Hamburg • “Flusi” (“Flusi”) – so in a friendly way the inhabitants of the city call this attraction, from the German word “Fluss” – “river”. Since 2006, the only floating river temple in Germany (Flussschifferkirche) has been permanently anchored in the Inner Port (Binnenhafen) in Hamburg – the oldest part of the local sea gate to the world, whose history goes back more than eight centuries.
On board, services are regularly held for the evangelical community of rivermen – captains and crews of ships, mainly carrying goods along the Elbe, as well as their families. Residents of neighboring houses and streets also come here. Weddings, baptismal ceremonies, confirmations, concerts, readings, reports are held here … The doors are also open for tourists.
Floating temple for rivermen on the Elbe
The temple was consecrated in 1952, after which for many decades it followed different routes, moored in different places, so that rivermen (members of this unusual church community, almost constantly somewhere on the way) could celebrate important Christian holidays together, talk with pastor, to communicate with each other, to discuss news and problems. There is enough space for 130 people. There is even a small organ.
Now the temple is constantly located in Hamburg, but still, so to speak, it does not stand on eternal jokes – for example, it participates in the traditional celebration of the birthday of the local seaport, founded on May 7, 1189, now the largest in Germany and the third most important in Europe after Rotterdam and Antwerp. This year, however, this popular event was canceled due to the pandemic.
Floating church in Hamburg. Photo
Evangelical Port Mission
The tradition of spiritual care for sailors and rivermen in Hamburg goes back to the first decades of the 18th century, when preachers and pastors began to visit crews – they went to cargo ships in boats and longboats. In the middle of the same century, the first floating church appeared here. The start of services on board was signaled by the ship’s bell.
In 1870, the Hamburg Port Mission was founded. The founder of the mission was Johann Hinrich Wichern, a German theologian and Lutheran pastor. He also went down in history as the founder of an orphanage school for abandoned and disadvantaged children and the author of the reform of the penitentiary system in Germany, which he developed and implemented on behalf of the Prussian authorities.
However, another fact is more interesting. In 1839, it was he who came up with the idea of decorating houses with Christmas wreaths – with four large candles that are lit one after another in the pre-holiday weeks – during Advent. Johann Hinrich Wiechern is now named after a boat, on which pastors and other volunteers from the river community visit the crews of ships in the port of Hamburg twice a week.
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