St. Antonius (Bern-Bümpliz)

St. Antonius Bümpliz

The Church of St. Antonius of Padua in Bümpliz is the second of the post-Reformation Roman Catholic parish churches in the city of Bern after the Trinity Church . The first church service building was built in 1927 and demolished in 1959. The current church is the successor to this church.

History and parish structure

For the Catholic population of the villages of Bümpliz and Bethlehem , which have been incorporated into Bern since 1919 , the way to the Sunday service at the new Trinity Church in the city center was long and arduous. Within ten years, between 1900 and 1910, the population grew by around 2000 people. Many Catholics from neighboring cantons found work and apartments close to the city here. Therefore the desire for a church of their own soon arose. In 1927 the wish became a reality, the Catholics could move into their own church. The first clergy were F. Sigrist, J. Fisch and R. Magne. From then on, the local Catholics and the surrounding communities were looked after from Bümpliz, and regular services were possible. St. Antonius and the parishes that arose with it in the following years still had private law status as part of the Roman Catholic religious association in Bern . The three city parishes and the parishes in Burgdorf , Thun and the health resorts of the Bernese Oberland were granted parish status under constitutional law in the 1930s. According to the decree of the Grand Council of March 8, 1939, the three city parishes of Bern, Dreifaltigkeit, St. Antonius and St. Marien, were given the status of a state-recognized parish and became the "overall Roman Catholic parish of the city of Bern and the cantonal area attached to it". Since then, the sprawling Antonius parish has been divided several times. Catholic church services were regularly celebrated in Köniz from 1939 onwards, and after the construction of its own church, the new parish of St. Josef separated in 1955 . In addition to the village of Bümpliz, the St. Antonius parish includes the Wangental with the towns of Niederwangen and Oberwangen , Thörishaus , Liebewil , Clavaleyres , Kriechenwil , Laupen , Münchenwiler and Neuenegg . In 1969 the parish of St. Mauritius was established in the Bethlehem district with one of the provisional Fastenopfer churches . Meanwhile a new church was built there. Recently the parishes of St. Mauritius and St. Anton have been working closely together again.

First church

Alt St. Antonius Bümpliz, from 1927 to 1959

In 1926, at the instigation of Pastor Josef Emil Nünlist (1875–1952) , the Roman Catholic Kultusverein in Bern acquired a building site on Morgenstrasse in Bümpliz for CHF 32,112, and construction of the church began immediately. On December 18, 1927, the new church service building and a rectory were inaugurated. Henry Berthold von Fischer from Bern, who was already involved in the construction of the Trinity Church, was hired as the architect . The builder was B. Fontana from Bümpliz. It was a hall building in the style of Henry B. von Fischer's neo- baroque style , as represented in the villas on Thunplatz in Bern. A simple roof ridge was enough for the little bell. The construction costs amounted to 196,906 CHF. In 1959 this church was demolished and the new one built in its place. The old rectory was retained for the parish secretariat and offices.

New building of the church

The assembly of the entire parish of Bern decided on December 12, 1956 to take out a loan to carry out various construction projects. The planning of three church buildings in Wabern , Zollikofen and Bümpliz could begin. In the 1956 competition among seven architects for Bümpliz, four were awarded prizes: 1st prize Hanns Anton Brütsch from Zug, 2nd W. Peterhans, Bern, 3rd A. Egger, Bern, 4th W. Riegert, Bern. Architect Hanns A. Brütsch received the decision to pursue the project, and construction planning began in March 1957. In January 1958 the general parish assembly approved the credit for all three churches. The inauguration of the new parish center took place in Bümpliz on February 12, 1961.

Building description

South facade and entrance to the crypt

In the middle of the residential area with low buildings, the first thing you notice is the high church tower . In multi-part bars made of fair- faced concrete , partially clad with brown copper sheet and open slots in between, it stands free on the narrow side next to the parish hall. An open courtyard between the church and the hall is connected by a multi-part flat roof construction. In the middle of the forecourt is the baptistery . Like the other buildings, it has a cubic shape. The church adjoins with its west facade and is entered under the canopy through three double doors.

