The East-West Peace Church (German : Ost-West-Friedenskirche), also known as the Church of Father Timofej (German: Kirche von Väterchen Timofej), [1] was a chapel in the Olympiapark in Munich.
Built by the Russian hermit Timofej Vasilyevich Prokhorov and his wife Natasha without a building permit in the 1950s, the church was destroyed in a fire on 11 June 2023.
The chapel was located in the Munich borough of Neuhausen-Nymphenburg, south of the Olympic Lake at Spiridon-Louis-Ring 100. [2]
During World War II, Timofej said he had a vision of Mary, [3] in which he was instructed to move west from Russia to build a church there. For this, he left his family. [4] On his journey, he met his future wife, Natasha, in Vienna in 1944. In 1952, after another vision, he moved to Munich. In a third vision, Timofej received the order to build a church at Oberwiesenfeld and, along with his wife, began to build the church and the dwelling from remains of a nearby rubble mountain.
Upon completion, Timofej offered his church building to both the Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church in Munich as a place of worship. However, those in charge of each rejected the offer, as the Catholics saw too many elements of the Orthodox in the building, and the Orthodox in turn saw too many Catholic elements. As a result, Timofey himself celebrated the liturgy. He did not administer the sacraments of baptism and marriage, but instead referred to Catholic or Orthodox priests.
In 1968, when plans were made for the 1972 Summer Olympics, the site of the church was designated as part of the Olympic site. The illegally built church and apartment building were to be demolished for this purpose, and Timofej was to move with his wife to a city apartment. After protests from Munich citizens, and in favor of pre-Olympic peace, the Olympic site was planned further north, so that the church was preserved. [5]
The site was later described by Munich's former mayor, Christian Ude, as the "most charming black building in Munich". After Timofej died on July 14, 2004, at the age of 110, an association took care of the church. Timofeij's home was converted into a museum after his death. The annual Tollwood Festival is held around the grounds of the East-West Peace Church during the summer.
On Sunday, June 11, 2023, at around 1:10 am, the Munich fire department was alerted to a fire on the Tollwood grounds. When the emergency services arrived, the church was already in flames and burned down completely. Trees and a power line were also damaged, but no persons were harmed. According to the current state of the investigation, the police assume as the cause of the fire the "presence of a technical defect in the installed electronics inside the church building".
According to BR24 from June 11, 2023, the former mayor of Munich, Christian Ude, publicly advocated the reconstruction of the East-West Peace Church as a symbol of hope for peace. [6] [7]
Munich is the capital and most populous city of the Free State of Bavaria, Germany. With a population of 1,594,632 inhabitants as of 31 May 2024, it is the third-largest city by population in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg, and thus the largest which does not constitute its own state, as well as the 11th-largest city in the European Union. The Munich metropolitan area – including suburbs and satellite towns – has 3 million inhabitants; and the city's metropolitan region is home to about 6.2 million people and is the third largest metropolitan region by GDP in the European Union.
Olympiastadion is a stadium located in Munich, Germany. Situated at the heart of the Olympiapark München in northern Munich, the stadium was built as the main venue for the 1972 Summer Olympics.
The Rathaus-Glockenspiel is a large mechanical clock located in Marienplatz Square, in the heart of Munich, Germany. Famous for its life-size characters, the clock twice daily re-enacts scenes from Munich's history. First is the story of the marriage of Duke Wilhelm V to Renata of Lorraine in 1568, followed by the story of the Schäfflerstanz, also known as the coopers' dance.
The Olympiahalle(English: Olympic Hall) is a multi-purpose arena located in Am Riesenfeld in Munich, Germany, part of Olympiapark. The arena is used for concerts, sporting events, exhibitions or trade fairs. The official seating capacity for the arena varies from some 12,500 to 15,500.
The Olympiapark in Munich, Germany, is an Olympic Park which was constructed for the 1972 Summer Olympics. Located in the Oberwiesenfeld neighborhood of Munich, the Park continues to serve as a venue for cultural, social, and religious events, such as events of worship. It includes a contemporary carillon. The Park is administered by Olympiapark München GmbH, a holding company fully owned by the state capital of Munich. The Olympic Park Munich was also considered to be an architectural marvel during the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany.
Theresienwiese is an open space in the Munich borough of Ludwigsvorstadt-Isarvorstadt. It serves as the official ground of the Munich Oktoberfest. A space of 420,000 square metres (4,500,000 sq ft), it is bordered in the west by the Ruhmeshalle and the Bavaria statue, symbolizing the State of Bavaria, and in the east by Esperantoplatz, a square named for the international language Esperanto. There, a memorial commemorates the victims of the 1980 Oktoberfest bombing. Bavariaring, an orbital road, provides access to visiting traffic. In the north the towers of the Paulskirche are visible.
Munich East station is a railway station in Munich, the state capital of Bavaria, Germany. It opened as Haidhausen station in 1871 on the new Munich–Mühldorf and Munich–Rosenheim railway lines. The station is operated by DB Station&Service, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn AG. It is classified as a Category 1 station, one of 21 in Germany and two in Munich, the other being München Hauptbahnhof. It is the city's third interregional station besides München Hauptbahnhof in the city centre and München-Pasing in the west.
Munich-Trudering station is an interchange station of the Munich S-Bahn and the Munich U-Bahn in the borough of Trudering-Riem in the Bavarian capital of Munich.
Trudering-Riem is the 15th borough of Munich, Bavaria. It consists of the two quarters Trudering and Riem. The borough is the location of Munich's former airport, Riem Airport.
Neuhausen-Nymphenburg is a borough of Munich, the capital of the German state of Bavaria. It was created from the merger of the former boroughs of Neuhausen and Nymphenburg in 1992.
The Munich Marathon is an annual marathon road running event hosted by the city of Munich, Germany, usually in October, since 1983. The event features a full marathon as well as a half marathon and 10K run. The marathon is categorized as a Gold Label Road Race by World Athletics.
Oberwiesenfeld Army Airfield is a former military airfield, located in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.
The Tollwood Festival is a festival which takes place semi-annually in the Olympiapark (summer) or on the Theresienwiese (winter) in Munich.
Am Riesenfeld is the westernmost of the three subdistricts of the Munich city district 11 Milbertshofen-Am Hart.
The Winzererstraße is a two-kilometer-long street in the Munich districts of Maxvorstadt and Schwabing.
The Lerchenauer Straße is a 5.5 km long arterial road in Munich.
The Schwere-Reiter-Straße is a 1.2 km long street in Munich's Schwabing-West district in the Oberwiesenfeld area. It leads from Leonrodplatz to the Hohenzollernstraße on the corner of Winzererstraße, where it branches off to the north of the Ackermannstraße. North is the Olympic Park.
SAP Garden is a 12,500-seat indoor arena, in Olympiapark, Munich. The arena was completed in summer 2024 and it will be ready for use for the 2024/25 season. The site was built at the location of the former Radstadion which was demolished in 2015. It is the home rink to ice hockey team EHC Red Bull Munich and home court to basketball team Bayern Munich.
The Münchner Sommernachtstraum is a show event that has been held annually in July since 2004 in Olympiapark.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
