Hans Beckers (architect)

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Hans Beckers (born December 27, 1902 in Schelklingen ; † January 22, 1984 in Donaustauf ) was a German architect who stood out primarily in the field of Catholic sacred buildings.

He is one of the leading church architects of the post-war period, between 1949 and 1974 he built over 30 church buildings with a focus on the dioceses of Passau and Regensburg, but also in Styria and the diocese of Würzburg.

Life

City parish church in Mainburg

Hans Beckers was a son of the bookbinder Jakob Beckers and Anna Maria Beckers geb. Waldenmair, both catholic denominations, residing in Schelklingen. Hans Beckers' baptismal name was Johann Matthias. Hans Beckers' parents married in Munich in 1894. The family moved to Regensburg in 1905.

Beckers was shaped by the community of the Catholic Quickborn working group since his youth . He studied architecture in Munich.

From 1936 he worked with the famous church architect Dominikus Böhm - a connection that was formative for Becker's other work. In 1937, Beckers began building the monumental St. Wolfgang Church in Regensburg under Böhm's direction . The towering church in the form of a Greek cross, with the position of the high altar in the center, pointed the way for the later church buildings of Becker.

In 1946, after his return from captivity, Beckers rebuilt the St. Wolfgang Church, which had been destroyed in the war, according to his own plans. In 1947 he ran the Bavarian Provincial House of the Sisters of the Cross with a school complex and church in Gemünden am Main . At the end of the 1940s, Becker began his main creative period in the field of church architecture. He planned and built around 40 church buildings in close collaboration with various artists.

In 1952 the expansion and reorientation of the Catholic parish church St. Jakobus in Laaber took place according to his plans . 1952 to 1954 he built the parish church Mater Dolorosa in Regensburg's east quarter.

In 1958 he built the parish church and the baptistery in Mainburg .

From 1961 to 1963, the Holy Trinity Seminary Church of the Steyler Missionaries of St. Peter in Tirschenreuth was built according to his plans .

In the diocese of Passau he built the chapel of the retreat house in Passau (1959/60), the parish church Jandelsbrunn (1961–63), the church in Oberdiendorf (1964/65), the parish church Hinterschmiding (1969/70) and the parish church St. Vitus in Hauzenberg (1972).

In 1974 Beckers retired from professional life.

Quotes

In 1965 Beckers wrote:

“The detachment from traditional, thoughtless, imitated forms is complete. The requirements of the liturgy regarding the altar and the people have largely been met. The next task seems to be to create spaces that are not only functional, but also to create places for a living community of prayer and reflection. The living word in the vernacular should be given place and expression. "

- Hans Beckers (1965)

In 1968 Beckers summarized his view of contemporary church building:

“The churches of recent years have brought in what I hiked at home when I was young: the originality of the material, warmth and embedding in the landscape. It is said that there is something of warmth and soul about my churches that is lacking in most modern churches. Realism without mind is sobriety, mind without realism is sentimentality. Both together make life human. So now that I have arrived at the 'old people' I confess that our new churches not only function liturgically, but should also appeal to people's minds, because God, to whom people flee, is love. "

- Hans Beckers (1968)

Exhibitions

  • Church builder Hans Beckers , exhibition in the Museum Obermünster from December 27, 2002 to January 19, 2003

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d http://domschatz-regensburg.de: domschatz-regensburg.de: Church builder from the liturgical movement: Hans Beckers (1902-1984)
  2. ↑ Stadtarchiv Schelklingen, birth register 1901–1905, entry no. 77 from December 29, 1902.
  3. ↑ pfarrei-mainburg.de ( Memento from December 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ A village church breathes the spirit of the Second Vatican Council . In: Dionys Asenkerschbaumer, Alois Brunner, Ludger Drost, Andreas Paul: gems, treasures, curiosities. Journeys of discovery in the Diocese of Passau , Episcopal Ordinariate Passau, Verlag Passauer Bistumsblatt, Passau 2011, 2nd edition 2012, ISBN 978-3-9813094-3-0 (p. 90)
personal data
SURNAME Beckers, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German architect
DATE OF BIRTH December 27, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Rogue blades
DATE OF DEATH January 22nd 1984
Place of death Donaustauf