Thomaskirche (Liebefeld)

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The Thomaskirche with forecourt and "spiral of life"

The Reformed Thomaskirche Liebefeld is one of two churches in the parish center of the Reformed parish of Köniz . It was built from 1965 when the growing population in the agglomeration of the city of Bern needed its own churches. It was inaugurated on March 3, 1967.

History and parish structure

The Liebefeld parish was established before the church was built. Until the inauguration of the church, the services took place in the auditorium of the Hessgut schoolhouse. Together with the construction of the church, a meeting center was created for the entire Liebefeld district. The parish of Köniz has consisted of the five church districts Wabern , Spiegel , Niederwangen , Niederscherli and Mitte since 2016 . The latter emerged from the merger of the church districts of Köniz, Liebefeld and Schliern. The church district Mitte has two churches, the historical church Köniz Peter and Paul in the palace area and the Thomaskirche in Liebefeld as well as the Murrihuus Schliern meeting center . Church life in the middle takes place at these three locations. In 2017 the 50th anniversary of the Thomaskirche was celebrated.

Building history

As early as 1954 to 1956, the parish council secured the right of first refusal to the demolished properties on the site of today's St. Thomas Church. In 1958 the area and in 1959 an adjacent parcel was acquired. Thanks to this purchase, a reformed church center with access from three sides could be planned. Pastors Bartlome and Kaiser created a spatial program with an additional rectory for a church, a parish hall and various ancillary rooms for the winding building site.

The Calvin project by Franz Meister (1923–2012) was unanimously chosen for first place in the 1961 competition among five architects living in the community . All of the projects submitted had one thing in common that stood out from the surrounding buildings. Meister's design with a church in cubic shapes and a flat roof did not require any landfills with the basement built into the slope and met with general approval with the wide forecourt and the appropriately designed entrances.

After the demolition of the existing buildings, the foundation stone was laid on May 26, 1965. The church was consecrated on March 5, 1967, while the organ was still missing and the surrounding work was not yet finished. The church with the tower as well as the assembly rooms and the rectory are listed in the building inventory of the canton of Bern as a "protected" K object.

A summary of the history of its origins is available on the parish homepage.

photos

  • Laying of the foundation stone for St. Thomas Church with Pastor Daepp and Kaiser

  • Foundation stone ceremony with Pastor Knuchel, architect Meister and President H. Häusler

  • Celebration of the laying of the foundation stone with wind players from the Köniz Music Society

  • Festival community

  • Skeleton St. Thomas Church

  • Construction of St. Thomas Church

  • The Thomaskirche is completed

Building description

Interior view, Christmas 2019
Interior view, confirmation 2007
Rectory and outbuildings

From the Könizstrasse, a wide staircase leads up to the forecourt of the large community hall, above which the church rises. From there, the visitors get through a portal-like passage under the free-standing tower to the church forecourt and the main entrance of the church. The main entrance leads from the Könizbergstrasse over the plane tree-lined path to the church forecourt. On the left side, the additions to the parish and classrooms and the rectory form the staggered end to Buchenweg, via which the driveway and the side entrance to the church and the service rooms also lead.

The church is clad with a copper skin that extends down to the ribbon of windows all around. The architect had a construction with prefabricated concrete beams erected on the solid concrete substructure, which was clad with copper on the outside and wood on the inside. Both the flat roof and the walls have different inclinations from the horizontal and vertical, which gives the church its own expression.

Visitors enter the interior through the double-winged door under the wide gallery. The high room is clad with a paneling made of brownish pine wood, which causes muted acoustics . The room is illuminated by colored, partly thematically painted glass in the windows. Through light cannons in the ceiling, additional light flows specifically onto the sacred area. On the pedestal, which is two steps higher, stands the communion table in front of the emphasized Christ window. The baptismal font is on the left and the pulpit on the right, both cube-shaped cast from concrete. The seating with pews can be variably adapted to the respective church services or other events.

