Marienkirche (Bern)

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St. Mary's Church in Bern
St. Marien north side

The Church of St. Mary in Bern is after the Trinity Church, the second of the post-Reformation Roman Catholic parish churches in the city in its original state. It was created in concrete by architect Fernand Dumas (1892–1952) from Romont in the years 1931–1933. The church was created in the transition phase to modern building in Switzerland.

History and parish structure

The centrally located Trinity Church was soon no longer sufficient for the city's rapidly growing Catholic population. As early as 1910, at the instigation of Pastor Josef Emil Nünlist (1875–1952) , the Roman Catholic Kultusverein in Bern acquired half of the building site on Wylerstrasse for the intended construction of a church in the Breitenrain district. In the following twenty years, Nünlist himself successfully collected funds at home and abroad for building up the Catholic community in Bern. On his "begging tours" he traveled to the United States, South America and Australia; with the result, various construction projects and property purchases could be realized. When the building plans of the Catholics in Breitenrain became public in 1929, a "storm of indignation arose in the media over the presumption of the Bernese Catholics to want to build a second church". The objections of the residents and the Quartierleist were settled amicably and a competition among the four architects: Arthur Betschon (1871-1932), Fernand Dumas, Adolf Gaudy and Josef Steiner was announced. Based on the submissions, the competition jury, which included Karl Indermühle , decided in favor of the project by the Freiburg church architect Fernand Dumas. The foundation stone was laid on March 31, 1931 and the unfinished church was consecrated on December 18, 1932, with the founding of the parish of St. Marien Bern. On May 17, 1933, the Bishop of Basel , Joseph Ambühl , consecrated the church in honor of the mother of Jesus Maria . The first pastor was Ernst Simonett (1886–1981), who headed the parish until 1944 and then moved to the Trinity Church as the successor to Pastor Nünlist at the request of the bishop. At the time of its founding, the parish of St. Marien comprised the area to the right of the Aare with the later separate parishes Guthirt Ostermundigen , St. Franziskus Zollikofen and Heiligkreuz-Tiefenau . According to the decree of the Grand Council of March 8, 1939, the three city parishes of Bern, Dreifaltigkeit, St. Antonius and St. Marien received the status of a state-recognized parish and became the "Roman Catholic overall parish of the city of Bern and the cantonal area attached to it".

Building description

St. Marien, courtyard side

The walls of the shell were filled in with sand-lime brickwork between the concrete skeleton. All externally visible walls are covered with a beige-brownish trowel plaster . For the construction of the coffered ceiling , a falsework was used that was continuously advanced. The church measures 49.1 meters in length and 22.3 meters in total width. To the east of the choir is the community hall and the total side length is 64 meters. There is an open porch with three arched arcades above the west-side main entrance between the tower and the baptistery. The west facade rising above it is loosened up by the large round window with cubic rib subdivision in the form of an "M". The two western side entrance gates open up the cross passage between the main entrance and the inner wall of the church. This double wall arrangement enabled the architect to build a deep gallery for the organ and choir with a cantilevered round parapet. The relief edging of the portals made of artificial stone was designed by the Geneva sculptor François Baud in collaboration with Gaston Faravel. They depict scenes from the life of Mary: At the main portal the passage to the temple, Mary's death among the apostles who have been summoned, the Ascension and the coronation of Mary; on the right side portal engagement and proclamation, visit to Elisabeth and the holy family above a Christmas representation; A Pietà alone above the left side portal. The two portals to the central nave are only decorated with ornamental reliefs. On the octagonal structure of the baptistery can be seen openings clad with transennes as well as on the bell house. A long arcade portico connects the church from the entrance area with the rectory to the south, built in 1964 by Walter Bitter. According to the original plan, which was not carried out, a similar archway should have encompassed the entire south-east facing property like a cloister. A wide flight of stairs accompanies the arcades and forms a festive reception area to the church.

Church tower and bells

The 41-meter-high, unadorned church tower with a square cross-section with an edge length of 5.70 meters was built up to the bell chamber in just 15 days. The sliding formwork process, which was new at the time, was used for the first time in Switzerland. The formwork had to be hoisted continuously with winches and concreted in day and night shifts in order to achieve an uninterrupted layer of material. The tower is located on the west corner of the main facade and the stairs inside it also serve as access to the gallery. The attached bell chamber has three arched openings on all sides over slender stilts and is closed off with a flat hipped roof.

