Brother Klaus (Gerlafingen)

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Church Brother Klaus Gerlafingen
inside view
Rosa mystica by Albert Schilling in the outdoor area
Weekday chapel

The Brother Klaus Church is the Roman Catholic Church of Gerlafingen . It was built between 1955 and 1956 by the renowned church architect Fritz Metzger .

History and parish structure

prehistory

Already in documents from the 13th century is Kriegstetten called as an independent parish. At the end of the Middle Ages, the entire outer water authority belonged to the parish of Kriegstetten; Heinrichswil , Hersiwil , Horriwil , Recherswil , Oekingen , Halt , Kriegstetten itself, Obergerlafingen , Gerlafingen and Derendingen belonged to this parish . When in 1472 the parish of Hüniken had to be dissolved due to financial difficulties, the other parishes of the external water authority were also added to the parish of Kriegstetten for a few decades. In 1528 Hünikon was reappointed an independent parish. In the course of the Reformation , the Bernese authorities forbade the celebration of Catholic worship in Kriegstetten. Therefore, the believers from Kriegstetten and the surrounding area, who had remained Catholic after the Reformation, had to make the way to the small church in Hünikon. From 1577 it was again allowed to hold catholic services in Kriegstetten. In 1683 the parish of Aeschi was established as the first daughter parish of Kriegstetten. Hünikon was assigned to this newly created parish together with the other parishes of the external water authority.

As a result of the industrial development in the 19th century, many people in search of work moved to the communities on the Emme , which quickly grew into industrial villages, including Gerlafingen, Biberist and Derendingen. In 1925 the pastor of Kriegstetten received an order from the bishop to set up his own parish in Derendingen. In 1927 his own pastor was sent to Derendingen for this purpose. In 1933 the new church in Derendingen was consecrated and the parish belonging to it was separated from Kriegstetten as a second daughter parish.

History of the parish

On April 24, 1932, the Catholics in Gerlafingen founded a church building association. The economic crisis and the Second World War meant that the building of the church initially had to be delayed. After the Second World War, the establishment of a separate parish was started quickly. On December 3, 1950, the first parish rector of Gerlafingen, Albert Rippstein, celebrated the first Holy Mass in the town hall. Under his successor, Rev. Urs Guldimann, today's Brother Klaus Church was built and Gerlafingen was separated from Kriegstetten as the third daughter parish.

On November 26, 1955, the foundation stone of the Brother Klaus church was laid . This was done by the bishop of Basel and Lugano , Franziskus von Streng . The stonemason Peter Fluri from Gerlafingen created the foundation stone. On the front of it is a cross with an extra-long crossbar, above it a quote from St. Brother Klaus : Fried is all in God, because God is Fried. On December 2, 1956, Bishop Franziskus von Streng inaugurated the completed church in honor of St. Brother Klaus.

Today the church of Brother Klaus Gerlafingen belongs to the pastoral area Wasseramt West - Bucheggberg, which also includes the churches of Kriegstetten, Biberist and Lohn-Ammannsegg . The church was included in the register of protected historical cultural monuments by the decision of the government council of March 14, 2017.

Building description

Exterior of the church and bell tower

Not far from the center of Gerlafingen, the architect Fritz Metzger built the Brother Klaus church as a rectangular sacral building with a high porch in front of it , the roof of which was designed as a continuation of the church roof. Since the church was built a little back from the main street, the bell tower erected on the street has the task of showing passers-by the location of the church. Both the exterior and the interior of the church reveal the artistic proximity of the Brother Klaus Gerlafingen church to the two churches of St. Felix and Regula Zurich-Hard and St. Franziskus Riehen, which Fritz Metzger had built a few years earlier. The parish center was built between the main road and the north-eastern flank of the church building; the parsonage , which is connected to the church via the sacristy , is on the south-western side of the choir . To the north-west of the church is the weekday chapel, at the corner of which is facing the entrance to the church a statue of the church patron , St. Brother Klaus, is placed.

On the main facade of the church, between the two entrance portals, a stone carving by Albert Schilling was attached in the middle , which bears a Marian relief, based on the piety of the church's patron, St. Brother Klaus. The relief addresses the Lauretanian litany in honor of Our Lady, who is invoked there as Rosa mystica (as a mystical rose). The Rosa mystica is surrounded by the 15 pearls of the three rosary secrets .

The bell carrier was designed by Fritz Metzger as a narrow concrete tower with a large, gold-plated dial attached to the facade . Inside it hides a five-part bell that was cast in 1962 by the H. Rüetschi company in Aarau. The bells sound in a seventh chord in the striking notes of '- f' - as '- b' - c ''. In 2017, all fittings including the clapper were replaced, and the ProBell clappers have been helping the bells to sound better.

Interior and artistic equipment

When designing the interior, Fritz Metzger referred to the population of Gerlafingen: As was the case in the parish of St. Felix and Regula Zurich-Hard, many of the Catholics worked in the local industrial companies or lived from trade and from at the time of construction Trade. In contrast to this profane world of work, the interior of the Brother Klaus church should be perceived as a sacred tent of God. Just as the ark of the covenant once accompanied the people of God in the Old Testament on their wandering through the desert, God - in the real presence in the tabernacle - should also be on the road with the parishioners in Gerlafingen in the church of Brother Klaus, created in the form of a tent. As with the Church of St. Felix and Regula Zurich-Hard, the roof load of the Church of Brother Klaus Gerlafingen is essentially borne by the slender, inclined concrete supports , which underline the design of the church as God's tent. Thanks to this roof construction, the outer walls could be built as thin brick walls. The roof over the central nave consists of a flat concrete dome which tapers at its highest point and is thus reminiscent of the shape of a tent ridge.

