Collegiate Church of St. Martin

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Collegiate Church of St. Martin
Aerial photo, October 2012

The Collegiate Church of St. Martin (also known as the Collegiate Church of Sarnen ) is a Benedictine church of the Muri-Gries Abbey in Sarnen in the canton of Obwalden . It was inaugurated on October 22nd, 1966 by Johannes Vonderach , Bishop of Chur , and is a listed building as a cultural asset of national importance . The building impresses with its simple, generous shapes. It is considered to be the first modern sacred building in Central Switzerland .

Benedictine convent

The church belongs to the Benedictine convent of the Muri-Gries Abbey in Sarnen. It stands next to the professors' home , the main building of the convent. In addition, the old grammar school of the Obwalden Cantonal School , a Konvikt building, the former college and the college nursery belonged to the convent .

The college church was built between 1964 and 1966. On June 14, 1964, Abbot Dominikus Löpfe laid the foundation stone. The earthquake in spring 1964 meant that the construction plans had to be revised again. This delayed the completion of the construction. The building should serve the monastic community and the boarding school run by it with almost 300 internal students. The church therefore has 610 seats. The church in the old grammar school was previously used as a college church. Today this serves as an auditorium.

Today the church is used for daily services that are public. Concerts and exhibitions also take place in the church. After rainwater had badly damaged the plaster, the exterior of the church was comprehensively renovated in 2007 for 900,000 francs. Among other things, the church received a new, bright protective coating. The reopening took place on December 9, 2007.

Architectural style

With the windowless wall surfaces, the curved wall ends and the dome-like roofs, the design is reminiscent of oriental buildings. In fact, however, the architect of the church, Ernst Studer (1931-2001), was influenced by the work of Le Corbusier . In 1962, Studer won the project competition announced by Catholic Swiss architects, in which 57 projects were submitted. It was the young architect from Zurich's first church project.

The shape of the round church is reminiscent of Le Corbusier's pioneering pilgrimage church Notre-Dame-du-Haut in Ronchamp in eastern France. The college church is not to be seen "as an imitation, but as an independent achievement of great spiritual expressiveness". It is classically modern, characterized by large surfaces and curved lines. There are hardly any right angles, no facade and no bell tower. The church has no bells either. Nevertheless, it looks monumental.

Layout

The church is wider than it is long and thus forms a lying ellipse. The interior is divided into two large, opposite rooms, the monks' choir and the nave. Thanks to this lively play of space, the two parts are aligned with the mighty marble main altar. The twelve side altars are based on the pre-conciliar rule that each priest had to read a mass daily as an individual. They form a corridor around the main room and connect it to the large sacristy. The daylight illuminates the church indirectly and the artificial light also works for the most part via the ceiling and wall surfaces. The church has two organs, one in the singing choir to accompany the large church services, the other as a choir organ to support the hourly prayer .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Beda Szukics: Fifty years of the Sarner Kollegi Church - some spoke of a “bunker” . In: Pfarreiblatt Obwalden, 11/2016, pp. 2–3
  2. ↑ Sarner Kollegi Church has a new "outer skin" , article in the Neue Obwaldner Zeitung dated December 7, 2007
  3. ↑ Statement by Peter Omachen, Obwaldner Denkmalpfleger, in: Rainwater is clogging the facade , article in the Neue Obwaldner Zeitung from May 1, 2007

Coordinates: 46 ° 53 '30.4 "  N , 8 ° 14' 44.3"  E ; CH1903:  661500  /  193,721