Reformed Church Effretikon
The Reformed Church Effretikon is a post-war modern church building in the municipality of Illnau-Effretikon , Canton of Zurich , Switzerland .
history
In the 1950s, a further Protestant church building was planned in the Effretikon district in addition to the Reformed Church of Illnau and the Stephanskapelle Rikon . The church was built from 1959 to 1961 according to plans by Ernst Gisel . The dominance of the concrete and the idiosyncratic shapes of the building allow the building to be assigned to the architecture of brutalism . The progressive and abstract formal language of the church sparked long-lasting controversy in the parish.
1994–1995 an extensive extension made of exposed concrete was built in the north of the church. Among other things, it contains a large hall with a stage, a kitchen and various community rooms, including a fireplace room. In September 2014 it was announced that a new administrative center would be built next to the church. In connection with this intention, the parish again turned to the now 92-year-old architect Ernst Gisel, who submitted sketches and a model for the new wing.
description
Exterior
The church is enthroned in a prominent position on a hill. The clock and bell tower, which consists of unusually arranged fair-faced concrete blocks, is particularly striking . The shape of the top of the tower is compared to a hand that receives the gifts of God. On the tower there is a memorial plaque that indicates Christ as the cornerstone of the church and is dated 1960, as well as a wooden cross from a priestly ordination celebrated in 1972 as part of an ecumenical service . The bell carrier holds five bells from the Rüetschi foundry in Aarau :
- Christ bell (tone: B; saying: ut omnes unum sint )
- Matthew bell (sound: g; saying: blessed are the merciful )
- Markus bell (tone: f; saying: get up, he calls you! )
- Luke bell (sound: d; saying: God, be merciful to me sinner )
- Johannes bell (sound: b; saying: stay in my love )
The church building can already be recognized from the outside in its tent-like shape. The four sections of the roof gable are slightly indented, creating space for narrow diagonal window strips. In the spacious, by a pillar divided porch there is a bronze - relief of Otto Müller , the Christ in Gethsemane shows.
The extension from 1994/1995 takes up the brutalist design language of the 1960s through the dominance of exposed concrete, without competing with the tower or the church building. In 2001, the bronze tower cock by Silvio Mattioli was installed in the north-west corner , which was rejected by the population in 1961 as too modern and had been placed in front of the Zurich Wasserkirche for decades .
Interior
The church service room is accessed via the vestibule, the ceiling of which, lined with wooden slats, corresponds exactly to the shape of the outer gable roof . The interior is reminiscent of a tent, with the organ prospect of the Metzler organ (1961) taking up the acute-angled shape of the roof in varying degrees. The organ has two manuals and a pedal with a total of 15 sounding stops . Together with communion table and in brick executed pulpit the organ is the central liturgy zone of the sacral region. The glass mosaics in the form of a crown of thorns above the liturgy area are by Otto Staiger. The baptismal font consists of a brick base and a stone sculpture by Cesare Ferronato showing a dove of the Holy Spirit and containing a bowl of water.
The church is oriented lengthways, with the space in the left area of the nave being stepped in order to enable cross-directional seating. The right area of the ship is extended by a corridor between concrete pillars and, if necessary, can be extended to include the Bullinger Hall next door . In the stairwell next to the church there is a statue of the Zurich reformer Heinrich Bullinger and an inconspicuous glass painting of the Entombment of Christ by Otto Staiger. The church annex, consecrated in 1995 and containing the hall and parish rooms, can be reached via the staircase or a corridor.
gallery
Extension from 1995 made of exposed concrete
inner space
literature
- Art guide through Switzerland. Volume 1. Society for Swiss Art History, Bern 2005, p. 891.
- Michael Hanak: Reformed Church Effretikon. Provocative parade building of post-war modernism. (= Small Writings on Zurich Monument Preservation ), 11 Zurich 2009.
- Corsin Baumann: Ref. Effretikon - Church leaders. ( Memento of April 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Ed. Reformierte Kirchgemeinde Illnau-Effretikon. Effretikon 2011. (PDF file; archive version)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Fabio Mauerhofer: "Giraffe drinker" should keep company. In: Der Landbote , September 9, 2014, p. 9.
Web links
Coordinates: 47 ° 25 '41.7 " N , 8 ° 41' 21.7" E ; CH1903: six hundred and ninety-four thousand three hundred sixty-four / 253803