Arosa Catholic Church
The Catholic Church of the Assumption of Mary in Arosa is a Roman Catholic church in the Swiss canton of Graubünden . It has stood above the village church of Arosa on the Hohen Promenade , corner of Sonnenbergstrasse and Hohenfelsstrasse , since 1936 .
history
The development of the Catholic parish in Arosa
Until the arrival of the Reformation in the rearmost Schanfigg in 1528, the Bergkirchli , built in 1493, was also the Catholic church of Arosa. After the Aroser and the other Schanfigg parishes - with the exception of Maladers - had completely converted to the new faith, there was no longer any de facto Catholic parish in the small mountain farming village until tourism began around 1880 . In 1889/90 the few Catholics who had moved there attended the service in Chur . They mostly covered the corresponding route on foot. From 1890 an increasing number of Catholics settled in Arosa, who soon felt the need for their own church. In October 1893, Chancellor Georg Schmid von Grüneck from Chur buried a Catholic - a spa guest - for the first time in the cemetery near Bergkirchli. After the funeral, the Bavarian gravedigger Gebhard Messmer - himself a Catholic and the grandfather of the later Arosa ice hockey legends Ueli and Gebi Poltera as well as Hansmartin Trepp - asked the clergyman to baptize his eight-day-old daughter Rosa (Trepp-Messmer) after the funeral. The episcopal ordinariate commissioned the pastor of Davos , HH. Karl Brenklé, with the clarification of the need and the possibility of an introduction of the Catholic worship service in Arosa. His request from 1894 was answered negatively by the Kurverein Arosa (today: Arosa Tourismus), as such a place seemed too expensive and no suitable location was available. The political municipality of Arosa also rejected the request as premature. A request from the Catholics from 1896 to let them use the new school hall for worship was approved to the effect that the schoolroom of the old Leinegga school house in Innerarosa was made available for this purpose. In the same year, the first holy mass in Arosa for 368 years was celebrated there.
Plans to build their own church
The clergyman in charge soon complained that there was not enough space in the schoolhouse. The municipality was also unable to realize a desired gallery for financial reasons. A church building committee was formed as early as 1898, which enjoyed the sympathy of the parish council and was allowed to collect money from the residents. As a temporary solution , the Catholics were given a room in the new Hubel school building. From 1904 a room on the ground floor of the Waldrand house (today: Koller Mode) and the community hall served as a place of worship. However, since this had to be available to the Protestants as well, the Catholic service had to be held before 9.30 a.m. The Kurverein advocated and supported the Catholic church service, as it seemed necessary for the development of the health resort that in addition to the English guests - who were at the same time building an English church - the Catholic visitors also had the opportunity to fulfill their church duties . The Kurverein therefore paid a subsidy to the Catholic Kultusverein for many years . In 1904 the sum was CHF 500.–, which was supposed to be raised by collecting among the members, but it soon rose to CHF 1,200.– and the Kurverein had to pay a substantial part of its budget.
Financing and construction of the first church on the Hubelsee
In May 1906 the building application for a “prayer house” was advertised and the Episcopal Ordinariate announced the intention to build a chapel , but set a few conditions. In the middle of the construction preparations, a small dispute arose between the Kur- and Kultusverein, as the collection result was only small - the parish could only sell around 200 lots for CHF 3.– and the Kurverein had to pay most of the sum from its cash register. In July of the same year, the Episcopal Ordinariate complained that the Catholic clergyman had been refused payment of the monthly salary of CHF 100; If there is no written declaration that the Kurverein will pay CHF 1,200.00 each for 10 years, the pastor will be recalled and the Catholic service will be stopped forever. The collection of Fr. 700.– of private contributions was then transferred to a special committee, which worked with great success. The Kurverein finally paid its contributions until 1914. In July 1907, the first Catholic church, which in addition to the prayer room also contained the pastor's apartment, was consecrated by the then Hubelsee below the Süsswinkel on Seewaldstrasse. It was built by the architect Bürer from Bad Ragaz / Arosa, the builder was the Episcopal Ordinariate in Chur , and the local Carlo Marazzi was responsible for the builder. The building site including the stable on it was owned by the bishop's ordinariate, represented by the cathedral priest Dr. H. Loretz, acquired from the owner of the Vicotria property as early as 1900. In 1908 the Chur bishop Johannes Fidelis Battaglia decided to cede ownership of the church to the Diocesan Cult Association of Chur. In 1926 the church was expanded to include a club room. After the construction of the new church, the house of God was initially intended to serve as a horse stable for a carter in 1938. However, this controversial project was not implemented. Instead, the building was sold to the municipality of Arosa for CHF 90,000 in 1946 and converted into a youth hostel for a further CHF 70,000 . As such, after a few additions and modifications, it is still essentially used today, albeit under the name Downtown Backpacker's for a few years .
Construction of the new church from 1936
The Catholic population in Arosa also increased sharply after 1910. As early as the 1920s, plans were drawn up to build a new, much larger church. In 1925 Beat Stoffel, owner of the Kulm Hotel and the Stoffelhütte , acquired a 2,181 m² building site from the Menzingen / Zug Institute near the Scheitaboda Forest on the Hohe Promenade. Most of it was a quarry . Stoffel donated this plot of land to the Catholic parish of Arosa in 1930, which in turn ceded the property of 2,128 m² to the Disentis diocesan cult association in 1934 .
