St. Katharina (Zurich-Affoltern)

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The parish church of St. Catherine from the outside
The interior of the church
Bell of the first church
First Church of St. Catherine from 1928
Interior view of the church from 1928

The Church of St. Katharina is the Roman Catholic parish church in the Affoltern district of Zurich . In 1976 it received the City of Zurich Award for Good Buildings.

history

backgrounds

Affoltern (City of Zurich) was largely able to retain its village character until the end of the 19th century. However, due to its proximity to the city of Zurich and Oerlikon with its large industrial companies, Affoltern has grown steadily since the beginning of the 20th century. Affoltern had 3,000 inhabitants in 1941. In the years after the Second World War, a building boom set in, during which, within 10 years, apartments were built for more than 10,000 new residents.

History of origin and first church

As a reaction to this development, the parish Herz-Jesu Oerlikon bought a house with building land in Affoltern in 1919 in order to later build a church on it. Before that happened, the first small church was built in 1928 on a neighboring, smaller building plot. This was the first work of the architect Fritz Metzger (1898–1973), who, as the builder of important churches such as St. Karl in Lucerne, Maria Lourdes Zurich-Seebach or the Brother Klaus Church in Liestal, is one of the most important representatives of Swiss Catholic church architecture.

The church was consecrated on November 25, 1928, the feast day of the namesake of the church, St. Catherine of Alexandria . In 1930 the Bishop of Chur Georg Schmid von Grüneck appointed St. Katharina Affoltern as a parish vicariate and in 1933 as an independent parish. In the same year the first rectory was acquired and the artistic interior of the first church was completed. Since the construction of a larger church had to be postponed due to lack of money, the first, larger building site, which was located between Riedhaldensteig and Einfangstrasse, was sold to a building cooperative in 1945.

Division of the parish and present

In 1953 the Neuaffoltern area, which belonged to the St. Katharina parish, and a smaller part of the Brother Klaus parish (Zurich-Unterstrass) became the parish of All Saints (Zurich-Neuaffoltern) .

In addition to Affoltern, the parish of St. Katharina initially looked after some parishes in the Furt valley: Dällikon, Dänikon, Hüttikon and Regensdorf / Watt. In 1938 the parish of St. Katharina was able to purchase a building plot in Regensdorf, on which the groundbreaking ceremony for the local parish church of St. Mauritius took place in 1959 . In 1963 St. Mauritius Regensdorf was appointed a parish and separated from the parish of St. Katharina together with Dällikon, Dänikon and Hüttikon.

Due to the new construction boom in Affoltern and the fact that the numerous building cooperatives are partially replacing their settlements from the post-war years with new buildings, the traditional workers' quarter is now an area with a mixed population. With 5,701 members (as of 2017), the parish of St. Katharina is one of the medium-sized Roman Catholic parishes in the city of Zurich.

Construction of today's church

After the public law recognition of the Catholic Church in the canton of Zurich, the rebuilding of the too small church in Affoltern could be considered. In 1969 a makeshift church was built and the old church was demolished. In 1967 six architects were invited to an architecture competition, which Walter Moser was able to win. Mainly operational reasons prompted the parish to realize the second-placed project by the architects Wilhelm and Eugen O. Fischer. The foundation stone was laid on June 7, 1970 and by 1972 today's Church of St. Catherine, including the parish center and rectory, was built. In 1988 the church was rebuilt and in 1991 the interior was rebuilt.

Church tower and bells

The steeple

In 1971, five bronze bells were cast for the parish by the H. Rüetschi bell foundry , Aarau, and raised into the newly built church tower on October 25, 1972.

number Weight diameter volume dedication
1 3350 kg 180 cm B. Trinity
2 2040 kg 152 cm of St. Felix and Regula
3 1450 kg 136 cm it Mother of God
4th 880 kg 115 cm total St. Catherine
5 440 kg 91 cm b Guardian Angel

building

Access to the church, the parish center and the rectory

Erected on a narrow site, the parish center appears compact, efficient and shielded from the busy Wehntalerstrasse. The polygonal floor plan of the church is shaped by staggering as well as projections and recesses in the church walls. The facade of the church is " indebted to the concrete brutalism of Switzerland influenced by Le Corbusier , as it was shaped like a monument by Claude Paillard in the St. Gallen City Theater ... The spatial staging is reminiscent of Alvar Aalto's famous town hall of Säynätsalo ." Along the church walls, wide stairs lead up from the street to an inner courtyard, to which the church, the parish center and the rectory are attached.

In the church, which has a capacity of 500 people and is organized like a fan, the benches are grouped in a semicircle around the altar island. The daylight does not enter the church through stained glass windows, but through light shafts that are let into the roof between the church wall and the ceiling.

Furnishing

Artistic equipment

The concrete cross in the entrance area

The artistic design of the church was entrusted to the sculptor Kurt Brunner, Kriens . A special feature of this church building is that the paving of the outside area with reddish porphyry extends seamlessly from the Wehntalerstrasse into the interior of the church. The floor of the church lowers slightly from the back to the front, so that a good view of the altar area is also possible from the rear pews. The reddish porphyry of the paving finds its counterpart in the red granite from Sweden, from which the floor of the altar area, the ambo , the font and the base of the altar and tabernacle were made. The wooden tabletop of the altar relates to the wooden pews. The cross , the tabernacle, the Eternal Light and the candlesticks are made of bronze.

On the outside wall to the left of the altar area there is a sculpture of the church patroness, St. Catherine of Alexandria (on the Upper Rhine, around 1460). In the back of the church there is a niche in which a baroque sculpture of the Virgin Mary is placed. The concrete sculpture depicting the wedding in Kanaa comes from Kurt Brunner .