The chime with the 5 bells in B ° - des '- es' - f '- as', consecrated on May 17, 1936, was poured by the Rüetschi Aarau company in 1936 . The original mood was adapted in the 1960s to harmonize with the city of Bern chimes. According to the list of bells drawn up by the Rüetschi foundry in 1968, the total weight of all 5 bells is 7,370 kg.

Interior and artistic equipment

In the central nave, the way to the altar

Low side aisles with three chapel extensions each are attached to the nave. Daylight illuminates the 14 meter high room through the high rectangular windows in the upper arcade of the partition walls. In the church, built in the traditional way as a path church, visitors are led from the main portal through the central aisle to the main altar in the choir and laterally under the arched arcades to the side altars. For the rear wall of the altar in the choir, Albin Schweri from Ramsen designed a glass mosaic picture in 1937 that depicts the Assumption of Mary. The seven joys and sorrows of Mary have been added as glass paintings in the round windows of the side chapels as a further work by Schweri . By Alois Spichtig from Sachseln , the church has the Stations of the Cross in the left side aisle . The reliefs, described as the main work of the artist, depict the condemnation of Jesus, the Way of the Cross and finally the Crucifixion in the side chapel on five light-colored wooden panels. On behalf of Alois Spichtig, the wood sculptor Reto Odermatt from Flüeli-Ranft designed a new altar of Mary in one piece to match the Way of the Cross -white side chapel. In front of the cross-shaped back wall with a star relief in the upper leg, a bust of Mary holds the strongly abstracted Child Jesus with outstretched arms. On the transverse legs, the Magnificat is written in Latin on the left and in German on the right. The stained glass windows on the upper cladding were designed by Leo Steck from Davos 1948–1953, and with him Louis Halter from Bern took care of the art glass work. The glass panel of the west rose was installed together with the organ in 1946 and shows the Annunciation by Alfred Gloor; the panes were restored in 2016 and the protective glazing replaced. After the Second Vatican Council , the side altars were removed and in 1998 the choir area was redesigned. During the redesign in 1998, the dark marble altar table was placed on a semicircular wooden pedestal in front of the empty choir room. Cruciform marble ribbons, in the center of which is the altar, lead to the ambo and to a shallow water basin in front of the central aisle. Instead of the pews removed to the middle of the ship, chairs are arranged in semicircular rows. The tabernacle and the large cross, by Othmar Zschaler (* 1930), Bern, 1969, stand on a pedestal on the right choir screen.

  • Assumption of Mary, mosaic picture by Albin Schweri

  • Mary crowned in heaven, side chapel, Albin Schweri

  • Baptismal font

  • Lantern of the baptistery

  • Main portal

  • Left side portal with Pieta

  • Side portal with Marienleben

Baptistery

The octagonal room opens into an octagonal lantern in the ceiling. The light falls through colorful glass panes onto the bronze lid of the baptismal font, which is lifted with a counterweight. This is made of multi-colored ceramic ring-shaped and supported by four narrow relief panels with biblical water scenes. Also a work by the artists François Baud and Gaston Faravel.

Organs

Main organ
Former choir organ

Main organ

In the first few years a harmonium was used to accompany the choir and the congregation . It was not until thirteen years after its inauguration that the church received its present organ on October 20, 1946 . It was built by Orgelbau Kuhn AG, Männedorf, and today has 44 registers and three transmissions on three manuals and pedal . The two-part arrangement of the instrument leaves the round window of the west facade free. The registers (with the exception of the pedal strokes) are chromatically distributed over the widely spaced C and C sharp sides, with the two 16 'pipes, contra C and C sharp, with overlengths forming the front corners. In the middle of the gallery parapet, the console is at some distance from the organ. The pipework stands on slider chests that were originally operated by electropneumatic actions and mechanical countershafts. In 1960 the Voix céleste register could be added later. In 1976 there was a first general revision with new intonation. Further major revisions followed in 1995/97 and 2008. In 2016, the Kuhn company replaced the electropneumatic actions with purely electrical ones. On this occasion, the instrument received sub-octave coupling and a 32 'transmission as well as a powerful setting system.