The foundation stone for the new church was laid in August of the following year . The document, which was deposited in the foundation stone, said among other things: “ … In the year of salvation 1935 on August 18th, in the 14th year of the glorious reign of our holy father Pope Pius XI, when his Excellency Dr. Laurentius Mathias Vincenz Bishop of Chur, His Reverend Adolf Zanetti, Pastor of Arosa, Federal Councilor Minger, President of the Swiss Confederation, Dr. Albert Lardelli, district president of the Canton of Grisons, Mr. Peter Brunold, Arosa, Landammann the circle Schanfigg , Lieutenant Colonel Albert Schmid, Mayor was of Arosa, was here the consecration of the foundation stone for the new Catholic church of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary under the title , Assumption 'is consecrated in a solemn manner by his Excellency the Reverend Bishop Dr. Laurentius Mathias and included this document in the same. The patrons of the old Arosa Church, St. Barbara and St. Jodokus are supposed to be considered secondary patrons . ... "
On November 29, 1936, the new Catholic Church was founded by Bishop Dr. Laurentius Mathias Vinzenz consecrated. The construction cost CHF 372'127.40, CHF 10'872.40 less than estimated. The church was built according to the plans of the Chur architect Walter Sulser by the site manager Georg Brunold, Arosa. Architecturally, it represents a middle ground between Heimatstil and modern building. The earthworks and masonry work were carried out by the Arosa company Marazzi. In 1958 five new copper-tin bells with a total weight of around 6 tons were raised by the Arosa school youth: With the tones H, D, f sharp, a and h were the Marienglocke , the Josephsglocke , the Bruder-Klaus-Bell , the Barbaraglocke and the Guardian angel bell matched to the ringing of the village church. The original little bell, which had served for 20 years, was bequeathed to a missionary church in Africa for further use. In 1964 a garage was added and in 1975 the upper floor of the rectory was converted.
Architecture of the Church of the Assumption of Mary
The Arosa architect Alfons Rocco presented a project for a new church in 1924. However, this was not pursued any further, so that in 1930 a competitive tender was launched on the basis of a clear construction program. The competition was decided in 1931; He was won by the Brunold Brothers architects from Aros with his project “Dominante”. The only third-placed project “Surrexit” by the Sulser brothers from Chur was finally implemented. To what extent the denomination of the competitors played a role in this decision is unclear today. The building was erected on steeply sloping terrain on the Hohe Promenade. It develops along the topographically specified height curve. The building is characterized by a strict, cubic structure and flat roofing; a building made of partly plastered quarry stone masonry with a mighty entrance tower , provided with a striking cross of ten meters high, made of exposed concrete, rising far above the roof silhouette . The upright rectangular, partly slit-like windows combine the actual sacral area with the choir , nave and tower into one unit. In contrast, the attached parsonage - with the parish and vicar's apartment on the upper floors - with its recessed, rectangular windows has a stronger obligation to the architectural modernity of the 1930s. The decision of the parish to clad the mighty church ceiling in Hetzerkonstruction - which spans the gallery, the nave and the choir - instead of larch with pine wood , led to the decision to make all wooden parts of the furnishings in pine wood. Stools and tables are also made of pine, the floor is covered with reddish-brown, warm-toned ceramic plates. The formally classical main altar in the choir with altar table is impressive, both made of Poschiavine serpentine . A crucifixion group by Alfons Magg, which had emerged from a small competition among various artists, was designed above the high altar in 1941. In 1953, the painter Hans Baumhauer from Freiburg im Breisgau , who had already painted the windows, made the five mosaics with depictions of the life of Mary on the windowless wall on the wall from countless colored stones he had collected himself. The interesting overall design of the church meant that the building repeatedly attracted interest and was published on various occasions.
literature
- Olivier Berger: World architecture excluding the world , in: Terra Grischuna 1/2011, p. 28 ff.
- Fabrizio Brentini: Building for the Church. Catholic church building of the 20th century in Switzerland. Lucerne 1994.
- Hans Danuser : Arosa - as it was then (1947–1961) , Vol. 4, self-published by Danuser, Arosa 2000, pp. 98, 154, 172, 197.
- Hans Danuser: Arosa - as it was then (1928-1946) , vol. 3, self-published by Danuser, Arosa 1999, pp. 29, 49, 105, 117, 149, 161.
- Hans Danuser: Arosa - as it was then (1907–1928) , Vol. 2, self-published by Danuser, Arosa 1998, pp. 9, 10, 12, 14, 81, 186, 200.
- Hans Danuser: Arosa - as it was then (1850–1907) , vol. 1, self-published by Danuser, Arosa 1997, pp. 64, 81 ff., 179, 183, 199.
- Beat Fischer: 500 years of Bergkirchli Arosa (with many references to local history) , self-published by Beat Fischer, Chur 1992, p. 44 ff.
- Marcel Just, Christof Kübler, Matthias Noell (eds.): Arosa - Modernism in the mountains . gta, Zurich 2007, ISBN 978-3-85676-214-8 , pp. 186–191.
- Fritz Maron: From mountain farming village to world health resort Arosa , Verlag F. Schuler, Chur 1934, p. 262 ff.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans Danuser: Arosa - as it was then (1850–1907) , Vol. 1, self-published by Danuser, Arosa 1997, p. 64.
- ^ Hans Danuser: Arosa - as it was then (1850-1907) , Vol. 1, self-published Danuser, Arosa 1997, pp. 82, 83 f.
- ↑ Hans Danuser: Arosa - as it was then (1928-1946) , vol. 3, self-published Danuser, Arosa 1999, p. 117 ff.
- ↑ Hans Danuser: Arosa - as it was then (1947–1961) , vol. 4, self-published by Danuser, Arosa 2000, p. 172 f.
- ↑ Marcel Just, Christof Kübler, Matthias Noell (eds.): Arosa - The Modern in the Mountains . gta, Zurich 2007, p. 188 with further information.
Web links
Coordinates: 46 ° 46 ′ 42 " N , 9 ° 40 ′ 31.7" E ; CH1903: seven hundred seventy thousand eight hundred and five / 183229