In 1975 three tapestries were commissioned as additional furnishings for the church, designed and woven by the nuns of the Benedictine convent of St. Lazarus in Seedorf UR . Depending on the phase of the church year , the green carpet "Element of Hope" (for the general time of the church year), the purple carpet "Element of Silence and Repentance" (for Advent and Lent) or the red carpet " Element of Joy ”(for Christmas and Easter).

The cross by the outside staircase was also created by Kurt Brunner; it is made of concrete.

organ

The two-manual organ with 22 registers and mechanical play and key action was approved by the company Näfelser Mathis Orgelbau built and inaugurated on 19 and 20 April 1975th

Disposition :

I Hauptwerk C – g 3
Pommer 16 ′
Principal 8th'
Hollow flute 8th'
Octave 4 ′
Gemshorn 4 ′
Octave 2 ′
Sesquialter II 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
Mixture III-IV 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Trumpet 8th'
II Positive C-g 3
Dumped 8th'
Principal 4 ′
Reed flute 4 ′
Flat flute 2 ′
Larigot 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Cymbel III-IV 1'
Dulcian 8th'
Pedal C – f 1
Sub bass 16 ′
Principal 8th'
Tube bare 8th'
Choral bass 4 ′
Mixture III 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
prong 8th'

crypt

Crypt, sanctuary

In contrast to traditionally designed churches, you don't get to the crypt from inside the church, but from the lower Wehntalerstrasse through a simple gate in the church wall. With its 60 seats, it is intended for smaller church services and devotions.

Like the church, the crypt was artistically designed by the Kriens sculptor Kurt Brunner. In this room, too, the paving extends seamlessly from the outside area to the slightly raised altar area. In contrast to the upper church, the altar of the crypt does not have a wooden tabletop, but consists entirely of red granite from Sweden, as does the floor of the altar area and the base of the tabernacle. The figure of the Madonna, the tabernacle, the cross and the candlestick next to the altar are made of bronze. The artist Franco G. Giacomel created the relief on the front of the altar.

See also

literature

  • Guido Kolb: 100 years of St. Peter and Paul. Zurich 1974.
  • Episcopal Ordinariate Chur (ed.): Schematism of the Diocese of Chur. Chur 1980.
  • Robert Gall: 50 years of the parish of St. Katharina Zurich-Affoltern. Zurich 1983.
  • Henri Truffer: Association of Roman Catholic Churches in the City of Zurich. Zurich 1989.
  • Fabrizio Brentini: Rudolf Schwarz and his influence on church architecture in Switzerland. In: Rudolf Schwarz (1897–1961). Work, theory, reception. Linz 1997. pp. 58-78.
  • Robert Schönbächler: Churches and places of worship in the city of Zurich. New Year's Gazette Industriequartier / Aussersihl. Zurich 2012.
  • City of Zurich, Office for Urban Development (Ed.): Catholic Churches of the City of Zurich. Inventory of Monument Preservation of the City of Zurich. Zurich 2014.

Web links

Commons : St. Katharina Zürich  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Truffer: Association of Roman Catholic Churches in the City of Zurich. P. 187.
  2. ↑ See article on Wikipedia on Affoltern (City of Zurich)
  3. ^ Fabrizio Brentini, in: Rudolf Schwarz (1897–1961). P. 58 ff.
  4. ^ Gall: 50 years of the parish St. Katharina Zurich-Affoltern. P. 9.
  5. ^ Gall: 50 years of the parish St. Katharina Zurich-Affoltern. P. 17.
  6. ^ Truffer: Association of Roman Catholic Churches in the City of Zurich. P. 186.
  7. ^ Catholic Church in the Canton of Zurich. Annual report 2017. p. 84.
  8. ^ City of Zurich, Office for Urban Development (Ed.): Catholic Churches of the City of Zurich. Inventory of Monument Preservation of the City of Zurich. P. 156.
  9. ^ Schönbächler: Churches and places of worship in the city of Zurich. P. 112.
  10. ^ City of Zurich, Office for Urban Development (Ed.): Catholic Churches of the City of Zurich. Inventory of Monument Preservation of the City of Zurich. P. 153.
  11. ^ Gall: 50 years of the parish St. Katharina Zurich-Affoltern. Pp. 50-51.
  12. ^ Fischer Architects, in: 50 Years Parish St. Katharina Zurich-Affoltern. P. 41.
  13. ^ Rainald Fischer, in: 100 years of St. Peter and Paul. P. 198.
  14. ^ Roman Hollenstein: Architecture as a craft , in: Fischer Architekten AG 1929–2009, pp. 819–120.
  15. ^ Fischer Architects, in: 50 Years Parish St. Katharina Zurich-Affoltern. P. 41 and p. 44.
  16. ^ City of Zurich, Office for Urban Development (Ed.): Catholic Churches of the City of Zurich. Inventory of Monument Preservation of the City of Zurich. P. 158.
  17. ↑ Kurt Brunner, in: 50 Years Parish St. Katharina Zurich-Affoltern. P. 46.
  18. ↑ 50 years of the parish of St. Katharina Zurich-Affoltern. P. 46.
  19. ^ Fischer Architects, in: 50 Years Parish St. Katharina Zurich-Affoltern. P. 44.
  20. ↑ Kurt Brunner, in: 50 Years Parish St. Katharina Zurich-Affoltern. P. 46.

Coordinates: 47 ° 24 '56 "  N , 8 ° 30' 43.6"  E ; CH1903:  681011  /  252193