St. Barbara Church

Denkmal

Since the middle ages, there was a sick folk and leper house with a chapel, consecrated to St. Barbara as patron of the sick and dying, in the area in front of the ‘Rheintor’ portal. In 1712, the leper house was abandoned and the chapel remained in existence until the end of the 18th century.

During the port expansion before the First World War, a new working-class district was established here between the railway station, the industrial area and the port. At first, it was designated as the slaughterhouse district, after the slaughterhouse at the Blücherstraße which had been newly constructed in 1905. The district belonged to the parish of St. Marien, which already established a deaconship here in 1924. The worship services were first held in a wooden barrack, furnished as an emergency church, owned by the barrel wholesaler Friedrich Bünger at Blücherstraße.

This emergency church, however, soon failed to meet the demands of the growing community. In 1932/33, on the initiative of the parent parish and with the financial support of the Werhahn family, the present church dedicated to Saint Barbara was built according to the plans of the Düsseldorf architect Hermann Schagen. On 13 July 1933, it was the only Neuss church consecrated during the Third Reich.

In World War II, the Barbara district was destroyed during bomb attacks, except for a few houses, and largely depopulated. The church was also heavily damaged. Soon after the end of the war, however, the number of the inhabitants of the district grew again and the church was restored, and eventually separated from the parent parish in 1953 as an independent parish. In 1957, the church finally received a tower, which was already included in the original plans. The installation of the belfry and the bells did not occur until 1961 due to financial reasons. In 1975, the church was extensively renovated, the choir room was reconstructed and also the choir fresco was restored by Peter Hecker. Due to the declining number of parishioners caused by the social restructuring of the district, the parish of St. Barbara lost its independence in 2004 and is now a branch church of St. Marien.

Sources and texts: Neuss municipal archives
Graphic design: Cornelius Uerlichs
Translation: A.C.T. Fachübersetzungen GmbH

This plaque was donated by: Neusser Bauverein AG