Chapel school Fellerdilln
There is an old chapel school in Fellerdilln, which belongs to Haiger in the Lahn-Dill county of central Hesse. After a major fire in 1827, the village church needed to be rebuilt. Once the new church was built, a room was added to the structure where the pupils of the village were taught. The ownership of the new chapel school was shared between the community and the parish.
The half-timbered building consists of two floors. The church occupied the ground floor while the classroom was located on the upper floor. As was typical for the Siegerland region, this schoolhouse also had a ridge turret.
Later, the chapel school was used as the town hall instead of a school. In 1973, the building was returned to its original purpose as a Protestant church.
Chapel school Fellerdilln photograph
Fellerdilln in: The Chapel Schools' Book
Chapel schools form a solitary architectural type for the Siegerland and its neighboring regions.
As stand-alone buildings and conspicuous in their surroundings, like the one in Fellerdilln, they reveal the connection between religion and school education starting from the domain of Count William I of Nassau-Katzenelnbogen (1487-1559) and his son John VI of Nassau, Katzenelnbogen and Dietz (1536-1606). The hybrid used buildings existed until the end of the 19th century and in parts even until the 20th century.
Chapel Schools a solitary architectural type
The Siegen fine art photographer Thomas Kellner recognized the historical and cultural value of these buildings and set himself the task of preserving and recalling this typical regional cultural asset through a new medium. By means of photography he transfers the chapel schools into an artistic context and gives the historical topic a new dimension in the present (art).
Just as the chapel schools united in themselves two spheres of life, this publication also conveys different contemporary perspectives on the history and genesis of the chapel schools. While Kellner tries to rethink the type of building, which oscillates between profane and sacred, with his artistic realization, Chiara Manon Bohn, Isabell Eberling M. Sc. Dr. Andrea Gnam and Dr. Stefanie Siedek-Strunk provide an insight into the historical, architectural and religious classification of the chapel schools up to the pictures of Thomas Kellner in text contributions.
