St. Martin (Worb)

The Church of St. Martin Worb

The Church of St. Martin in Worb is the parish church of the Roman Catholic parish of St. Martin. The parish was established in 1998 at the same time as the construction of the new church and covers the area of the municipalities of Worb and Vechigen . The new building replaces the wooden church built there in 1953.

History and parish structure

The Catholics who immigrated to the area of Worb were assigned to the newly created parish Guthirt von Ostermundigen in 1942 . They celebrated their first service in 1943 in the schoolhouse singing hall. The Catholic Family Association, founded in 1946, ensured the cohesion of the members and was their point of contact with the authorities. Due to the steadily growing number of Catholics, the assembly of the entire parish of Bern and the surrounding area decided on October 28, 1952 to build a chapel in Worb at the same time as the Brother Klaus church in Bern. On July 12, 1953, the Bishop of Basel, Franziskus von Streng , inaugurated the new St. Martin's Church. In 1979, Bishop Anton Hänggi established the parish rectorate belonging to Guthirt Ostermundigen in Worb . The first pastor, Alois Zehnder, was followed by Father Mijo Rogina from 1980 to 1997. With the construction of the new church, St. Martin Worb became an independent parish and Luisa Heislbetz became the first church leader. In 2000 the parish became the parish of St. Martin Worb when it separated from the parish of Ostermundigen.

First church

The company Jean Cron AG from Basel with its owner Rudolf Cron designed and built the chapel from largely prefabricated wooden elements. The elongated gable roof was supported by three supports at the east end, so that a covered entrance area was kept free. On the ridge above the altar area there was a roof turret for the small bell, which was rung by hand with a cable. The sacristy was built on the side under the same roof and had a separate entrance and a door to the church. In the course of the liturgical reform after the council , the sanctuary was redesigned. The church offered space for up to 100 people. In 1973, a pavilion with a community hall and classrooms was built next to the church as a further temporary measure. The architect was Luzius Maier, Worb.

New building of the church

The Church of St. Martin seen from the Wislenhang

In 1985 the entire parish decided to purchase land for a new building for St. Martin's Church in Worb. The increase in the Catholic population required more space for various needs. The Lucerne architect Werner Hunziker won the competition for the Catholic church center in 1989 with a design for a monumental, ship-like church with additional buildings around a square inner courtyard. He intended to integrate the Worble- Bach, which flowed nearby, into the building, which was not feasible. The original project, which had a cost of CHF 24 million, was reduced to a slimmed-down version of CHF 5.2 million. The entire parish of Bern approved the building loan in 1995, and the foundation stone was laid in 1997. The inauguration of the second St. Martin's Church by the Bishop of Basel Kurt Koch took place on November 8, 1998.

The entire building complex is made with white-painted sand-lime bricks in exposed brickwork. The actual church is integrated with other rooms in the same block and cannot be recognized as such from the outside. In addition to the free-standing tower, access leads through the inner courtyard, which is modeled on a monastery cloister. The originally wooden stations of the cross of the old church are attached as concrete casts on three walls of the covered walkway. The cross-shaped cobblestone path leads past the office and classrooms into the foyer. Two sliding walls separate the anteroom from the church and the parish hall.

Interior and artistic equipment

The church interior with the atrium

From the vestibule, visitors enter the church room, which is partitioned off by a mobile wall. The central aisle between the rows of chairs leads to the front of the altar area, which is raised by two steps. Instead of a closed choir, there is a courtyard open to the sky behind a glass front, the upper boundary of which remains invisible to the church ceiling due to the wedge-shaped roof. A water basin fills the entire floor area of the atrium, and a simple cross is the only sign and vanishing point on the front wall. With the element of water, the architect refers on the one hand to the original idea of integrating the stream into the concept and on the other hand symbolically to water as the source of life. The right side is broken open for a wedge-shaped space. There is space for the organ and the choir, as well as a prayer niche with the statue of the Virgin Mary taken from the old church.

On special occasions with a large number of visitors, the sliding walls are pushed open and the hall connected to them creates a room for 300 people. Werner Hunziker himself writes: ... Inside, the simple, clear floor plan allows a high degree of flexibility, the appearance is reduced to the essentials . According to him, the source of inspiration for St. Martin came from the student chapel in Otaniemi (Finland) by the architect couple Kaija and Heikki Sirén .

Outbuildings

The freestanding pavilion built in 2015 by the architects Rykart AG in the western corner of the property extends the space available. With its square base and the vertical lamellar cladding, it emphasizes its own architecture and is still recognizable as part of the church center with its white paint.

