Maria-Hilf (Zurich-Leimbach)

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Maria-Hilf church, view from the south
View from the northeast
The inner courtyard with the main entrance to the church
The steeple
The interior
Light shaft in the ceiling of the church

The Maria-Hilf church is the Roman Catholic parish church in Zurich 's Leimbach district .

history

Already in 948 a chapel St. Gilg ( Egidius ) was mentioned in Leimbach . Around 1400 the chapel was owned by the Cistercian monastery of Selnau . During the Reformation in 1524 the chapel went into private ownership and was finally demolished.

Today's parish Maria-Hilf was a daughter parish of St. Franziskus Wollishofen . As early as 1901, an emergency church could be rented for the believers from Wollishofen and Leimbach . After the church of St. Franziskus Wollishofen was built in 1927–1928, the Wollishofen church building association bought land in Leimbach in 1932 to build a church. In 1950 a small church was built and the Bishop of Chur , Christian Caminada , made Leimbach parish vicariate. In 1951, about half of the land that had not been used for the first church was sold for the purpose of paying off debts.

After the state-legal recognition of the Catholic Church in the Canton of Zurich, investigations began in 1966 for a new building for the church. Because the building site of the old Catholic church opposite the Leimbach train station was limited and the Mittel-Leimbach development was planned as a new district center, first clarifications were made as to whether the new Catholic church could not have been built in the middle of the Mittel-Leimbach residential area. However, this would have meant that the Catholic Church would have been too far away from the original village center, which is why this idea was dropped again. Since the reformed church was to be built in Leimbach at the same time , the representatives of the two regional churches tried to find a common building site as an expression of the wish for a successful ecumenical movement . Since the land required for this could not be found and the building project of the Reformed Church was already further advanced, the two churches are now a bit apart.

Today's church, including the parish center and rectory , was built between 1972 and 1974 according to plans by the architect Walter Moser , and the previous church was demolished. The foundation stone was laid on August 26, 1973 . On December 1, 1974, Bishop Johannes Vonderach appointed Leimbach a parish and consecrated the Maria-Hilf Church on December 8, 1974, the solemnity of the Conception of Mary .

On December 3, 1976, the Maria-Hilf church received the award for good buildings from the city council of Zurich.

Today, the parish Maria-Hilf with 1,697 members (as of 2017) is the second smallest Roman Catholic parish in the city of Zurich after St. Martin (Fluntern).

Church tower and bells

The church tower towers over the Maria-Hilf building complex and houses a four-part ringing of bronze bells. These were cast on October 19, 1973 in the H. Rüetschi bell foundry , Aarau. The bells were consecrated on August 25th and raised in the tower on August 26th.

number Weight volume dedication
1 1676 kg d Trinity
2 1092 kg f Brother Klaus
3 530 kg a Apostle John
4th 300 kg c2 Mother of God Mary

Building description

The Maria-Hilf parish center stands on a narrow building site between apartment blocks on the busy main road near the Leimbach train station. A public footpath leads from Soodstrasse over stairs and ramps through the area of ​​the parish center to the higher areas of Leimbach.

The parish center Maria-Hilf consists of differently shaped and materialized structures that are nested in one another. The actual church towers above the parish center below as well as the parsonage built next to it and the house for the Sigrist . While the other parts of the building are clad with white plaster, the church with its facade made of blue ceramic tiles from Finland marks its importance within the building complex. The lower structures of the ensemble consist of angular shapes; in contrast, the upper part of the church was designed with rounded shapes. The complex ends in the church tower, which, like the church, is designed in the upper part with round, blue-tiled shapes. The cast aluminum cross on the church tower refers to the Christian mission of the building ensemble.

From the church forecourt, which is laid out with red concrete paving stones and has a square fountain, you get to the Maria-Hilf church, which offers space for 350 believers. The church wall, with one exception, is windowless and protects the church from the noise of the street. Due to the surrounding light shaft, which leads daylight into the room, the wooden ceiling seems to float above the church.

  • Chancel by Peter Travaglini

  • Maria Hilf 2650.jpg
  • Maria Hilf 2660-b1.jpg

  • The tiles of the wall design, detailed view

  • Award from the city of Zurich for good buildings

Furnishing

The altar , ambo , tabernacle , baptismal font and the Marian niche were designed by the Ticino painter and sculptor Peter Travaglini , Büren an der Aare . The liturgical elements consist of the three materials stone ( Castione - granite bianco), wood ( sipo wood ) and metal ( aluminum ), which fit into each other in different variations. The only colored window in the church was created by Max Hellstern, Zurich. In color and shape it refers from the earthly to the divine and thus represents a symbol of the human journey through life.

