St. Mary's church in Handorf

image author: Kirchenkreis Winsen

As usual in he olden times the wooden belfry stands adjacent to the neo-Gothic church, which was built in 1854. But the church's history goes well back into the Middle Ages.

Around 1250 mentioned for the first time it had then already parish rights as a privately owned church by the earls of  Wölpe. In 1282 the church complex was was purchased by the monastery Lüne .

With Handorf a basic model for certain church foundations becomes clear, whereby the nobility built churches for their own and its people, which could turn into other property and could become later parish churches.

Especially well worth seeing in Handorf: a bronze baptismal font from 1440, a carved Madonna sculpture ('Mary on the crescent') from 1450, the cross above the altar with the four archangels (around 1520) and four altar candle sticks (around 1560).

image author: Kirchenkreis Winsen

 

 

In the 1970ties the community centre was restored by community members doing all the work under the then Pastor Beckmann.