St. Pius Church (Mannheim)
The St. Pius Church is a Catholic church in the Mannheim district of Neuostheim . It was built between 1954 and 1956 according to plans by Hans Rolli .
history
Neuostheim was built in 1905 on what was originally a Feudenheim district south of the Neckar . The Catholic residents belonged to the St. Peter and Paul parish in Feudenheim , but because of the barrier that the river represented, they attended the services of the Holy Spirit Church in the eastern part of the city . After the construction of the St. Peter Church , Neuostheim became part of the curate in the Schwetzingerstadt in 1930 . As early as 1927, the entire parish had bought a building site for a church in Neuostheim, but construction did not take place before the Second World War . During the war, a bunker was built on the property , which subsequently made planning a church on the remaining site much more difficult.
Finally, construction began in 1954. The plans came from Hans Rolli , the construction management was carried out by Josef Freienstein . Pope Pius X was elected as patron, and Karl Borromäus and Elisabeth of Thuringia as second patron . After two years, the St. Pius Church was on 18 March 1956 by missionary bishop Augustin Olbert consecrated to be.
The parish curate of St. Pius was established in 1955. In 1969 Archbishop Hermann Schäufele elevated the curate to an independent parish . In 1971 the chancel was redesigned. In the same year the ecumenical center Cyril and Methodius began , an Eastern Church information and meeting center. In 1977 the church was renovated inside and in 1981 outside. In 2004 the parishes of St. Peter, Heilig-Geist and St. Pius merged to form the pastoral care unit “Am Luisenpark”.
description
The St. Pius Church is in the center of Neuostheim. After the new church buildings in Mannheim after the Second World War, which were still clinging to the traditional style, it was the first Catholic church to convey modernity. As an example, the Pforzheim served Matthäuskirche by Egon Eiermann . The concrete pillar skeleton is left visible. The walls in between are clad with yellow clinker brick . With a simple rectangular floor plan, the architect removed the classic separation between the choir and the community area in the interior. The church is covered with a flat gable roof . The free-standing, open bell tower is 32.8 meters high and is placed on the northwest corner.
Instead of conventional windows, there are 391 glass blocks on the long sides , based on the principle of the diaphanous wall, which become lighter towards the altar . Several windows were artistically designed by Harry MacLean . Siegfried Fricker created the font in 1960 . It is made of limestone blue bench and decorated with symbols of the Trinity . The Way of the Cross with 14 stations was designed by Paul Gisbert Rautzenberg in 1964 . He also created the relief-like panel painting of Pius and a statue of Mary in 1966. The organ was built by Peter Vier in 1991. The instrument has 19 stops on two manuals and pedal and 2016 pipes .
The 220 kg bell with a c sharp '' strike comes from the church in Leuthen . It was cast in 1783 and drafted during World War II. At the end of the war she was still in a bell camp in Hamburg . In 1954 she was assigned to the St. Peter Church, from where she came to the St. Pius Church.
literature
- Karl Anton Straub: Mannheim Church History: Catholic Past and Present . Mannheim 1957.
- Werner Wolf-Holzäpfel: Catholic Churches . In: Mannheim and its buildings 1907–2007. Volume 3: Buildings for education, cult, art and culture . Mannheim 2002, ISBN 3-923003-85-4 .
- Andreas Schenk: Architectural Guide Mannheim . Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-496-01201-3 .
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 28 ′ 47.4 " N , 8 ° 30 ′ 42" E