The Way of the Cross was designed by the artist Johann Jakob Zemp, Küsnacht ZH (1909–1996). The length of the mosaic is 22.5 meters and consists of around 63,000 natural stones . It was created on site in the church between 1982 and 1986 and was consecrated by Diocesan Bishop Johannes Vonderach on September 21, 1986. For several years now, the end of the Way of the Cross has been an exalted Christ, originally created for a tomb by Johann Jakob Zemp and given to the parish.

chapel

There is also a chapel attached to the church. It is intended for weekday and group services. Round light shafts lead the daylight into the room. Altar, tabernacle, benches, the colored window and the cross were taken from the previous church that had been broken off.

organ

The Kuhn organ from 1975

The organ comes from the organ building company Th. Kuhn and was inaugurated in autumn 1975. The slider chests -instrument with mechanical play and stop action has the following disposition :

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
Quintad 16 ′
Principal 8th'
Reed flute 8th'
Octave 4 ′
Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
Forest flute 2 ′
Mixture IV 2 ′
Trumpet 8th'
II Positive
(swellable) C – g 3
Dumped 8th'
Principal 4 ′
Coupling flute 4 ′
Sesquialtera II 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
Octave 2 ′
Larigot 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Sharp III – IV 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Vox humana 8th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
Sub bass 16 ′
Principal bass 8th'
Viol bass 8th'
Choral Bass II 4 ′

Appreciation

Saskia Roth writes: "The parish center Maria-Hilf is characterized by a skilful use of the situation on a relatively steep slope, a clever shielding against the noisy Leimbachstrasse and a good spatial arrangement. The buildings are characterized by a strict unity, the Concentration on the interior causes ... With its sculptural, sharply differentiated structures, some of which are rounded in the corners, the cubic structure forms a high-quality ensemble of post-war modernism from an architectural-historical point of view.

See also

literature

  • Guido Kolb: 100 years of St. Peter and Paul. Zurich 1974.
  • Parish Maria-Hilf Zurich (Ed.): Parish center Maria-Hilf Zurich-Leimbach. Festschrift on the occasion of the inauguration. Zurich 1974.
  • Episcopal Ordinariate Chur (ed.): Schematism of the Diocese of Chur. Chur 1980.
  • Anton Camenzind: So that we have life. Zurich 1986.
  • Henri Truffer: Association of Roman Catholic Churches in the City of Zurich. Zurich 1989.
  • Robert Schönbächler: Churches and places of worship in the city of Zurich. New Year's Gazette Industriequartier / Aussersihl. Zurich 2012.
  • City of Zurich, Office for Urban Development (Ed.): Catholic Churches of the City of Zurich. Inventory of Monument Preservation of the City of Zurich. Zurich 2014.

Web links

Commons : Maria Hilf (Zurich-Leimbach)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Henri Truffer: Association of Roman Catholic Parishes of the City of Zurich. P. 170.
  2. ^ Henri Truffer: Association of Roman Catholic Parishes of the City of Zurich. P. 170.
  3. ^ City of Zurich, Office for Urban Development (Ed.): Catholic Churches of the City of Zurich. Inventory of Monument Preservation of the City of Zurich. P. 98.
  4. ^ Parish Maria-Hilf Zurich (ed.): Parish center Maria-Hilf Zurich-Leimbach. Festschrift on the occasion of the inauguration. P. 5.
  5. ^ Robert Schönbächler: Churches and places of worship in the city of Zurich. P. 52.
  6. ^ Robert Schönbächler: Churches and places of worship in the city of Zurich. P. 52.
  7. ^ Catholic Church in the Canton of Zurich. Annual report 2017. p. 84.
  8. ^ Walter Moser, in: Parish Maria-Hilf Zurich (ed.): Parish center Maria-Hilf Zurich-Leimbach. Festschrift on the occasion of the inauguration. P. 6.
  9. ^ Rainald Fischer, in: Guido Kolb: 100 years of St. Peter and Paul. P. 198.
  10. ^ Walter Moser, in: Parish Maria-Hilf Zurich (ed.): Parish center Maria-Hilf Zurich-Leimbach. Festschrift on the occasion of the inauguration. P. 9.
  11. ^ Parish Maria-Hilf Zurich (ed.): Parish center Maria-Hilf Zurich-Leimbach. Festschrift on the occasion of the inauguration. P. 10.
  12. ^ Robert Schönbächler: Churches and places of worship in the city of Zurich. P. 52.
  13. ^ Parish Maria-Hilf Zurich (ed.): Parish center Maria-Hilf Zurich-Leimbach. Festschrift on the occasion of the inauguration. P. 11.
  14. ↑ sikart.ch entry on Sikart . Retrieved July 5, 2013.
  15. ^ Anton Camenzind: So that we have life. Pp. 71-72.
  16. ^ Parish Maria-Hilf Zurich (ed.): Parish center Maria-Hilf Zurich-Leimbach. Festschrift on the occasion of the inauguration. P. 12.
  17. ↑ organ portrait on the website of Kuhn Organ Builders Ltd. Retrieved July 5, 2013.
  18. ^ Saskia Roth: Maria-Hilf , in: City of Zurich, Office for Urban Development (Ed.): Catholic Churches of the City of Zurich. Inventory of Monument Preservation of the City of Zurich. Pp. 100-102.

Coordinates: 47 ° 19 '58.6 "  N , 8 ° 31' 4.1"  E ; CH1903:  681,566  /  243012