Chapel school Odersberg
The “old school” in Odersberg is a chapel school built in 1740 as a half-timbered house with a ridge turret. The school was located on the first floor and the prayer room on the second floor. The building is therefore a so-called two-room type. It served as a chapel school until a new school building was erected in Odersberg in 1927. It was used as a school until 1966 and became private property in 1974.
The “old school” has meanwhile become the town landmark. The Protestant parish of Nenderoth acquired the half-timbered house in 1969. Since then, church services, choir rehearsals and other smaller events have been held there.
Chapel school Odersberg photograph
Odersberg 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 Odersberg, 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.
