Guthirt (Meiringen)

The Guthirt Church in Meiringen

Guthirt Church is the Roman Catholic parish church of Meiringen . It was built in 1931 in the center of the village at Hauptstrasse 26 and is classified in the cantonal building inventory as a "protected K-object".

history

The parish of Interlaken also included the Oberhasli and the parish of Brienz until 1938 . In July 1938, the area from Oberried am Brienzersee with Brienz to the Grimsel Pass was separated and the Parish Rectorate Brienz-Meiringen was founded. From then on a pastor worked in Meiringen.

Before that, from 1923 Pastor Merke from Interlaken held services in the attic of the Bären hotel branch in Brienz. A separate church in Meiringen could not be realized for the time being because the construction of a church in Wengen had priority. Thanks to the funds provided by the Inland Mission at favorable concessions, construction began in Meiringen in 1929. The newly built church was consecrated on June 16, 1931 under the patronage of the Good Shepherd . On March 22, 1974, the parish of Oberhasli-Brienz was founded by resolution of the parish assembly. The parish of Oberhasli-Brienz includes the municipalities of Brienz (BE), Brienzwiler , Gadmen , Guttannen , Hasliberg , Hofstetten near Brienz , Innertkirchen , Meiringen and Oberried am Brienzersee. The churches of the community are the Guthirt Church in Meiringen, the Marienkapelle built in 1941 in Brienz, the Christophorus chapel in Hasliberg-Hohfluh , which was inaugurated in 1977, and the chapel at the Grimselhospiz, which was probably built in 1928.

Building description

Guthirt Meiringen diagonal

The church, built in 1931 in neo-Romanesque Lombard style, is a stone-faced building with an attached bell tower. A portal porch with a round arch and gable roof is supported by two brick columns. The tympanum fresco with Christ the Good Shepherd was painted by W. Purtscher in 1931. The gable roof of the ship is designed with little overhang at the verge at the street side gable and at the side eaves with a larger overhang. The console frieze under the eaves and the cornices on the tower are to be seen as neo-Romanesque ornaments without function. On the right side of the less wide, elevated choir building is the tower and opposite the lower sacristy extension. The rectory to the north was expanded in 2007 with an annex to become a parish center.

Interior and artistic equipment

Four high round arch niches on both sides, separated by partition walls with arched openings, look like aisles. The narrow, high windows were designed with ornamental glass by the glass painting company Eduard Boss (1882–1942) from Bern. The high choir, with the retracted arch, receives indirect daylight from high side windows. Doors to the side lead to the sacristy or the basement of the tower. The original furnishings were changed in 1974 during the renovation by the local architect Ernst E. Anderegg . Unlike usual, the altar is laterally offset and allows a clear view of the tabernacle and the wooden cross on the back wall. The ambo on the left completes the asymmetrical division of the sacred furnishings. The gallery between the rear niche arches is bordered by a wooden parapet with coffered panels. On the left side of the choir wall there is a carved wood Madonna with child in a blind arch and opposite a statue of Joseph the nursing and foster father with the baby Jesus.

literature

Gabriela Hanke et al .: Catholic Bern from 1799 to 1999. A stopover . Total Roman Catholic parish of Bern and the surrounding area, Bern 1999.
Emil Josef Nünlist: The Catholic Church in the Bern area . Self-published, Bern 1941.

Web links

Commons : Guthirt - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Guthirt Parish website accessed on 23 September 2019
Guthirt Church in the cantonal building inventory (PDF, 138 KB)

Individual evidence

↑ History on the parish website. Retrieved September 20, 2019 .
↑ Grand Council resolution on the delimitation of the parishes. In: Website of the Government Council of the Canton of Bern, April 4, 2012 (PDF; 111 kB).