Guardian Angel Church (Graz)

New Guardian Angel Church

The Parish Church of the Holy Guardian Angels , or Guardian Angel Church for short , is a Roman Catholic parish church in the 14th district of Eggenberg in  Graz .

history

Parish hall and kindergarten

After the plan to build a house of worship for the reign of Emperor Franz Joseph had to be discarded in 1903 and the outbreak of World War I destroyed similar ambitions, a club house was built in the interwar period . The building served as a meeting room in the basement, while the upper floor was used as an emergency church. The building was built in 1931 according to plans by the architect Hans Pelzl and consecrated as a church in 1932. In 1971 a staircase was added to the north. Several restoration work has been carried out since 1960. Only in the 1990s was a modern church built opposite the emergency church. The parish church, consecrated by Bishop Johann Weber in 1996, has been the last Catholic church to be built in Styria since then. The old and new Guardian Angel Church are separated from each other by a meeting place. On top of it stands a baroque niche shrine, which was equipped with new pictures by the Carinthian artist Ernst Gradischnig after restoration measures in 2013 .

The emergency church

Emergency church

The facility is a west portal building with a polygonal roof turret . The single-nave nave with nine bays has a barrel vault , a two-bay organ gallery and a one-bay choir . The neo-Gothic furnishings were removed after the interior restoration in 1964. According to an inscription, the former high altar comes from the crypt chapel of the Princes of Liechtenstein in Wies and was created in 1881. The rest of the furnishings were designed by the artist Othmar Klemencic . These include the depictions of a protective cloak Madonna, the baptism of Christ (1972) and the Stations of the Cross (1973). The relief above the entrance from the 19th century shows the resurrection of Christ. The organ was the former choir organ of the Graz Cathedral and comes from Konrad Hopferwieser . It was installed in the emergency church in 1975 and renewed. In 1996 the furnishings were removed from the room, only the reliefs, a crucifixion and colored glass windows remained in it. Since then, the upper floor has been used as the “Guardian Angel Hall”, while the Guardian Angel Kindergarten has moved into the lower floor.

The new Guardian Angel Church

Interior of the Guardian Angel Church

The new Guardian Angel Church was planned by the architect Werner Hollomey and consecrated in 1996. The interior of the church is entered through a glazed foyer, from which the weekday chapel can also be reached. The mighty tower with its dynamic circular segments is located above the weekday chapel. The interior of the modern sacred building is very bright. The round roof structure consists of light metal grids and rests on four gold-plated supports. A ribbon of windows surrounds the interior and contrasts with the windowless substructure. The place of baptism with its recessed baptismal font and the exposure through a circular ceiling window above it is a special place in the vestibule of the church. A presbytery is attached to the church to the west. In the center of the altar zone is an altar made of white marble. On the altar wall, three panels set off from the wall form the center. The trinity of these modern, non-representationally painted icons reflects the Trinity and the crucifixion of Christ. The work comes from the Graz artist Kurt Zisler , a student of Vladimir Zagarodnikow . The Stations of the Cross are the result of a joint production with Eggenberg schoolchildren: under the direction of Manfred Gollowitsch, 14-year-old schoolchildren created copperplate engravings that are attached here. The mural on the north wall is inspired by the patronage of the Guardian Angels and goes back to Marc Chagall's angelic vision. It extends to the baptistery in the vestibule and was created by the Graz artist Edith Temmel . The picturesque altar wall design of the weekday chapel comes from the Styrian priest and artist Josef Fink . The face of the cosmic Christ hovers over the traces of human history, whose lock of hair appears as the fog of the Milky Way.

literature

• Horst Schweigert : Graz (= The art monuments of Austria . = Dehio -Handbuch Graz. = Dehio Graz. ). Revision. Schroll, Vienna 1979, ISBN 3-7031-0475-9 , p. 240.
• Alois Kölbl, Wiltraud Resch: Paths to God. The churches and synagogue of Graz . 2nd, expanded and supplemented edition. Styria, Graz / Vienna 2004, ISBN 3-222-13105-8 , pp. 209-211 .
• Heimo Kaindl: Parish Church of the Holy Guardian Angels Graz-Eggenberg . Self-published by the parish, Graz 2006.
• Heimo Kaindl, Alois Kölbl: Look at Christ. Images of Christ in Styrian churches . Verlag Diözesanmuseum Graz, Graz 2010, ISBN 978-3-901810-25-1 , p. 118-119 .

Web links

Commons : Guardian Angel Church  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kölbl, Resch: Paths to God. P. 209.
2. ^ Kaindl: Parish Church of the Holy Guardian Angels .
3. ^ Schweigert: Dehio Graz. P. 240.
4. ↑ Kölbl, Resch: Paths to God. P. 209.
5. ^ Kaindl: Parish Church of the Holy Guardian Angels .
6. ^ Schweigert: Dehio Graz. P. 240.
7. ^ Kaindl: Parish Church of the Holy Guardian Angels .
8. ^ TU Graz , advisor for architecture and technology at the Forum Stadtpark . Literature: Faculty of Architecture at TU Graz (ed.): Festschrift for Werner Hollomey on his 80th birthday. Publishing house of the Technical University, Graz 2009, ISBN 978-3-85125-033-6 .
9. ↑ Werner Hollomey. In: arch INFORM .
10. ↑ Christine Rigler (Ed.): Forum Stadtpark. The Graz avant-garde from 1960 until today. Böhlau, Vienna et al. 2002, ISBN 3-205-99487-6 .
11. ↑ Kölbl, Resch: Paths to God. Pp. 210-211.
12. ^ Kaindl: Parish Church of the Holy Guardian Angels .
13. ↑ Kaindl, Kölbl: Looking at Christ, pp. 118–119.

Coordinates: 47 ° 4 '4.6 "  N , 15 ° 23' 48.8"  E