Room of assemblies

In order to hold their assembled district and sometimes also their assembled district, the Témoins of Jéhovah of certain areas built their clean Salle from assemblies , most of the time of a capacity of approximately 2.000 places.

History

Previously, the faithful ones rented municipal buildings (stages, auditoriums, schools, gymnasia…) to hold their assemblies, but various problems (cleaning of the places, installation of wiring for sound, transport of the chairs, cancellation of the hiring at the last time, high cost…) led the religious movement to want to have its own rooms of assemblies. The first of this kind was the theater of Long Island, in the State of New York, used as of 1965.

Towards 1965, the Témoins of Jéhovah of Guadeloupe created a transportable Room of assemblies made of steel tubes and glaze of aluminum foils, of a capacity of 700 places, which they could assemble everywhere where they found a ground available relatively flat. They increased this construction on several occasions, until it shelters 5.000 people. The 30 tons of material were assembled and dismounted at each assembly during thirteen years.

Restoration and construction

In good number of places, the Rooms of assemblies were built starting from already existing buildings. For example, in Hays Bridge, in England, the Témoins of Jéhovah bought and renovated an old school complex of about fifty years, located on a ground of 11 hectares; into Spain, former cinemas and an unused factory were transformed and used, an old factory of clothing in Australia, a dance hall in Quebec, a bowling in Japan, a warehouse in Republic of Korea.

But currently, more and more of Rooms of assemblies are entirely new constructions. Some of these rooms have particular designs: the room of Hellaby, in England, is built in an octagonal way; that of Saskatoon, with the Canada, has a capacity of 1.200 people but can be divided into four adjacent Salles of the Kingdom when interior partitions are installed; that of Haiti, prefabricated and transported by boat since the the United States, has its two opened lateral sides so that the assistants, accustomed to heat, can benefit from the dominant winds; that of Port Moresby, in New Guinea-News-Guinea, was conceived so that panels of walls can swivel to increase the room.

The construction of the Rooms of assemblies functions in collaborration with the Committees of fast construction and claims the voluntariate of the faithful ones. Certain constructions lasted more than one year, others much less. For example, in 1984, New Caledonia, nearly 400 volunteers worked with the construction of the Room of assemblies, which was completed in four months. In 1985, on the island of Vancouver, with the Canada, approximately 4.500 volunteers set up a Room of assemblies of 2.300 square meters in nine days, also including/understanding a Salle of the Kingdom of 200 places intended for the local congregations. Not far from Stockholm in Sweden, a Room of assemblies equipped with 900 seats in oak and upholstered, required seven months of work.

In certain countries, as with the Nigeria, in Italy and with the Denmark, the Témoins of Jéhovah built larger permanent installations for their assemblies of district.

Statistics and distribution

In 1987, there existed on a worldwide scale 126 Rooms of assemblies, to which 96 other installations were added to open sky. This year, one counted 36 rooms in the course of work and 59 constructions with open sky.

In France, there are now several Rooms of assemblies, all built by the work of voluntary members of the religious organization. One of them is to about fifty kilometers in the north of Paris, Creil, and comprises 1.870 places. Another, built in Marignane, with a few kilometers in the North-West of Marseilles, in the Rhone delta, required approximately 350.000 work hours voluntary. Two others are located at Pont-Évêque, close to Vienna, in the Isere, and with Bressols, in the Tarn-et-Garonne. In the ex- the Federal Republic of Germany, the Témoins of Jéhovah have ten Rooms of assemblies established in various areas, including one of 1.700 places with Meckenheim, in the valley of the the Rhine. In Spain, there are several Rooms of assemblies, including one with Madrid and two with Barcelona (one is in the city and the other with a few kilometers outside).

Oppostion with construction

Sometimes, the construction of certain rooms of assemblies meets opposition on behalf of town councilors or of associations such as for example to Deyvillers, in France.

See too

Internal bonds

Pilot of Jéhovah
Room of the Kingdom
Assembled Witnesses of Jéhovah

References

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