Parish church Oberbaumgarten

South view of the church with bell tower and outbuildings

Interior of the church

The Roman Catholic Church Oberbaumgarten , also a pastoral care center at Baumgartner Spitz, is consecrated to the four holy evangelists . The parish belongs to City Deanery 14 of the Archdiocese of Vienna . Since July 1, 2019 Oberbaumgarten has belonged to the parish of Holy Mother Teresa together with the parish of St. Anna Baumgarten . The church “To the four holy Evangelists” is a branch church of this parish. A chapel in the Steinhof (Pavilion Vindobona) is also part of the Sprengel.

The church building was built from 1963 to 1965 according to plans by Johann Georg Gsteu in the brutalist style. Almost 4,000 Catholics now live in the area supervised by the parish, to which the Hugo Breitner Hof belongs. The complex is protected as a monument according to Section 2a of the Austrian Monument Protection Act.

history

Towards the end of the First World War , a barrack camp was built by Russian prisoners of war on the area of the former Baumgarten settlement and served as War Hospital III . This also included a chapel dedicated to St. Florian . After Austria was annexed to the Third Reich in 1938, a new housing estate was to be built in this area and the small chapel removed. However, this plan was not implemented until 1950. The municipality of Vienna announced that it would make a plot of land available for a new place of worship in the area of the new housing estate.

In 1958, a plot of land opposite the residential complex on the border between the parishes of Hütteldorf and Baumgarten was acquired for the construction of the church. The architect Johann Georg Gsteu won the competition to build the new church. The foundation stone was laid in 1963.

In order to be able to start the service in the meantime, Prelate Gorbach had set up a chapel in two rented rooms of a residential building at Hütteldorfer Straße 266. This was consecrated in 1957 in honor of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal . From April 1964, the future pastor Johann Eigenseder held Sunday mass there with a small congregation . Until the new church is built, the emergency service should have a community-building effect.

The church was consecrated on December 19, 1965 and the Oberbaumgarten parish was founded on January 1, 1966. The parish of St. Anna Baumgarten and the parish of Hütteldorf each gave up part of their territory. In the first 20 years Johann Eigenseder worked as a pastor, after his sudden death in 1986 Georg Flamm took over the ministry. From November 2002 to November 2007 he was dean for the 14th district. From September 2008 to 2017, Dr. Bogdan Pelc was appointed parish moderator . On June 23, 2019, the parishes of Baumgarten and Oberbaumgarten were united in a festive mass by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn and the new parish of Holy Mother Teresa was founded with effect from July 1, 2019.

architecture

planning

The property "am Baumgartner Spitz" (next to the confluence of Hütteldorfer Strasse and Linzer Strasse, terminus of tram line 52) is located on a slope and has a trapezoidal floor plan. On the available area of 3583 m² a church was to be built with a capacity of 600 people with 300 seats. In 1960, an architectural competition limited to ten participants was announced. The building council awarded the design by Johann Georg Gsteus the second prize - the first prize was not awarded.

Gsteu changed the competition project later. According to the original design, the room should consist of two diagonally opposite high and two low room parts. Construction work began in July 1963.

According to Gsteu, the idea for this construction of the building came from a trip to Rome when he saw the Pantheon .

construction

A strict modular system forms the concept of the church and the outbuildings. The basic shape is the square or the cube . The unit of measurement is the width of a shuttering board : 7.5 cm. The dimensions of all buildings, interiors and furnishings down to the details of the floor design are based on this square grid.

The main room of the church is a cube that is halved in height. The reinforced concrete structure consists of four parts that protrude towards the center and are connected to the room by light strips. The outbuildings are designed in such a way that the area corresponds to a quarter of the area of the church.

In the center of the square building is the altar on a two-tier pedestal. The baptismal font and the tabernacle were cast in layers from transparent polyester . An unconventional solution that the bishop of the time viewed very critically.

This modern church building is rooted in the new theological and liturgical concepts as decided in the Second Vatican Council . During the time of the reconstruction, young architects were able to try out a lot and reinforced concrete has been an essential building material in church construction ever since.

