Pauluskirche (Zurich)

Pauluskirche (Zurich)

The Paul Church is next to the church Unterstrass and Matthäuskirche one of the three Reformed churches in Zurich Quartier Unterstrass . The Pauluskirche has the largest bell in the canton of Zurich.

history

In the 1920s, the Unterstrass parish grew to over 14,000 members, mainly because of various new housing developments north of the Unterstrass church. Therefore, the construction of a second, large Reformed church in the neighborhood became inevitable. In 1929 a public competition took place in two phases, from which Martin Risch's project emerged as the winner. On February 21, 1932, after a passionate referendum, the project was adopted with 13,497 votes in favor and 8,000 against. In June 1932, the excavation for the ensemble, consisting of the parish hall, church courtyard and church by the architects Martin Risch and August Arter, began. The foundation stone was laid on August 19, 1932 . On September 23, 1933, 1,500 children raised the bells in the church tower and on January 14, 1934 the completed, 1,400-seat Pauluskirche was consecrated. In the years 1984–1986 the church was extensively renovated; in 2007 team4 Architects Zurich carried out an interior renovation.

Building description

Outdoor area

The complex, carefully designed in terms of urban development and architecture, with the parish hall, church and courtyard is considered to be one of the earliest church parish centers in Switzerland. The parish hall, flanked by two residential wings, was built in 1932, the second stage of the church in 1933 on the site of the former Eggenschwyler Zoo. The massive church tower with flat roof and bell terrace dominates the structurally simple ensemble and houses the largest bell in the canton of Zurich. The seven-part chime sounds in the order g ° b ° c 'd' es' f 'g' and was produced in 1933 by the H. Rüetschi bell foundry . The church is considered a distinctly monumental example of the Heimat style . Influences of the new building can be seen as well as features of the fascist architecture of the 1930s.

The Pauluskirche is a rectangular, easted hall building . The concrete building, clad with shell limestone from Estavayer, is dominated by its 34 meter high entrance tower, which with its open bell cage is a landmark of the Milchbuck district that can be seen from afar. The longitudinal facades of the church are structured by high rectangular windows. A wide flight of steps takes the visitor to the church doors, between which there are statues of Zwingli , Luther , Calvin and Bullinger . These statues were designed by Otto Kappeler.

inner space

The interior also impresses with its sheer size and demonstrative monumentality: a strictly axially aligned, functional hall construction with over a thousand seats, distributed over the nave and two galleries. Buttresses arranged on both sides divide the room into 10 bays and only allow daylight to enter indirectly. Together with matt lead glazing, this creates a soft focus in the room that conveys sacred seclusion. The organ front and a brightly colored glass window by Augusto Giacometti , which depicts the theological virtues of faith, love and hope, form the backdrop for the services in front of the pulpit wall.

This contrast between simple objectivity on the outside and solemn effect on the inside, caused by the noble colors in various shades of gray and the indirect lighting, sparked a fierce controversy about the reformed church building in the 1930s. Today the facility is under municipal monument protection .

Since the churchgoers experienced the monumental architecture as oppressive and no longer up-to-date, the parish looked for ways to break the monumentality of the architecture of 1934 without interfering too much with the original design when renovating the interior in 2007. Therefore, the idea of ​​a light color scheme for the interior and colorful glazing was dropped. Instead, the paneling of the choir wall with leaf palladium was designed as a new eye-catcher, so that its surface reflects the incoming light. In addition, the choir area has been expanded so that it can be seated differently depending on the event.

organ

The organ was built in 1934 by Orgelbau Kuhn (Männedorf). The instrument has electric action and originally had 52 stops on three manuals including a pedal . In 1964, Ziegler Orgelbau carried out a reconstruction with a simultaneous expansion of 12 registers. Since its renovation by Kuhn Organ Builders in 2006 has sliderchest -instrument 66 registers and has a new console. The register subset is an "acoustic" 32 'register, i. H. a tone consists of a 16 'pipe and a 10 ² ⁄ ₃  ' pipe, which gives the acoustic impression of a 32 'tone.

I Hauptwerk C – g 3 Principal 16 ′ Principal 8th' Covered 8th' flute 8th' Viol 8th' Octave 4 ′ Night horn 4 ′ Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ Octave 2 ′ Mixture major 2 ′ Mixture minor 1' Bells  1 ⁄ 2 ′ Cornet V 8th' prong 8th' Clairon 4 ′

II Positive C-g 3 Principal 8th' Dumped 8th' Gemshorn 8th' Principal 4 ′ Reed flute 4 ′ Sesquialtera II 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ Principal 2 ′ Night horn 2 ′ Larigot 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′ Octave 1' Sharp  1 ⁄ 2 ′ Cymbal  1 ⁄ 4 ′ Dulcian 16 ′ clarinet 8th' Tremulant

III Swell C – g 3 Dumped 16 ′ Principal 8th' Reed flute 8th' Salicional 8th' Unda Maris 8th' Octave 4 ′ Coupling flute 4 ′ Gemshorn 4 ′ Nasard 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ flute 2 ′ third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′ Plein Jeu 2 ′ Third cymbal 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′ Bombard 16 ′ Trumpet 8th' oboe 8th' Voix humaine 8th' Clairon 4 ′ Tremulant

Pedal C – f 1 Pedestal 32 ′ Principal 16 ′ flute 16 ′ Sub bass 16 ′ Dumped 16 ′ Principal 8th' cello 8th' Capstan flute 8th' Dumped 8th' Octave 4 ′ flute 4 ′ Schwegel 2 ′ Mixture V 2 ′ trombone 16 ′ Sordun 16 ′ Trumpet 8th' bassoon 8th' prong 4 ′ Singing cornet 2 ′

• Coupling : II / I, III / I, I / P, II / P, III / P

See also

• List of churches in Zurich

literature

• Parish Paulus: 50 years Pauluskirche Zurich. Zurich 1984.
• Fabrizio Brentini: Building for the Church. Edition SSL, Lucerne 1994.
• Building Construction Department of the City of Zurich: Reformed Churches of the City of Zurich. Special inventory. Zurich 2006.
• Katja Hasche: Sensitive interventions in an unloved monument. Neue Zürcher Zeitung from September 11, 2007

Web links

Commons : Pauluskirche (Zurich)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website of the parish Paulus
• Bells on YouTube

Individual evidence

1. ^ Website of the parish, section History about our parish. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
2. ^ Building Department of the City of Zurich: Reformed Churches of the City of Zurich. Special inventory. Zurich 2006, p. 68.
3. ↑ Article in the NZZ of September 11, 2007. Retrieved on August 1, 2015.
4. ↑ Information on YouTube. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
5. ^ Building Department of the City of Zurich: Reformed Churches of the City of Zurich. Special inventory. Zurich 2006, pp. 66–68.
6. ^ Building Department of the City of Zurich: Reformed Churches of the City of Zurich. Special inventory. Zurich 2006, p. 67.
7. ↑ Article in the NZZ of September 11, 2007. Retrieved on August 1, 2015.
8. ↑ More information about the organ
9. ↑ Ref. Pauluskirche Zurich. In: Organ directory Switzerland and Liechtenstein, accessed on August 1, 2015.

Coordinates: 47 ° 23 '39 "  N , 8 ° 32' 35.5"  E ; CH1903:  six hundred and eighty-three thousand three hundred and ninety  /  249848