The two side walls consist of diagonally placed concrete slats, between which indirect light falls into the interior. The roof of the choir area is elevated and receives light from above through a ribbon of windows , similar to the Brother Klaus church in Bern, which was built six years earlier . Originally the outer walls were made of exposed concrete and red bricks. Just a few years after the end of construction, there was considerable damage in the form of flaking, and renovation of the outer skin was necessary. After violent disputes between church administration, monument protection and the architect, it was decided to clad it with brown copper sheet, which changed the external appearance considerably.

Baptistery

The baptistery is in the open courtyard between the parish hall and the church. A flat roof, interrupted by a glass gable roof strip, connects the two buildings. The art object with the golden disc from a concrete saw blade was created by the Freiburg artist and theologian Hans Schöpfer (* 1940), as was the cross between the struts at the foot of the church tower. In the newly designed baptistery, the baptismal font hollowed out of a boulder , the cross growing out of a ceiling-high iron plate and the Easter candlestick, also forged from iron plates, are works by the iron sculptor Ernst Jordi from Zollikofen. Heidi Reich (* 1940) created the colored glass windows.

Interior and artistic equipment

Inside with chancel

The mighty looking brick wall behind the altar area has been preserved in its original condition from the construction period. This is what the outside walls looked like before the renovation. The floor has a slight slope towards the choir area, which is raised in several steps across the entire width of the room. On the first step, open passages on both sides lead to the sacristy . Set back a few meters on both sides and in front, another three steps raise the outer altar area. The altar itself stands on a pedestal two steps higher. This gives the church visitors a good view of what is happening, just like in a theater. On the right the tabernacle and a tall cross are placed on a marble plinth, and on the left of the altar is the ambo in cubic forms. The sculptures are works by Josef Rickenbacher made of stones . With the redesign following the Second Vatican Council , the tabernacle originally standing on the high altar was moved to a pedestal in the crypt to replace a smaller one. The new tabernacle, the cross and the candlestick are also works by Josef Rickenbacher. The dark wooden ceiling is raised above the choir, and the light that falls through the transverse ribbon of windows is reflected off the brick wall. Other works of art by Rickenbacher are the Madonna on the left wall and the statue of St. Antonius with the Antoniusbrot above the foundation stone under the gallery. Since 1992, a way of the cross with 14 pictures on the front side walls has been leading through the Passion event based on traditional models. The Bern artist Jürg Lenggenhager created the pictures.

crypt

There is a spacious lower church under the chancel. The altar block, like its pedestal raised by two steps, is made of travertine marble. The bright pews are arranged in a U-shape. A ribbon of windows with a yellow stained glass by Heidi Reich occupies the entire north wall. It was implemented instead of a design by Leo Steck , which was rejected as out of date. A glass and concrete window by Leo Steck, dated 1960, depicting Antonius is let into the south wall. There is also a large crucifix originally from the Münchenwiler monastery , which (according to the inscription on the back) was taken over from the old church, and a Madonna hung on the altar wall. On the back wall, the 14 pictures of the Resurrection Path form a row, as a continuation of the Way of the Cross by Jürg Lenggenhager in the church.

• 

  Old rectory

• 

  Forecourt and baptistery

• 

  Crypt, altar

• 

  Crypt, side view

Bells

The bells were purchased when the church was built. A seventh chord was chosen as the tone sequence, which makes the bells seem festive and sublime. Because of the open tower construction, the bells develop an impressive volume. The five bells in H ° - dis '- f sharp' - g sharp '- a sharp' were cast by H. Rüetschi in Aarau in 1960 . The total weight is 5,457 kg (according to the list of bells drawn up by the Rüetschi foundry in 1968).

organ

Gallery and organ

Side view of the organ

In 1965 the organ was built by Orgelbau Graf, Sursee, with 28 registers on 3 manuals and pedal and was overhauled in 1978. It has a mechanical action , electrical registration and slide chests . The musette 8 'initially in the second manual has been replaced by an oboe 8'. Further revisions were carried out in 1997 and 2012. In 2016, a new console was installed by Orgelbau Graf AG, Sursee. The gaming table has an electronic setter combination and a USB connection for recording and playing back a game.

