Parish church Hetzendorf

Parish church Hetzendorf

The parish church Hetzendorf (also: Rosenkranzkirche ) is a Roman Catholic parish church in the district part Hetzendorf in Vienna's 12th  district , Meidling , at Marschallplatz 6. It is consecrated to Mary, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary .

history

The place Hetzendorf originally belonged to the parish Atzgersdorf . In 1783, Hetzendorf was given church independence; the chapel in Hetzendorf Castle served as the parish church .

Group of figures on the southern facade

After the population had increased significantly in the course of the 19th century, it was decided to build a new church, the costs of which were borne by the general and the Hetzendorfer Kirchenbauverein. This was built in 1908/1909 according to plans by architects Hubert Gangl and Eugen Felgel, who worked in a joint office . The interior was designed by the wood sculptor Franz Zelezny . In 1909 the Archdiocese of Vienna transferred the parish rights from the Hetzendorfer Schlosskirche here; the consecration was carried out by Auxiliary Bishop Godfried Marschall . (The church square has been named after him since 1911, previously it was called Rosenkranzplatz .)

During the Second World War, people sought refuge in the church from bombing. On October 17, 1944, however, the church was badly hit and damaged, and 16 people seeking protection died. Partial reconstruction took place in 1949.

Since the original interior decoration, which consisted of rich historical decor and depictions of roses in the vaults, had been destroyed, a heated debate arose after the war about how the church should be restored. Ultimately, two main options emerged: a restoration in the traditional sense - desired by the majority of the parish - or a “purifying reinterpretation”, as demanded by Pastor Joseph Ernst Mayer with the support of Monsignor Otto Mauer .

Mayer, who came out of the Bund Neuland like a wall and was a supporter of the liturgical reform , wrote in retrospect: All fake ornamentation was removed and the room brought to large, simple, solemn shapes and lines. However, this concept encountered bitter resistance, both in the parish and at the diocese level. In 1954 the Diocesan Arts Council was brought before the controversy, and in December 1954 there was a discussion with Archbishop Cardinal Theodor Innitzer , who died in 1955.

Interior with the pictures by Ernst Fuchs

In a long and heated dispute, the supporters of the purifying redesign were finally able to prevail. The design created in 1956 by Friedrich Achleitner and Johann Georg Gsteu was approved by Innitzer's successor, Archbishop Franz König , in April 1957 and was implemented under the direction of the two architects until 1958.

A design by Working Group 4 is also communicated in the history of architecture , which, according to Hermann Czech, was more radically modern , but would have achieved this effect through non-constructive, apparently massive room delimitations . Working group 4 avoided the problem at the time, according to Czech, and ceded the originally intended assignment to Achleitner and Gsteu .

In 1960 the church received the triptych The Secrets of the Most Holy Rosary (three free-hanging paintings painted on goat skins) by the Austrian painter Ernst Fuchs from 1958/1959 as an essential decorative element . In 1979, they were badly damaged by a man led by inflammatory pamphlets against the triptych. After the restoration in 1989/1990 by the restorer Donald Corcoran and his wife, they were hung up again in the church.

In 1982 the crypt was adapted for church services. From April to October 2008 the interior of the church was renovated. The technical systems (light and sound) and the organ were completely renewed. The pastor of the church was Hans Bensdorp from September 1979 to August 2010. Karol Giedrojc has been pastor since September 2010.

Building description

South view of the parish church

The church was built as a mighty, free-standing building in the neo-Romanesque style of a "castle of God" with secessionist Art Nouveau elements. The church is almost aligned on the north-south axis, with the main gate from the south and the apse to the north. On the east side, the bell tower adjoins the transept at almost double the gable height with a tower clock that can be seen from afar.

The exterior appears richly structured with a small tower over the crossing and two polygonal turrets crowned with a pointed helmet over the southern gable facade. The portal of the main gate is crowned by an eyelash and a group of figures of the Madonna and Child next to Saints Dominic and Catherine . The church is connected by arcades to the rectory to the east, which has characteristics of the Heimat style.

The interior of the church has the shape of a three-aisled basilica . Today the room is reduced to the bare structure of the room, the windows in the semicircular apse were walled up. The ground is paved.

The interior consists mainly of three paintings by Ernst Fuchs, which depict the secrets of the joyful, painful and glorious rosary . The pictures, which are attached to metal supports directly behind the slightly raised people's altar (a simple table), optically separate the main room of the church from the apse behind them. In addition, there is a large wooden crucifix by Peter Sellemond from 1933 in the church , which formerly hung in the Elisabethkirche in the 4th district. A figure of Mary on the globe by Franz Zelezny remains from the original furnishings. The pews are modern.

literature

• Walter Löhnert: 40 years of the Rosary Church . 1949
• Felix Czeike: Historical Lexicon Vienna Vol. 3 . Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1994
• Dehio Handbook Vienna. X. to XIX. and XXI. to XXIII. District . Verlag Anton Schroll, Vienna 1996
• Heidemarie Seblatnig (Ed.): Hetzendorf and iconoclasm in the second half of the 20th century , Facultas Universitätsverlag, Vienna 2010

Web links

Commons : Hetzendorfer Pfarrkirche  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Parish Hetzendorf

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Architekturzentrum Wien (ed.): Background , No. 46/47, Vienna 2010, p. 38
2. ^ Christian Kraus: The history of the Rosary Church. Retrieved March 7, 2017 . 

Coordinates: 48 ° 9 ′ 53.6 ″  N , 16 ° 18 ′ 13.6 ″  E