Parkstadt Solln Ecumenical Church Center
The ecumenical church center Parkstadt Solln in the Munich district of Solln with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Peter and the Roman Catholic Church of St. Ansgar wall to wall was built in 1974–1975 by the architect Ernst Maria Lang .
history
With the construction of the satellite settlement Parkstadt Solln between 1963 and 1968, the population of Solln rose from around 10,000 to just under 17,000, an increase that the Roman Catholic parish of St. Johann Baptist and the Evangelical Lutheran parish Apostle Church could no longer cope with in terms of space and personnel . The Catholics founded the new parish curate of St. Ansgar - named after the archbishop - and built a barrack on Gulbranssonstrasse, which served as an emergency church from New Year 1967; the Protestants founded a second parish district and set up a shop church with a parish hall in the newly created shop center, which was inaugurated at Pentecost 1967. Both were temporary arrangements for which definitive solutions were soon sought. As early as 1970, the Catholic community was able to move into a community center with a parish hall, youth rooms and a kindergarten urgently needed in the new Parkstadt on a larger area between Gulbranssonstrasse and Stockmannstrasse. The construction plan of the Parkstadt Solln also contained a detailed draft of a large Catholic church, which was rejected by the Catholic pastors, parish council and church administration as no longer in line with current parish issues. The Protestant community initially planned to build a church with community rooms on Herterichstrasse, but this could not be realized.
Right from the start there were good ecumenical contacts between the two new congregations . On the basis of the actual, lower building requirements of the Catholic community, the idea arose to include the Protestant community in the construction and to build a joint ecumenical church center. The Protestant pastor Gernot Müller and the Catholic curates Georg Ertl and from 1972 Martin Huber were able to overcome the hurdles in both church leaderships; the project was decided and the architect Ernst Maria Lang was won over for planning and implementation. The joint foundation stone was laid on December 14, 1974. Exactly one year later, on December 14, 1975, the inauguration of the two churches and the respective parish rooms took place. The construction costs estimated at 4.8 million marks were undercut by more than 100,000 marks.
With the inauguration of the center, the Catholic curate Huber was appointed pastor and the parish curate became a parish.
architecture
The commissioned Ernst Maria Lang, also the leading architect of the entire Parkstadt Solln, wanted to create a "lively, happy heart of Parkstadt Solln" with the church and community center.
Exterior construction
While Lang's first church building, the St. Andreas parish church (1953) in Munich's Schlachthofviertel, corresponded to the post-war style of churches, Lang broke new ground in terms of shape and color for the community center in the park town of Solln. From the outside, the center is not necessarily recognizable as a church building at first glance, especially since, in view of the dense development of the surrounding area, there were no bells and therefore no bell tower. Instead, for purely functional reasons, two silvery metal chimneys protrude into the air.
While the interior of the building met with great approval from the start, the exterior was not entirely undisputed. Even more than the unconventional shapes, the black, slate-like Eternit panels with which the building is clad - except for the base made of light gray bricks or raw concrete - were described as taking some getting used to. In the evangelical parish letter even a poem by a parishioner was published, which began with the words: “People stand shaking their heads / and look at the building / the one recently started here / why it was so black conceived.” But the unfamiliar soon became extraordinary accepted.
The separate monopitch roofs of the two churches rise towards each other; "They are not yet connected, a sign that the two churches are on the way to each other, but not yet connected," said the Catholic Pastor Huber. Both buildings are connected by a common wall. There are no doors that allow direct passage. Both buildings have the foundation stone in common, which is visible in St. Ansgar behind the altar and - on the other side of the wall - in the foyer of the Petruskirche. On the ground floor there is a passage between the south and north sides of the building under the rooms on the first floor, which is also access to the churches and parish rooms of both denominations. Outside on the north side of the center there is a large wooden cross that invites you to visit. On the south side of the parish hall of the Petruskirche there is a small terrace, which is used as a patio by small groups in summer.
There is a large church forecourt between the ecumenical center, the Catholic parish hall, which was built earlier, the shop center and Gulbranssonstrasse. Close to the center there is a white limestone column created by the sculptor Blasius Gerg , "in deliberate contrast to the black church with concave and convex crosses". A specially made ecumenical church flag on Gulbranssonstrasse, which is raised on festive occasions, and a floor mosaic in the form of a labyrinth, which were attached later, complete the picture. Since 1977 the ecumenical summer festival of Parkstadt Solln has been held every summer on the church forecourt .
