St. Leonhard's Church (St. Gallen)

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St. Leonhard's Church in spring 2010, shortly after the roof renovation was completed
St. Leonhard's Church around 1900
Panorama with St. Leonhard and the Säntis around 1900

The Protestant St. Leonhard Church in St. Gallen was designed by the Berlin architect Johannes Vollmer in a neo-Gothic style; The St. Gallen architect Ferdinand Wachter was in charge of construction. After two years of construction, the church was consecrated on May 1, 1887. The parish of St. Gallen sold the church to private customers in 2004; since then the building has been used for cultural events.

location

The church stands west of the train station on the edge of the former suburban community of Straubenzell - and thus originally in the straight extension of St. Leonhardstrasse, which leads out of the city center.

" The building forms the finest conceivable end of St. Leonhard-Strasse, " says a contemporary document for the inauguration. Later the course of the street was changed so that it now passes in front of the church. Nevertheless, the church catches the eye as a striking building when leaving the city.

Construction 1885–1887

From 1887, the church served the Protestant residents of the western suburbs of the city of St. Gallen, all the way to Gaiserwald , as a meeting room. The western suburb of Straubenzellstrasse was incorporated in 1918 and was predominantly Catholic, because she was to repealing Fürstabtei owned by the monastery of St. Gallen. The new church replaced an older, smaller one that had been there since the 17th century. Later the Protestant parish Straubenzell St. Gallen West was founded, which reduced the catchment area of ​​St. Leonhard. In 1931 the church was renovated inside.

Around 1980 changes in the use of the church began to emerge. The number of church citizens decreased significantly (→ population statistics of the city of St. Gallen ) and the church should have been renovated. Since the church citizens had previously decided to renovate the Linsebühl church, financial resources became scarce.

Closed in 1995 and open church

The church was closed on January 1, 1995, and services were no longer held. Two years later the ecumenical project Open Church of St. Leonhard was started. The church was now used for ecumenical services, blessings, musicals and the like. As before, however, it was unclear what money should be used to renovate the church. The church was now considered dilapidated, the operating license was only granted provisionally for one year.

Sale 2004

In autumn 2004, the owner, the parish of St. Gallen Centrum, put the church out for public tender. Several interested parties came forward and the Winterthur architect Giovanni Cerfeda was awarded the contract. The voters of the parish approved the sale of the church for 40,000 francs.

An imminent renovation project was promised, but not implemented. The Open Church of St. Leonhard had meanwhile moved on, the new owner had new seats installed (the old ones had been removed and disposed of a long time beforehand), and now the musical Sister Act was performed in the church .

Fire 2007 and renovation plans

St. Leonhard's Church with the emergency roof that was installed after the fire on December 20, 2007 (spring 2008)

Before the renovation could begin, the attic of the church burned down completely on the evening of December 20, 2007. Only the church tower could be saved by a large-scale operation of around 200 fire fighters. According to the investigating authorities, roofing work that caused a moth fire was the cause of the fire.

As a result, the church had to be provided with an emergency roof to prevent further damage, for example from rain. This persisted for a long time without any noticeable progress. It was not until spring 2010 that the emergency roof and the associated scaffolding were removed so that the renovated roof could be seen.

In 2013, the owner of the church presented major plans to convert it into an event and cultural center. The renovation and restoration work required for this had meanwhile been completed.

literature

  • Dieter Krampf: Johannes Vollmer (1845–1920). An architect of the German Protestant church building in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Dissertation, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Bonn 1990.

Web links

Commons : St. Leonhardskirche  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Cramp: Johannes Vollmer. 1990, pp. 272-277, figs. 118-121
  2. ^ A b c d e Daniel Klingenberg: Westend landmark. In: St. Galler Tagblatt . June 10, 2008
  3. ↑ The day after the fire: The mourning work in Leonhardsquartier. In: St. Galler Tagblatt. December 22, 2007
  4. ↑ Negligent or not? Church of St. Leonhard: After the cause of the fire has been clarified, the question of liability arises. In: St. Galler Tagblatt. January 24, 2008
  5. ^ Jeanette Herzog: Concerts and congresses in the church. In: St. Galler Tagblatt. April 4, 2013

Coordinates: 47 ° 25 '14.5 "  N , 9 ° 21' 54.7"  E ; CH1903:  seven hundred forty-five thousand three hundred and sixty-five  /  two hundred fifty-three thousand nine hundred ninety-five