The German language Wikipedia page (
visit link) for this Church as translated by Google informs us:
"The Catholic St. Joseph's Church is a Baroque church at the Grosse Freiheit in Altona or today in the Hamburg district of St. Pauli.
History of the Church: The Great Freedom in Altona
Altona, Hamburg today westernmost district until well into the 20th century was an independent, to the Duchy Holstein protected town. The Duchy of Holstein with Altona belonged to the Holy Roman Empire , but since 1460 the Danish kings were also Dukes of Holstein. Frederick III. of Denmark gave in his capacity as Duke of Holstein to the Catholic congregation of Altona in 1658 the privilege of freedom of belief and assigned her a place to build on the great freedom to build a place of worship to. The name of the street, was the first building from 1610 was program: the Danish kings recognized the advantages that were open to them when they in their city - allowed commercial and religious freedom - in contrast to the neighboring Hamburg. The fact that they gave here craftsmen and other professionals, even without membership in a guild and displaced religious refugees a home and the opportunity to work, turned out to be for the development of Altona as fortunate.
The Catholic church had been founded in 1594 and began in 1660 with the construction of a chapel on the Great freedom. This first church was at Altona town fire in 1713 during the Great Northern War destroyed. As of 1718, the second Catholic church was built and the St. Joseph ordained. This church was the first built after the Reformation Catholic church in Northern Europe. Your church is the oldest Catholic church in northern Germany.
The Catholic St. Joseph's church
The building
The interior of the church from destruction.
Construction on the new church began in 1718 and lasted until 1721st As you suspect the builder from the Austro-Hungarian Empire originating architect Melchior Tatz . The church stands a few feet behind the street alignment and, together with the neighboring buildings a small forecourt, the jewelry street leads directly towards the church, so that a baroque visual axis is formed. It is unusual that it was aligned opposite to the usual church construction not to the east but to the west, which is probably due to the assigned plot. The church is made ??of brick manufactured hall building and has a curved, ornate sandstone elements baroque facade , the Italian models follows. A powerful, crowned by a holy figure of St. Joseph portal is framed by high windows, together with the volutengeschmückten gable, the facade is one of the most important examples of Baroque art later in the Hamburg area. The church once contained a significant decorated with art of the Baroque, but mostly during the Second World War was destroyed. The associated rectory to 1717 the city architect Claus hostler .
Destruction and Reconstruction
Cardinal Louis-Joseph de Montmorency-Laval ; he worked for 12 years as pastor at St. Joseph Church.
Only in 1938 the Altona St. Joseph's Church was due to the Greater Hamburg Act to a church in Hamburg-St. Pauli. 1944, the church was almost completely destroyed by repeated bomb attacks, the interior was destroyed by fire and the roof collapsed, only the facade remained, albeit heavily damaged stand. The reconstruction took place from 1953 to 1955 under the direction of George Wellhausen. At this time, only the visible side of the Great freedom was restored, the church building is completely renovated and adorned it with modern facilities. In the years 1977 to 1978 has begun with a Rebarockisierung, which had the aim restore the original festive church to its former state. Today, the interior of the church is dominated by the large main altar, which gives an impression of the earlier form with its two side altars and the soft colors of the walls.
Presence
The St. Joseph's Church now stands in the middle of the Hamburg neighborhood , the world famous St. Pauli Grosse Freiheit. It is surrounded by sex clubs, discos and fast food and only a little reminiscent of the old building and to the cosmopolitan Altona by then. The Great Freedom, which previously also the local Mennonites had a church and not far from the old Jewish cemetery is located, is now the center of an Entertainment-and red-light district.
The St. Joseph's Church is the parish church, is also used by the Polish community and is open to visitors during the day."