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
Principal 16 ′
Principal 8th'
flute 8th'
Bourdon 8th'
Octav 4 ′
Reed flute 4 ′
Super octave 2 ′
Mixture VI – VIII 2 ′
Cornett V 8th'
prong 8th'
Clairon 4 ′
II Positive C-g 3
Suavial 8th'
Dumped 8th'
Quintatön 8th'
Principal 4 ′
Covered flute 4 ′
Octave 2 ′
Flageolet 2 ′
Larigot 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Mixture III-V 1'
Krummhorn 8th'
III Swell C – g 3
Reed flute 16 ′
Principal 8th'
Reed flute 8th'
Salicional 8th'
Voix céleste 8th'
Octav 4 ′
Night horn 4 ′
Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
Forest flute 2 ′
third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
Mixture VI 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Sharp IV 2 ⁄ 3 ′
Trumpet harm. 8th'
Clairon 4 ′
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
Bourdon (Transmiss.) 32 ′
Principal bass 16 ′
Sub bass 16 ′
Gedacktbass (Trans.) 16 ′
Principal 8th'
Capstan flute 8th'
Gedackt (Transmiss.) 8th'
Octav 4 ′
Mixture V 4 ′
trombone 16 ′
Trumpet 8th'
Clairon 4 ′
  • Pair : III / III Sub, III / II Sub, III / I Sub, III / II, III / I, II / I, III / P, II / P, I / P

Choir organ

From autumn 2015 to spring 2019, a choir organ stood under the foremost right-hand arch as a private loan. The instrument was built in 1968 by Orgelbau Geneva AG for another location. It had 9 stops on two manuals and a pedal; Game and stop action were purely mechanical (slide chests).

See also

List of Roman Catholic churches in the canton of Bern

literature

  • Parish of St. Marien Bern, Adriano Gervasi: 50 years of the parish of St. Marien, Bern, 1932–1982 . Parish office of the Marienkirche, Bern 1982, ISBN 3-85782-678-9 , p. 47 .
  • Roman-Catholic parish office of the Marienkirche, Marienpfarrei Bern: 25 years Marienpfarrei Bern 1932–1957: Festschrift for the anniversary . Roman Catholic Parish of St. Mary's Church, Bern 1957, p. 33 .
  • Emil Joseph Nünlist: The Marienkirche and the Roman Catholic. Bern municipality . Benziger, Einsiedeln 1933, p. 63 .
  • Fabrizio Brentini, Swiss St. Luke Society for Art and Church: Building for the Church: Catholic church building of the 20th century in Switzerland . Lucerne 6: Edition SSL, cop. 1994, Lucerne 1994, p. 322 . Diss. Phil. I Zurich, 1993/94
  • Gabriela Hanke, et al .: Catholic Bern from 1799 to 1999 . A stopover. Total Roman Catholic parish of Bern and the surrounding area, Bern 1999.
  • Isabelle Rucki: Art Guide through Switzerland Vol. 3 . SHAS, Bern 2006, ISBN 3-906131-97-1 , p. 257 .

Web links

Commons : Marienkirche (Bern)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gabriela Hanke, et al .: Catholic Bern from 1799 to 1999 . A stopover. Total Roman Catholic parish of Bern and the surrounding area, Bern 1999. List of construction costs 1910–1938 in Kath. Bern, page 35.
  2. ^ Bells in the Marienkirche Sound recording and text: Robin Marti, on YouTube , accessed on March 28, 2018.
  3. ↑ Pictures of the Marien Altar on the website of Reto Odermatt , accessed on April 3, 2018.
  4. ^ Alfred Gloor in the SIKART Lexicon on Art in Switzerland , accessed on November 13, 2018.
  5. ↑ stettler kunstglaserei & glasmalerei gmbh bern restoration of the Westrose 2016 ( memento from April 7, 2018 in the internet archive )
  6. ^ Fabrizio Brentini, Swiss St. Luke Society for Art and Church: Building for the Church: Catholic Church Building of the 20th Century in Switzerland . Lucerne 6: Edition SSL, cop. 1994, Lucerne 1994, p. 322 . On the liturgical floor plan, pp. 132–134.
  7. ↑ Othmar Zschaler's website, church work , accessed April 5, 2018.
  8. ^ François Comment: The Kuhn organ of the Marienkirche Bern, a Swiss "reform organ" from 1946 . In: Ars Organi . No. 3 , 2017, p. 189-195 .

Coordinates: 46 ° 57 '33.7 "  N , 7 ° 26' 58.6"  E ; CH1903:  600 836  /  200920