General renovation

Problems that occurred over time, such as a leaky outer skin and discoloration of the light strips, made it necessary to renovate the church and outbuildings. This was carried out between 1989 and 1992 under the artistic direction of Prof. Gsteu. Among other things, the light strips, which were originally made of plastic, were replaced by UV-resistant glass elements . Due to the changed materials, constructive adjustments were also necessary. The light strips were divided lengthways, the windows of the outbuildings were moved and the previously flat window cross was given the shape of a gable . The original cladding of the outer wall was removed and replaced with full thermal insulation.

Reviews

Friedrich Achleitner wrote about the architecture of the church:

“ At the pastoral care center Baumgarten in Vienna, which was built between 1960 and 1965, Johann Georg Gsteu dealt with the square, the spatial cube - on the basis of a constructive, modular order into a self-contained, very complex, but also all-inclusive spatial theme made. Nevertheless, with this apparently rationalistic design, a strong, atmospheric and coherent space has been created that could hardly be surpassed. "

In the catalog for the exhibition "Holy Times" in the Vienna Architecture Center , Andreas Zeese writes:

“ The Oberbaumgarten parish church is one of the groundbreaking sacred buildings of the post-war period in Vienna. Created in the years of the Second Vatican Council , it represents - as a model building of the liturgical renewal - the strictest spatial construction of the 1960s. Gsteu's rationalist approach creates on the one hand a radical reduction of the building task 'church' to a spatial envelope, on the other hand he achieves with the 'light cross' a sacred symbolism that can hardly be surpassed. "

photos
Interior of the church, the holes in the ceiling are supposed to reduce the weight
The tabernacle made of transparent polyester
An open corridor leads around the church
The imprints of the shuttering boards are clearly visible on the pillars
The upper part was covered with full thermal insulation.

Web links

Commons : Oberbaumgartner Pfarrkirche - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ According to the parish homepage
^ Vienna - immovable and archaeological monuments under monument protection. ( Memento of October 13, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF), ( CSV ( Memento of October 13, 2017 in the Internet Archive )). Federal Monuments Office , as of June 23, 2017.
↑ PfA Oberbaumgarten, Vienna XIV., History and chronicle of the parish Oberbaumgarten to the four hl. Evangelists
↑ Herbert Muck , A square church , in: The great decision , No. 5 (1966), p. 358f.
↑ Der Bau , 1964, p. 68
^ ^A ^b Ann Katrin Bäumler, Andreas Zeese (ed.): Viennese church building after 1945 - From Rudolf Schwarz to Heinz Tesar . Vienna 2007, p. 66
^ Norbert Rodt, Church Buildings in Vienna 1945–1975
^ Friedrich Achleitner: Artistic diversity and typological rigor. Church construction in Austria between 1950 and 2000 ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ). In: Wolfgang Jean Stock: European church building 1950–2000 . Prestel, Munich 2002, pp. 84–93 (PDF file)

48.199444444444 16.271666666667Coordinates: 48 ° 11 ′ 58 ″ N , 16 ° 16 ′ 18 ″ E

[1] According to the parish homepage

[2] Vienna - immovable and archaeological monuments under monument protection. ( Memento of October 13, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF), ( CSV ( Memento of October 13, 2017 in the Internet Archive )). Federal Monuments Office , as of June 23, 2017.

[3] PfA Oberbaumgarten, Vienna XIV., History and chronicle of the parish Oberbaumgarten to the four hl. Evangelists

[4] Herbert Muck , A square church , in: The great decision , No. 5 (1966), p. 358f.

[5] Der Bau , 1964, p. 68

[Ann_Katrin_Bäumler_2007-6] A ^b Ann Katrin Bäumler, Andreas Zeese (ed.): Viennese church building after 1945 - From Rudolf Schwarz to Heinz Tesar . Vienna 2007, p. 66

[7] Norbert Rodt, Church Buildings in Vienna 1945–1975

[8] Friedrich Achleitner: Artistic diversity and typological rigor. Church construction in Austria between 1950 and 2000 ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ). In: Wolfgang Jean Stock: European church building 1950–2000 . Prestel, Munich 2002, pp. 84–93 (PDF file)