Interior architecture St. Ansgar
The Catholic part of the center has a church room designed by Blasius Gerg with 280 seats, a weekday church, a community hall, two smaller meeting rooms, four youth rooms, an old people's club room and an official apartment. The almost square church space is spanned by a wooden roof structure created by Julius Natterer without any supports. The altar area, raised by one step, forms the center of the room. The pews are grouped around it on three sides. Light shafts built into the roof at an angle provide the room - with the altar as the brightest point - with glare-free daylight.
The St. Ansgar organ has 16 stops; it was built by Staller Orgelbau, Grafing.
Interior architecture Petruskirche
In the evangelical part of the building there is a church room with 120 seats, a parish hall (through which the church can be expanded to 200 seats when the connecting doors are open), a club room for the adult groups, a club for the elderly, two youth rooms, smaller office rooms, a sacristy, one Official apartment and storage rooms.
The Protestant church interior was designed by the Catholic Josef Fromm. The altar wall forms a large relief, the interpretation of which the artist deliberately left open: it can represent a candlestick, a tree or a chalice. With its upward movement, it forms a countermovement to the massive ceiling sloping down towards the altar. The center is a representation of Jesus' last supper as a bronze sculpture group. The motif of the raised arms of Jesus is included in the altar and stand candlesticks. The altar, the baptismal font and the lid as well as a half-relief plaque in the foyer in front of the church are also created by Fromm.
The single-manual organ with 6 registers was already acquired by Deininger & Renner for the shop church and, modified, transferred to the Petruskirche.
use
While St. Ansgar was an independent parish from the start, the Protestant church belongs to the parish Apostelkirche Solln, which is why it was initially only called "Apostelkirche II". It was not until 1984 that it was given the name Petruskirche - named after the apostle . The previously independent Catholic parishes of St. Johann Baptist and St. Ansgar were merged in 2005 to form the Solln Parish Association under the leadership of a common pastor. The two Protestant parts of the community also worked largely independently for a long time. A new concept since 2015 provides for better sharing of spatial and human resources. Both measures led to an even closer ecumenical cooperation in all of Solln.
Both congregations located in the ecumenical community center offer their own worship services and numerous events and programs. There are also many joint activities, for example: ecumenical church services, everyday retreats , an ecumenical way of the cross in Parkstadt, the beginning of the Easter Eve and Easter bonfires , lectures and discussion evenings , the Emmaus hikes , the Pentecost Novena , the St. Martin's procession , the Decade of Peace with ecumenical worship on the day of Repentance and Prayer in conclusion. Rites that are actually denominational are also celebrated together with the other denomination. Much of it is organized and coordinated by the ecumenical staff group.
Web links
- Our parish - the history of the Petruskirche in Parkstadt-Solln. Evangelical Lutheran Church Congregation Solln, accessed on February 1, 2016 .
- Internet presence of the parish association Solln. Parish Association Solln, accessed on February 1, 2016 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hermann Sand : Solln: the city district book . Inma-Marketing, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-923395-12-4 .
- ↑ a b History of St. Ansgar. Parish Association Solln, accessed on November 21, 2019 .
- ^ Evang.-Luth parish Munich-Solln (ed.): Parish letter . Spring 1967.
- ↑ a b c Hubert Schöne: A center for two parishes . Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich December 15, 1975.
- ↑ The Parkstadt Solln. Solln.de (Wir Sollner e.V.), accessed on February 5, 2016 .
- ↑ Gina Berg: "A lively, happy heart of the Parkstadt Solln" . Ed .: Münchner Stadtanzeiger. Süddeutscher Verlag, Munich December 19, 1975.
- ↑ Eva Thilo: The black house . Ed .: Evangelical Lutheran Apostle Church Community Munich-Solln. (August September). Church under construction, Munich 1975.
- ↑ Ecumenical Summer Festival 2015. Parish Association Solln, accessed on February 12, 2016 .
- ↑ a b St. Ansgar and Apostle Church II (ed.): Ecumenical parish letter for the inauguration of the church and parish center Parkstadt Solln on December 14, 1975 .
- ↑ Festschrift: 40 years of ecumenical church center Parkstadt Solln. St. Ansgar and Petruskirche, 2015, accessed on February 2, 2016 .
Coordinates: 48 ° 4 ′ 58.7 " N , 11 ° 30 ′ 17.8" E