I Hauptwerk C – g 3 Principal 8th' Pointed flute 8th' Octave 4 ′ Forest flute 2 ′ mixture 2 ′ Dulcian 16 ′

II Positive C-g 3 Dumped 8th' Praestant 4 ′ Reed flute 4 ′ octave 2 ′ Larigot 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′ oboe 8th'

III Swell C – g 3 Reed flute 8th' Salicional 8th' Coupling flute 4 ′ Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ Flageolet 2 ′ third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′ Sharp 1' Trumpet harmon. 8th' shawm 4 ′ Tremulant

Pedal C – f 1 Sub bass 16 ′ Principal bass 8th' Capstan whistle 8th' Octave 4 ′ mixture 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′ trombone 16 ′

• Coupling : II / I, III / I, III / II, I / P, II / P, III / P

literature

• Jürg Lenggenhager et al .: The Bümplizer Way of the Cross and Resurrection . Parish St. Antonius, Bümpliz 2012, p. 30 .
• Emil Joseph Nünlist: Catholic Churches of the Diocese of Basel . O. Walter, Olten 1937, p. 35-38 .
• Fabrizio Brentini, Swiss St. Luke Society for Art and Church: Building for the Church. Catholic church building of the 20th century in Switzerland . Lucerne 6: Edition SSL, cop. 1994, Lucerne 1994. Diss. Phil. I Zurich, 1993/94.
• Zita Caviezel et al .: Art guide through Switzerland . tape 3 : Basel-Country, Basel City, Bern, Solothurn . GSK, Bern 2006, ISBN 3-906131-97-1 , p. 284 .
• Gabriela Hanke et al .: Catholic Bern from 1799 to 1999. A stopover . Total Roman Catholic parish of Bern and the surrounding area, Bern 1999.

See also

List of Roman Catholic churches in the canton of Bern

Web links

Commons : St. Antonius (Bern-Bümpliz)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website of the parish of St. Antonius and St. Mauritius Bern
• Law on the regional churches of Bern (PDF; 185 kB)
• Antoniuskirche in the building inventory of the city of Bern (PDF; 1.2 MB)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Anne-Marie Dubler: Bümpliz. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . Population development in Bümpliz.
2. ^ Emil Joseph Nünlist: Catholic Churches of the Diocese of Basel . O. Walter, Olten 1937, p. 35–38 (parish recognition).
3. ↑ Judith Ackermann, Andreas Brun et al .: Will work life. Parish of St. Joseph 1939–2013 . Parish of the parish of St. Josef, Köniz 2013, ISBN 978-3-03304132-5 (division of the parish).
4. ↑ Grand Council resolution on the delimitation of the parishes. In: Website of the Government Council of the Canton of Bern, April 4, 2012 (PDF; 111 kB).
5. ^ Gabriela Hanke et al .: Catholic Bern from 1799 to 1999. A stopover . Total Roman Catholic parish of Bern and the surrounding area, Bern 1999, p. 35 (List of construction costs 1910–1938 in Kath. Bern).
6. ↑ Schweizerische Bauzeitung, Volume 75/1957, Issue 13, pp. 201–202 (award of contract).
7. ↑ remodeling criticism of the architect Hanns A. Brütsch on its website.
8. ↑ Gift of the artist Jürg Lenggenhager.
9. ^ Organ profile of the Catholic Church of St. Antonius Bern-Bümpliz BE. In: Organ directory Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Retrieved April 11, 2018.

Coordinates: 46 ° 56 '22.1 "  N , 7 ° 23' 44.3"  E ; CH1903:  596 725  /  198709