Theodor
Roß
[de].
The
church
was
consecrated
on
July
9,
1891
by
the
Archbishop
of
Cologne.
The
church
was
badly
damaged
by
artillery
fire
in
February
1945
during
World
War
II.
Repair
work
began
the
following
year
and
was
completed
in
1949.
The
bells
had
been
sent
to
Hamburg
at
the
beginning
of
the
war
and
were
returned
to
the
church
in
1947.
The
church
was
added
to
the
list
of
monuments
in
Erkelenz
on
May
14,
1985
due
to
its
architectural
and
symbolic
value.
Desecration
and
demolition
Demolished
on
January
9,
2018
Replacement
church
in
Immerath-Neu
The
village
of
Immerath
was
on
the
planned
route
for
the
expansion
of
the
Garzweiler
surface
mine,
a
large
brown
coal
mine
operated
by
the
RWE
company.
The
entire
village
was
therefore
demolished
in
the
2010s,
with
the
company
building
a
new
settlement
called
Immerath-Neu
11
km
away
to
replace
it.
The
cemetery
was
also
relocated,
corpses
were
exhumed
and
moved
to
the
new
location.
Maintaining
the
cost
of
the
church
had
become
too
burdensome
given
the
significant
decline
in
the
number
of
believers
to
fewer
than
60
people.
The
parishioners
therefore
accepted
the
company's
offer
to
build
a
new,
smaller
church
in
the
new
town
of
Immerath-Neu.
Most
of
the
interior
furnishings
of
the
old
church
were
bought
by
private
individuals
or
other
parishes
or
religious
communities.
The
last
mass
in
the
church
was
celebrated
on
October
13,
2013
and
then
desecrated.
The
building
was
demolished
on
January
9,
2018
amid
protests
by
Greenpeace
activists.
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