Atheists to save historic church

A wooden German church bulit in 1905 has found a new home

Stiege: Ask Hans Powalla if he is a believer and the immediate response is a firm “no”. Yet he and other villagers in and around the German town of Stiege have embarked on the Herculean task of saving a picturesque church by moving it from the middle of a forest into the centre of town.

Former electrician Powalla, 74, said they were driven by the “unique architecture of the building” and the “meaning that it gives to the region” in the Harz mountains.

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The object in question is a stave church, or wooden church, complete with dragon ornaments on the roof, built in the Nordic style in 1905. It is one of only three such churches from that era still standing in Germany, and is classed as a monument of national significance.

Unlike most churches which have prominent spots in town centres, this site of worship was built as a private sanctuary for patients recovering from lung diseases at a sanatorium located in the woods. But the sanatorium was shut, and by 2009, the church fell out of use. Its isolated location makes it a target for vandals. A fire broke out just a few metres away from the church in 2013, damaging its structure.

“From the village, we saw the black plumes of smoke and thought ‘oh no, there goes the church’,” said Regina Nowolski, 69, a member of the Stiege Stave Church Association, co-founded by Powalla.

But as it turned out, the church was undamaged. “And there came the idea that something must be done now or the church will one day collapse,” said Regina Bierwisch. “The only solution to save the church was to take it away.”

While the idea was clear-cut, it was far easier said than done. The challenges were plentiful: getting permission to move the structure, finding a new home, and working out how to get it there. At one point, lifting the whole building with a Bundeswehr military helicopter was mulled.

“In the beginning I found it a funny idea. But I quickly noticed that they’re not giving up, they are there to see it through,” Ronald Fiebelkorn, mayor of the Oberharz am Brocken region, shared.

With backing and funding secured, the 1.1 million euro project to move the church about five kilometres away is now in its last lap.