Tower and bells

The bells of St. Martin

The bell tower, which was not included in the construction concept for cost reasons, was financed at short notice through a donation campaign and could be built at the same time as the church center. The small bell of the previous church was integrated into the bells of the new church. Three new bells, cast by Rüetschi AG Aarau and inaugurated in 1999, ring at the full peal .

organ

Organ prospectus

In 2004 the organ was built by Orgelbau J.-D. Ayer, Ursy FR, built with 18 stops on 2 manuals and pedal . It has an electric play and register contracture and slider chests and a combination system with 8,000 combinations.

I main work C – c ⁴
Montre	8th'
Flûte à cheminée	8th'
Prestant	4 ′
Duplicate	2 ′
Fittings	1 ¹ ⁄ ₃  ′
Trumpets	8th'

II Swell C – c ⁴
Bourdon	8th'
Viol	8th'
Voix céleste	8th'
Principal	4 ′
Fifth	2 ² ⁄ ₃  ′
Flute	2 ′
Tierce	1 ³ ⁄ ₅  ′
Hautbois	8th'
Tremblant

Pedal C – g ¹
Soubasse	16 ′
Octavebasse	8th'
Choral bass	4 ′
Basson	8th'

Coupling : II / I, II / P, I / P, II / II 16 ', II / II Aequallage ab, II / II 4', I / I 16 ', I / I Aequallage ab, I / I 4', II / I 16 ', II / I 4'

literature

Heinrich Richard Schmidt, Marco Jorio et al .: Worber story . Stämpfli, Bern 2005, ISBN 3-7272-1173-3 , p. 436-449 .
Roman Catholic overall parish of Bern and the surrounding area (ed.): And he shared his coat . Festschrift Parish of St. Martin Worb. Bern 1998, p. 19 .
Catholic Association Worb and the surrounding area: Yearbook St. Martin Worb . Ed .: Parish Council St. Martin Worb. Catholic rectory of St. Martin Worb, Worb 1982.
Gabriela Hanke et al .: Catholic Bern from 1799 to 1999. A stopover . Total Roman Catholic parish of Bern and the surrounding area, Bern 1999.
Catholic Association Worb and the surrounding area: Yearbook St. Martin Worb . Ed .: Parish Council St. Martin Worb. Catholic rectory of St. Martin Worb, Worb 1982.

Web links

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

Website of the parish of St. Martin Worb
Law on the regional churches of Bern (PDF; 185 KB)
Beliefs, St. Martin Worb pages 43 - 44 (PDF; 5.1 MB)
Maria Settimo: Hochparterre, Vol. 12, No. 4, Simple elegance: Werner Hunziker's church in Worb (PDF; 1.4 MB)
The Church of St. Martin on the Geoportal Kanton Bern (PDF; 199 KB)
Press review Catholic Church Worb (PDF; 10.2 MB)

Individual evidence

↑ Catholic Association Worb and the surrounding area: Yearbook St. Martin Worb. Ed .: Parish Council St. Martin Worb. Catholic rectory of St. Martin Worb, Worb 1982.
↑ Maria Settimo: Simple elegance: Werner Hunziker's church in Worb. In: raised ground floor . No. 9, 1999, p. 42 (PDF; 1.43 MB).
↑ Roman-Catholic overall parish of Bern and the surrounding area (ed.): And he shared his coat. Festschrift Parish of St. Martin Worb. Bern 1998, p. 19.
^ Worb - New pavilion for the parish of St. Martin. In: Bern-Ost. 3rd July 2015.
↑ Organ profile of the Catholic Church of St. Martin Worb In: Orgelverzeichnis Schweiz und Liechtenstein (accessed on November 10, 2018) and recorded on site by François Comment on February 13, 2019.

46.928209 7.559407Coordinates: 46 ° 55 '41.6 " N , 7 ° 33' 33.9" E ; CH1903: 609,198 / 197464

[1] Catholic Association Worb and the surrounding area: Yearbook St. Martin Worb. Ed .: Parish Council St. Martin Worb. Catholic rectory of St. Martin Worb, Worb 1982.

[2] Maria Settimo: Simple elegance: Werner Hunziker's church in Worb. In: raised ground floor . No. 9, 1999, p. 42 (PDF; 1.43 MB).

[3] Roman-Catholic overall parish of Bern and the surrounding area (ed.): And he shared his coat. Festschrift Parish of St. Martin Worb. Bern 1998, p. 19.

[4] Worb - New pavilion for the parish of St. Martin. In: Bern-Ost. 3rd July 2015.

[5] Organ profile of the Catholic Church of St. Martin Worb In: Orgelverzeichnis Schweiz und Liechtenstein (accessed on November 10, 2018) and recorded on site by François Comment on February 13, 2019.