Wegekirche

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A "Wegekirche" by Rudolf Schwarz : St. Corpus Christi in Aachen (1930)

A church building is called a church building in which the spatial arrangement allows the priest and congregation to be strictly oriented towards the front, towards the altar , towards the light and thus towards the “absolutely open”. The term is used less in the history of architecture (see there longitudinal construction ), but rather in liturgical science.

The term is also used geographically for a church or chapel on the side of the road or at a fork in the road, or programmatically and symbolically for the path of Christianity (e.g. church on the road ).

Wegekirche as a building type

The architect Rudolf Schwarz sees two “archetypes” of the church building: (pure) path or “holy journey” on the one hand and dome or “holy ring” on the other. In contrast to the Wegekirche building type, there are strictly centrally oriented solutions, alongside solutions in which surfaces for laypeople, orchestra and a choir are arranged to the side of the altar.

The Wegekirche is characterized by a linear orientation towards the front. The entire church, including the sanctuary as well as the facilities, such as the pews are arranged so that the whole community, the worshipers and the priest, to contact their head in the same direction, "go to the Lord," the returning Christ against . The direction is symbolically indicated by a picture, a crucifix , the tabernacle or a white front wall. The easting of churches means that the whole building is oriented towards the rising sun, a symbol of the resurrection . The narrow, windowed high choir of the Gothic cathedral becomes the “light path” for the “parade of the cathedral”.

Schwarz describes the “holy way”: “The people have made the move [...], their existence is the way. Row after row is drawn to God. Nobody sees the other's face, all look into the light that shines far in front of them and from there are connected to the church. Wegform is sparse, renouncing form without the close bond of the one in the other, unless the reliable camaraderie of the many who are on the way. The procession begins in the darkness of the gate and ends in the light. [...] All of this happens in the standing form. In the path form, the process has stepped inward and takes place there from beginning to end as a breaking up and pulling out and reaching the end. "

After the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council, the altar was in many churches as people's altar advanced into the church, the priest celebrates the Mass in general versus populum , turned to the community. The idea of ​​the “congregation gathered around the altar for supper” contradicts the orientation of priest and congregation in the same direction as expressed in the Wegekirche; it can be better emphasized in a circular or central building.

Way chapels and way churches

Examples of churches on the way as "church on the way" are:

See also

literature

  • Rudolf Schwarz: About the building of the church. Würzburg 1938 (3rd edition, Salzburg 1998, ISBN 3-7025-0376-5 ).
  • Rudolf Schwarz: Church building. World before the threshold. Heidelberg 1960 (Reprint: Regensburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-7954-1961-5 .)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rudolf Schwarz: Church building. World before the threshold. Heidelberg 1960. (Reprint: Regensburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-7954-1961-5 , p. 24)
  2. ^ Rudolf Schwarz: Church building. World before the threshold. Heidelberg 1960. (Reprint: Regensburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-7954-1961-5 , pp. 76-78)
  3. ↑ www.der-fels.de (11-2001), p. 313f. (PDF; 567 kB)
  4. ^ Rudolf Schwarz: Church building. World before the threshold. Heidelberg 1960. (Reprint: Regensburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-7954-1961-5 , p. 20)
  5. ^ Rudolf Schwarz: Church building. World before the threshold. Heidelberg 1960. (Reprint: Regensburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-7954-1961-5 , p. 78f)
  6. ^ City of Viersen
  7. ↑ Catholic parish Mariae Birth, Bad Laer