St. Eusebius (Grenchen)
The St. Eusebius Church is the church of the Roman Catholic parish St. Eusebius in Grenchen in the Swiss canton of Solothurn . The classical building is a listed building .
history
construction time
The church was built after the demolition of the old Grenchen parish church above the center of Grenchen in the years 1807 to 1812 - probably based on a design by Niklaus Purtschert (1750–1815) - and on October 4, 1812 by the bishop of Lausanne and Geneva Joseph Consecrated to Antoine Guisolan . A large part of the construction costs were met with donations from the village population.
Exterior renovation (1961–1968)
The last major exterior renovation of the church took place from 1961 to 1968. Among other things, the tower was reinforced with the new spire and the baptistery was added on the west side of the church. The altar, the tabernacle , the baptismal font and a colored window in this chapel are works by the artist Peter Travaglini from Büren an der Aare.
Interior renovation (1973–1975)
During the extensive interior renovation between 1973 and 1975, the interior was adapted to the renewed liturgy. The renovation was led by the architect and engineer Kurt Kaufmann (1931–2015), who vehemently opposed the removal of the choir stalls, as these massive wooden seats are of great importance for the spatial sound. The new organ has 43 stops on three manuals and a pedal, it was created by the company «Orgelbau Geneva».
Monument protection
The Eusebius Church has been in the cantonal monument register since 1941 .
Furnishing
Interior
Franz Xaver Hecht painted the panels of the three altars.
The high altar remained unchanged during the major interior renovation from 1973 to 1975, but the ambo and its chandelier were replaced by a modern, dark-gray sheet metal ambo and a second (small ambo) was added on the right-hand side.
Technical Equipment
To the left of the altar there is a projector screen onto which the song texts are projected. The church is also connected to a surround system which, with two fixed and several mobile microphones, enables a clear and distinct distribution of voices. The loudspeakers are set up so that you can hear the same sound from all seats in the church as directly in front of the pastor. The technical architecture of the church is also designed in such a way that the organ sounds can also be received equally well from everywhere.
Chimes
The quarter hours are not struck with a successive two-note sound, as is the case with most churches. A different melody sounds for every quarter of an hour (quarter past: 1 four-tone melody; half: 2 four-tone melodies; quarter to: 3 four-tone melodies; full hour: 4 four-tone melodies). So there are a total of ten different four-tone melodies that ring in Grenchen every day.
function
To achieve such an ambience, six bells were used. The hour strikes with the deep seventh bell. At 10 o'clock, for example, the four four-tone melodies sound first and then the ten hour beats, for a total of 16 beats. (Comparison: the world-famous Westminster chime in London has a quarter-hour chime with four bells and five different four-tone melodies.)
staff
Pastor
At the moment (as of 2016) Pastor Mario Tosin is responsible for the Roman Catholic parish of St. Eusebius. The theology graduate has already been employed as a pastor in Grenchen for several years and has brought some innovations to the church, including the idea of projecting the lyrics on the projector screen or the publication of the parish's own website .
Acolytes
A total of 40 acolytes serve in the St. Eusebius Church in Grenchen. Four help each service to prepare the gifts and collect the collection.
Web links
- Parish Church of St. Eusebius on the site of the city of Grenchen
- Site of the parish of St. Eusebius Grenchen
Coordinates: 47 ° 11 '34.3 " N , 7 ° 23' 40.2" E ; CH1903: five hundred and ninety-six thousand six hundred fifty-five / 226879