SOCIETY OF THE FRIENDS OF THE GERMAN EVANGELIC CHURCH ON CAPRI

Lage und
Öffnungszeiten

Veranstaltungen

Capri u. Kirche

Capri Kultur
Geschichte, Literatur,
Kunst, Musik, Photos,
u.v.m.

Mitglied werden

Spenden

Satzung

Links

Presse

Kontakt

Impressum

German and Evangelic on Capri A German Evangelic Church exists on Capri. It was built in 1899 in the Via Tragara, one of the most beautiful streets of the island. It’s origin and support over decades was due to the private initiative of Frankfurt citizens around the businessman Moritz von Bernus and the banker Hugo Andreae. Capri was a cosmopolitan center of European tourism at that time. Also many Germans lived there or came as tourists. The church intended to offer them a piece of homeland abroad and to strengthen the evangelic religion in a catholic country. The Evangelic Church of Germany (EKD) has sent pastors to provide the service during the holiday seasons. Additionally, the church was used by Waldensers und Anglicans and became very early a ecumenical and intercultural meeting-place. Since the private society for maintenance has been liquidated in 1990, the church is owned by the Evangelic Lutheran Church of Italy . The EKD still sends pastors to provide the service for tourists during the holiday seasons ng.

A Pearl in the Mediterranean Sea

The small church with its tapering tiled roof and its coloured art deco windows is an integral part of the international Capri culture since more than a century. As one of the rare buildings which has escaped the architectural »modernization«, the church preserves the reminescence of Capri’s history and the colourful »community« of the visitors and adorants of the island. From the beginning of its existence the church could benefit from private care. The Swedish Queen Viktoria donated several windows. Alice Faehndrich, Rilke’s host in the Villa Discopoli nearby, took care for the parish before the first world war, in the 1920’s it was the bookseller Eugen Behle. During the difficult years of the second world war and the time after, Gudrun von Uexküll (the translator of Axel Munthe’s »Book of San Michele«) headed the parochial church council, later it was Dr. Everhard Bungartz and Jutta Ruocco-Bienengräber .

A Church for the Future

The German Evangelic Church on Capri doesn’t have a local parish today. It is a church which has to seek for its varying parish constantly. Confessional and national delimitations play a minor role than 100 years ago. This exceptional unique church on Capri, on the most beautiful island of the world, must and will have a future :

as a church besides the road, which offers the passengers, the foreigners, but also the natives moments of silence,
of reflection, of spiritual reviva l

as a interreligious and intercultural meeting-place, where concerts, recitations, lectures and exhibitions can take place

as a contact point for German and Italian culture and history in a country which can retrospect on a long common
German-Italian tradition

The Ev angelic-Lutheran Parish in Naples is the owner of the church and maintains and use it (e.g. organization of the service for tourists, baptisms, weddings). A society was founded to support the Parish and to foster the a.m. goals together with its members.

Society of the Friends of the German Evangelic Church on Capri

The church is supported materially and imaginary by the society. The activities are dedicated to the constructional conservation of the building, the restoration and development, the patronage of church services, musical and cultural events, the cultivation of the relationship to the Evangelic Lutheran Parish in Naples and of ecumenical relationships, and the cultivation of the German culture on Capri and the research about it.

The society is a non-profit organization and is authorized to write out donation certificates for tax relief purposes. The society resides in Berlin. The annual membership fee for individuals is 20.- €.

Chairman: Dr. Ulrich Schuch (Mannheim)
Vice Chairmen:
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Krüger (Karlsruhe)
Prof. Dr. Dieter Richter (Bremen).

Other members of the managing committee :
Pastor Stephan Frielinghaus (Berlin), Academy Director Klaus Nagorni (Bad Herrenalb), Dietmar Noering (Wittlich), Prof. Dipl. Ing. Dietrich Oertel (Karlsruhe), Dr. Michael Sostmann (Stade).

Contact:
Dr. Ulrich Schuch
Friends of the German Evangelic Church on Capri
M1, 6
D-68161 Mannheim
Germany
Phone and Fax +49 621-26079
[email protected]
www.kirche-capri.de

Literature

Dieter Richter (ed.):
Das Gotteshaus an der Via Tragara.
100 Jahre Deutsche Evangelische Kirche auf Capri.
Eine Festschrift.
Capri: La Conchiglia , 2000.

Please see also our literature recommendations

Letzte Aktualisierung: 04.06.2005
Webmaster: Dr. Ulrich Schuch ( [email protected] )