Herz-Jesu-Kirche (Wels)
The Herz-Jesu-Kirche is an approximately easted neo-Romanesque Roman Catholic parish church in the Neustadt district of Wels . It belongs to the Deanery Wels-Stadt in the Diocese of Linz and is a listed building .
The place around the church and the two building fronts to the north and south have “Flotzingerplatz” as the address, named after the pastor who initiated the church.
history
Since Wels recorded a strong population growth during the 19th century, a new district, the "Neustadt", was developed in the north of the city. This gave rise to the desire of the local population for their own church in this area and the Wels town pastor Josef Flotzinger applied to the diocese of Linz to build a Catholic church for the residents of Neustadt. Bishop Franz Maria Doppelbauer supported this proposal, so that a church building association was formed around 1900.
In 1905 the foundation stone was laid for the church, which was financed entirely from donations. A stone that pilgrims from Upper Austria had brought from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem was used as the foundation stone . Archduchess Marie Valerie took part in the ceremony, which was attended by the population, along with the clergy and representatives of the authorities . The first service took place in the still unfinished building in 1907.
After six years of construction, the church was completed in 1911 according to plans by Matthäus Schlager , an Austrian master builder, and consecrated by the Bishop of Linz, Rudolph Hittmair . At that time the church was called “Dom auf der Haide”, because it was in the middle of the ( Welser ) Haide and at that time there were hardly any buildings around the church. Today it is surrounded by a park.
In 1922 the Steyler missionaries took over pastoral care and in 1925 the church was elevated to an independent parish. In the immediate vicinity of the church is the Wels-Grieskirchen Clinic , which is run by the Sisters of Charity of the Holy Cross ( Sisters of the Cross ).
During the Second World War there were plans to dismantle the two church towers because the airport was too close, but these were not implemented. The church was badly damaged by bombing and the glass windows were destroyed, so that after the end of the war considerable funds had to be raised to restore the church.
In 1975 the main altar and pulpit were removed to make room for the new organ.
A general renovation of the church, which affected the outside and inside area, took place between 2008 and 2013. The total expenditure amounted to 1.4 million euros, of which the parish had to raise 600,000 euros from its own funds and donations.
Building description
The outer walls, the towers and the columns inside the church are made of Neuhauser and Mauthausner granite and are made using the Cyclops technique . The inner walls and the vaults are made of fired bricks .
Outside
The three-aisled nave with a gable roof is flanked to the west by the two 73.5 meter high towers. A transept that is the same height as the nave has extensions at the ends of the transverse arms. The crossing is covered by an octagonal tent roof with a pointed lantern , which is crowned by a cross. The choir adjoins the transept and ends in a five-eighth ending.
The side aisles have pent roofs and coupled arched windows . In the upper aisles and the choir there are oculi .
Inside
The three- bay nave is closed off by ribbed vaults that receive light from large oculi in the upper storey . Arcades over Romanesque columns with cube capitals open to the side aisles with casement-framed arched windows that are closed off by ribbed vaults. The vault ribs of the nave vault end on vault beginners above half-columns that attach to the cube capitals of the arcades. The arcade arches are framed with plaster flaps and have a slight relief, above which a relief cornice extends over the entire length of the three bays .
Furnishing
The decor of the largely unadorned interior is centered on the painting in the dome of the apse . It comes from the Linz painter Alfred Stifter, was created in 1960 and shows a mighty half-length figure of Christ depicted as a carpenter tortured to death . Instead of the cross, a green tree of life appears behind the figure and in the place of the heart the Christ figure bears a host in a star-shaped halo. In the two lower corners of the painting, two early Christian symbols indicate man's desire for heavenly food. On the left a pigeon hurrying to a grape, on the right a thirsty stag.
The windows of the apse were made according to designs by Alfred Stifter from the stained glass of Schlierbach Abbey and represent a cycle from the Sacred Heart Litany. They are partially covered by the new organ in the apse. In the left window Moses, who lets the water gush out of the rock, and in the left covered central window a floating angel with the symbol of the seven sorrows of Mary over the Mother of God . In the concealed center window on the right, Longinus , stabbing the side of the crucified with a holy lance , and the apostle John as an assistant figure . The right window shows the Paschal Lamb , from whose wound the church emerges.
At the popular altar there is a crucifix showing Christ with arms outstretched and which, like the statue of the Madonna on the right crossing column , was made by the painter and sculptor Hermann Schweigl . It was unveiled on Good Friday 1977.
The figures on the old, no longer functioning organ come from the sculptor Engelbert Streif. The Herz-Jesu-Kirche also has the largest nativity scene in Austria, the life's work of the Messner Ernst Mayrhofer.
organ
The (new) instrument, comprising 45 stops on three manuals and a pedal , was built in 1982 by the Upper Austrian organ building institute St. Florian and consecrated by Bishop Maximilian Aichern on September 25 of the same year.
Bells
In 1925, seven bells were consecrated, which were cast by the Hahn company in Reutte . These had in World War II in 1942 as " metal donation of the German people " delivered are reached after Ilsenburg am Harz about Ilse Grobblech GmbH (now the site of Salzgitter AG ), but were not melted down for unknown reasons. In 1948, the then Federal Chancellor Leopold Figl successfully intervened with the Soviet High Commissioner Vladimir Vasilyevich Kurassov to return the bells, so that they came back to the church in 1948.
use
The Herz-Jesu-Kirche is the parish church of the parish Herz-Jesu. Along with the Wels parish church, it is one of the largest sacred buildings in the Upper Austrian city of Wels.
Individual evidence
- ^ Upper Austria - immovable and archaeological monuments under monument protection. ( Memento of June 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) . Federal Monuments Office , as of June 26, 2015 (PDF).
- ^ A b c Brigadier Gerhard Sladek in "Military & Pastoral Care", ed. from the Protestant military superintendent.
- ↑ a b Church renovation on the parish website, accessed on October 9, 2014
- ↑ Roman Summereder: Aufbruch der Klänge. Materials, pictures, documents on organ reform and organ culture in the 20th century. Edition Helbling, Innsbruck 1995, ISBN 3-900590-55-9 , p. 321.
- ↑ On the history of our parish church. (No longer available online.) Website of the parish Herz Jesu on the website of the Diocese of Linz, formerly in the original ; Retrieved June 13, 2012 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Florian Oberchristl: Bells of the Diocese of Linz. Verlag R. Pirngruber, Linz 1941, pp. 594f.
Web links
- The history of our church: "Dom auf der Heide" - dioezese-linz.at, website of the parish> parish church> chronicle
Coordinates: 48 ° 10 '22.4 " N , 14 ° 1' 37.8" E