Artistic equipment

In the period around 1960, pictorial or symbolic representations were controversial in the Reformed churches. According to traditional thinking, it was feared that the faithful would be distracted from the worship service. Not so in this case: Together with several artists, consideration was given at an early stage to how the rooms of the Thomaskirche could be furnished. Shortly before, during the construction of the Stephanuskirche Spiegel, good experiences had been made with works of art in church interiors. The art commission and the architect Franz Meister decided, with the exception of the colored church windows, to show works of art only in the various other rooms. During the construction period, several artists contributed to equipping the church center with their work.

  • In the colored glass paintings by Max Rudolf von Mühlenen , which surround the entire church, Christ, the dove, the fish and a cup of communion are depicted.
  • Above the door to Buchenweg, Hans Jegerlehner's mural with the head of the Apostle Thomas captures the moment when the apostle, still doubtful and fearful, gradually changes from an unbeliever to a believer. ( Joh 20,24  EU ) A light slit in the roof surface illuminates the picture.
  • Werner Schmutz 's wall frieze in the former meeting room depicts church celebrations such as baptism, wedding, funeral and Last Supper in atmospheric images of the four seasons. The similarity with the Appenzell Senntumsmalerei was desired as a reference to the love of home.
  • In Hermann Plattner's writing on the wall in the small hall, the rhythmic sign language has become painting. Greek letters form several paraphrases of Christ. The work is also reminiscent of collages, which have been a specialty of the artist since the 1950s.
  • Elsbeth Gysis' wall painting of the "Paradise Garden" in the youth parlor shows in a few lines the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise. The tree of knowledge with the snake and the evangelist symbols bull, lion, eagle and angel complete the picture. Gysi uses the sketchy "von Mühlenen line", which she herself named.
  • In the large parish hall there are abstract wooden sculptures by Rudolf Mumprecht .
  • A ceramic relief by the artist Walter Loosli from Köniz is attached to the west wall of the Thomasstube.
  • The Bernese goldsmith Othmar Zschaler (* 1930) designed the sacrament implements.
  • The “spiral of life” in the outside area on the floor of the church square was designed by the confirmands in 2016 as a colored floor painting with sayings and symbols.

Pastor Ruth Werthmüller's text is in the accompanying brochure:

« Run spiral of life.

In life we ​​are seekers.

As we go our way through the spiral here, we try to realize our life.

No matter how we feel about our own life, we can hope for one thing:

We go to meet God.

In all religions, God is in some way the center of human life.

Reaching him is the goal.

God, we can only find the center of our life if we find our own center ourselves. »

organ

Organ of the Thomaskirche

On the gallery is the large organ built by Orgelbau Kuhn AG , which was completed shortly after the church was completed in the summer of 1967. With 45 stops on three manuals and a pedal , it is one of the larger organs in the Bern agglomeration. “The first thing you notice about the organ is its architectural design. On the one hand, it incorporates the formal language of the church interior into the design of the prospectus and is optically fully integrated into the modern space. On the other hand, their own architecture corresponds perfectly to the classic 'work principle', in which each manual and pedal represent their own partial organs with an inherently logical sound structure. " The movement has mechanical action , electrical stop action and slide chests . In 2013, after almost 50 years of service, the organ builder Thomas Wälti and his team carried out a complete overhaul; In addition to cleaning and maintenance, some adjustments were made to the intonation and the disposition. In addition, an electronic setting system was installed.

Disposition

I Rückpositiv C – g 3
26th Dumped 8th'
25th Quintatön 8th'
24. Principal 4 ′
23. Reed flute 4 ′
22nd Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
21st Octave 2 ′
20th third 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
19th Larigot 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
18th mixture 2 ⁄ 3 ′
17th Rankett 16 ′
16. Krummhorn 8th'
15th shawm 4 ′
14th tremolo
II Hauptwerk C – g 3
32. Gedacktpommer 16 ′
33. Principal 8th'
34. Reed flute 8th'
35. Octave 4 ′
36. Hollow flute 4 ′
37. Octave 2 ′
38. mixture 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
39. Sharp 1'
40. prong 8th'
41. Cornett 8th'
III Swell C – g 3
13. Wooden principal 8th'
12. Coupling flute 8th'
11. Salicional 8th'
10. Voix céleste 8th'
9. Octave 4 '
8th. Flute 4 '
7th Nasat 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
6th Flageolet 2 '
5. Fittings 2 '
4th Trompette harmonique 8th'
3. oboe 8th'
2. Clarion 4 '
1. tremolo
Pedal C – f 1
42. Principal bass 16 '
43. Open subbas 16 '
44. Quintbass 10 2 ⁄ 3  ′
45. Principal 8th'
46. Pointed flute 8th'
47. Octave 4 '
48. Reed flute 4 '
49. mixture 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
50. 16 '
51. 8th'
52. 4 '

