St. Christoph (Graz)

St. Christoph (2010)

The church of St. Christoph or parish church Graz-Thondorf is a Roman Catholic church in the 7th district of Graz Liebenau . It is the parish church of the Graz-St. Christoph in Thondorf in the Deanery Graz-South of the City Church Graz .

history

With the arrival of workers from the Puch factory in Graz (today Magna Steyr ), the population in Liebenau and Thondorf increased significantly. The church of St. Christoph was built from 1962 to 1964 according to the plans of the architect Robert Kramreiter and was consecrated to St. Christopher on August 30, 1964 . The choice of the title saint was obvious, as the parish is directly adjacent to the Graz production facility of the then largest Austrian vehicle manufacturer Steyr-Daimler-Puch in Graz-Thondorf.

On January 1st, 1974, a parish exposition was established and on January 1st, 1981 St. Christoph became its own parish . In addition to the southernmost area of Liebenau, it also looks after the village of Thondorf von Gössendorf - since the Puchwerk is also part of the incorporated parts, the cadastral community of Graz Stadt-Thondorf , it bears that name. There she supervised as measured Chapel the local chapel Hlgst. Trinity , next to it also the Mass Chapel of St. Joseph in the parish kindergarten. Today the parish forms a parish association with Graz-Liebenau .

layout

The sacred building should be in contrast to the neighboring industrial buildings.

“The three-dimensional dynamic design, without the severity of concrete brutalism, was the basis for the St.Christoph… church in Thondorf near Graz (1962-64) by Robert Kramreiter. A central building that was influenced by Le Corbusier's pilgrimage church in Ronchamp. With this, his last church building, Kramreiter changed the design of his central buildings built after 1945. Above a symbolic floor plan of a fish, which is still based on the shape of a segment of a circle, a bright interior rises up towards the altar. The light room impression is achieved through the concrete glass windows on the side. The semicircular altar area is backed by a curved wall and bordered on the right and left by concrete supports. Although four bench blocks are arranged in a semicircle, there is a pronounced axis of symmetry and thus a longitudinal axis from the entrance to the altar. "

- Otmar Lowitzer : Church buildings in Austria 1945–1970. Dissertation. University of Vienna, 2007, p. 280.

The construction first aroused resistance from the population. The baptistery was built next to the main room and is connected to it by a spiral ramp. A campanile serves as the bell bearer, the crucifix of the church comes from Ulf Mayer , tabernacle, lights, eternal light and altar cross from Karl Huber, a goldsmith from Graz, a carved Madonna by the Liebenau woodcarver Heinrich Bliemegger .

literature

Alois Kölbl, Wiltraud Resch: Paths to God. The churches and synagogue of Graz. 2nd, expanded and supplemented edition. Styria, Graz 2004, ISBN 3-222-13105-8 , pp. 181f.
Otmar Lowitzer: Church buildings in Austria 1945 - 1970. Studies on church building in the field of tension between architectural currents, liturgical movement and church art. phil. Diss. Uni Wien 2007, p. 280, ( (PDF; 1.84 MB) , accessed on June 20, 2012).

Web links

Parish Graz-St. Christoph in Thondorf

Individual evidence

↑ The name is a bit misleading, in fact the church is still in the cadastral community Neudorf of the city of Graz. What is meant is the pastoral care area
^ Rudolf List : Styrian Church Leader. Volume 1: Graz and the Graz area. Styria, Graz et al. 1976, ISBN 3-222-10892-7 , p. 119.

47.022263888889 15.470808333333Coordinates: 47 ° 1 '20.2 " N , 15 ° 28' 14.9" E

[Anm.-1] The name is a bit misleading, in fact the church is still in the cadastral community Neudorf of the city of Graz. What is meant is the pastoral care area

[2] Rudolf List : Styrian Church Leader. Volume 1: Graz and the Graz area. Styria, Graz et al. 1976, ISBN 3-222-10892-7 , p. 119.