The nave has a trapezoidal floor plan with rounded corners. The transverse oval choir adjoins the main room without detachment. The pillars of the nave mark the transition from the main nave to the two narrow and slightly lower aisles. The fact that the nave joins the chancel with no noticeable transition blurs the distinction between nave and choir, which was common until the first half of the 20th century. In this way, the design of the Brother Klaus church takes up the ideas of the liturgical movement and anticipates the requirements of the liturgical constitution of the Second Vatican Council , which called for the unity of priests and believers. The pews are slightly curved towards the choir, in the center of which is the altar designed by Albert Schilling .

On the front of the altar three symbols can be seen that stand for the Trinity : on the left the hand of God ( God the Father as Creator of the world), in the middle the cross (which refers to Jesus Christ as Son of God ), and finally on the right the dove (symbol of Holy Spirit ). Albert Schilling designed this altar front based on a vision of the Holy Brother Klaus about the Trinity. Above the altar there is a crucifix , again created by Albert Schilling, who also created the tabernacle, which is set away from the altar. On the left side of the choir there is a baroque statue of the Virgin Mary , on the right a statue of the church patron, St. Brother Klaus. The Way of the Cross is embedded in the form of mosaics on the walls of the aisles. The church floor is paved with stone slabs, an asphalt pavement is installed under the benches , which, as in the Church of St. Felix and Regula Zurich-Hard, refers to the profane working world of believers. The glass windows with their abstract forms created Paul Stöckli.

Chapel and baptistery

The weekday chapel was added to the church interior as an extension to the north and, like the nave, has a trapezoidal floor plan, but without rounded corners. It is a simple, low room that, like the nave, tapers slightly towards the altar. The chapel can be opened to the church using a sliding wall. The stained glass window, which takes up the work of St. Brother Klaus, comes from Paul Stöckli.

The baptistery , the ceiling of which has a flat dome, is located under the organ gallery. The baptismal font and its lid were made by Jean Hutter, St. Niklausen.

Organ loft

organ

In 1962 the first organ was installed on the gallery . It was a rental instrument from the company Späth , Rapperswil, with 8 registers, which was built in 1950. In 1975 this was replaced by today's organ. It was built by the company Kuhn , Männedorf. It has 21 registers , divided into two manuals and a pedal . The previous instrument was sold to the parish of Lohn-Ammannsegg, which installed it in their Gut Hirt church. It is noticeable that the Kuhn organ was not placed in the middle, but was placed in the left corner of the gallery.

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
Principal 8th'
Paddock 8th'
Viol 8th'
octave 4 ′
Reed flute 4 ′
Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
octave 2 ′
third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
Mixture IV 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
II Positive
(swellable) C – g 3
Dumped 8th'
Salicional 8th'
Principal 4 ′
recorder 4 ′
Flageolet 2 ′
Fifth 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Cymbel III 1 ⁄ 2 ′
shawm 8th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
Sub bass 16 ′
Gemshorn 8th'
Viol bass 8th'
Choral bass 4 ′
bassoon 16 ′

literature

  • Parish Gerlafingen (Ed.): Festschrift for the consecration of the Fraternal Clause Church Gerlafingen on December 2, 1956. Gerlafingen 1956.

Web links

Commons : Bruder Klaus (Gerlafingen)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jakob Schenker: The mother parish of Kriegstetten. In: Festschrift for the consecration of the Bruderklausenkirche Gerlafingen on December 2, 1956. Gerlafingen 1956, pp. 42–43.
  2. ↑ Hermann Misteli: On becoming and growing of the church building association Gerlafingen. In: Festschrift for the consecration of the Bruderklausenkirche Gerlafingen on December 2, 1956. Gerlafingen 1956, pp. 21–26.
  3. ↑ Jakob Schenker: The mother parish of Kriegstetten. In: Festschrift for the consecration of the Bruderklausenkirche Gerlafingen on December 2, 1956. Gerlafingen 1956, p. 43.
  4. ↑ Old website of the parish Brother Klaus Gerlafingen section building history. Retrieved August 19, 2017.
  5. ↑ Festschrift for the consecration of the Fraternal Clause Church in Gerlafingen on December 2, 1956. Gerlafingen 1956, p. 44.
  6. ^ Website of the pastoral room. Accessed August 5, 2019.
  7. ^ Website of the political municipality Gerlafingen. Section churches. Retrieved August 6, 2019.
  8. ^ Fritz Metzger: The architect for church building. In: Festschrift for the consecration of the Fraternal Clause Church in Gerlafingen on December 2, 1956. Gerlafingen 1956, p. 31.
  9. ↑ Albert Schilling: From the altar and its design. In: Festschrift for the consecration of the Bruderklausenkirche Gerlafingen on December 2, 1956. Gerlafingen 1956, p. 41.
  10. ↑ Information on YouTube.Retrieved August 5, 2019.
  11. ^ Fritz Metzger: The architect for church building. In: Festschrift for the consecration of the Fraternal Clause Church in Gerlafingen on December 2, 1956. Gerlafingen 1956, p. 31.
  12. ↑ Albert Schilling: From the altar and its design. In: Festschrift for the consecration of the Bruderklausenkirche Gerlafingen on December 2, 1956. Gerlafingen 1956, pp. 40–41.
  13. ↑ Festschrift for the consecration of the Fraternal Clause Church in Gerlafingen on December 2, 1956. Gerlafingen 1956, page 44.
  14. ↑ Festschrift for the consecration of the Fraternal Clause Church in Gerlafingen on December 2, 1956. Gerlafingen 1956, p. 44.
  15. ^ Catholic Church Brother Klaus Gerlafingen SO. in the organ directory Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Retrieved August 5, 2019.

Coordinates: 47 ° 10 '12.9 "  N , 7 ° 34' 11.1"  E ; CH1903:  609.94 thousand  /  224374