tower

Tower of the Thomaskirche with forecourt of the community hall

The free-standing bell tower is crowned with a weathercock. The five bells cast on June 24, 1966 at Rüetschi AG , Aarau, were received by the school children on October 22, 1966. On the following October 24th, the bells were raised because of the risk of accidents in camera. The architect Franz Meister designed the tower cock. In 1990 the rusted iron cock was replaced by a reconstruction made of copper.

The clock faces are simple indentations in the concrete. The watch was supplied by the Baer company from Sumiswald.

Concrete relief

The passage in the lower area of ​​the tower forms a portal to the church. The concrete relief above, with a cross in a circle and the Christ monogram made from the Greek letters Alpha and Omega , is another work by Rudolf Mumprecht.

Bells

The ringing consists of four bells with the chimes of the 'es' ges 'as', together they form the motif Christ has risen . The big bell weighing 2070 kg bears the slogan "Blessed are those who do not see and yet believe!", The second one weighing 1443 kg is with "My Lord and my God!" labeled, the third weighs 957 kg and bears the slogan «Do not disbelieve, believe!» and the fourth, smallest bell bears the slogan «Peace be upon you!»

According to general opinion, the sound is of very good quality, but it was revised some time ago due to noise complaints. The sound openings on the tower were closed with rubber mats and the bells were fitted with recalculated clappers and upper weights. In addition, a new automatic bell control was built in and the new all-in-one control system was installed in the church.

photos

  • Departure from Liebefeld to the bell foundry in Aarau

  • Bell founders at work

  • School children decorate the bells at the Hessgut schoolhouse

  • School children accompany the bells

  • Arrival of the bells at the church

  • The bells are raised

literature

  • Matthias Walter, Robert Walker: The Thomaskirche Liebefeld . Society for Swiss Art History GSK, Bern 2017, ISBN 978-3-03797-297-7 , p. 32 .
  • Hans Jegerlehner et al .: Thomaskirche, Liebefeld . Pfarramt Liebefeld, Liebefeld 1967, p. 16 .

Web links

Commons : Thomaskirche (Liebefeld)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Church district center. Evangelical Reformed Parish of Köniz, accessed on January 10, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Fascinating, colorful and sacred , www.kg-koeniz.ch (March 2017)
  3. ^ Robert Walker: The Thomaskirche Liebefeld . Society for Swiss Art History GSK, Bern 2017, ISBN 978-3-03797-297-7 , p. 2-3 .
  4. ↑ Object sheet on the Geoportal of the Canton of Bern
  5. ↑ History of the Church
  6. ^ Matthias Walter: The Thomaskirche Liebefeld . Society for Swiss Art History GSK, Bern 2017, ISBN 978-3-03797-297-7 , p. 19-27 .
  7. ↑ Hans Jegerlehner et al .: Thomaskirche, Liebefeld . Pfarramt Liebefeld, Liebefeld 1967, p. 16 .
  8. ↑ Kuhn 1967 / Wälti 2013 (Organ Thomaskirche Liebefeld) - Church Music Köniz-Mitte. Retrieved on February 3, 2020 (Swiss Standard German).
  9. ↑ Resurrection bell : full chime. on youtube , March 11, 2016, accessed December 27, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Thomas Christen / Matthias Walther: GCCS - Canton Bern (BE) soundproofing bells. Retrieved February 3, 2020 .

Coordinates: 46 ° 55 '47.5 "  N , 7 ° 24' 56.4"  E ; CH1903:  five hundred ninety-eight thousand two hundred and fifty-one  /  197641