Wotruba Church

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
East view with main portal
Complete system with ancillary building, elevator and memorial stone

The Wotruba Church , also known as the Church of the Most Holy Trinity , is a Roman Catholic church made of concrete blocks in Vienna . It was built from August 1974 to October 1976 based on designs by the sculptor Fritz Wotruba and plans by the architect Fritz Gerhard Mayr . It is a rectorate church of the parish church of Mauer .

location

The Wotruba Church is located at 328  m above sea level. A. am Georgenberg in the Mauer district (corner of Rysergasse / Georgsgasse ) in the 23rd  Viennese district of Liesing on the area of ​​the former air intelligence force barracks . The Sterngarten , a concrete platform that serves as an open - air planetarium , is located near the church .

history

The building was created on the initiative of Margarethe Ottilinger and based on an idea by Fritz Wotruba.

Wotruba wanted to get the "sculptor pastor" Josef Elter in Traunstein, known for his work in granite, to work, but this project failed due to the client's approval.

The sculptor Wotruba wanted in his own words

"Design something that shows that poverty does not have to be ugly, that renunciation can be in an environment that, despite the greatest simplicity, is beautiful and also makes you happy."

Ottilinger's motive was to shake people up in a Europe in which belief in God is waning and to show that “forces are still at work that can withstand the spirit of unbelief”.

Even before its completion, the hotly debated church became a destination for curious and art lovers.

In 2018/2019, an extension with barrier-free access to the upper and lower church was built.

architecture

Interior with a view of the altar wall
Community hall in the basement

Stylistically, the building can be assigned to brutalism . It consists of 152 uncovered concrete blocks between 0.84 m 3 (1.84 t) and 64 m 3 (141 t); the highest block measures 13.10 meters. The light falls through simple panes of glass that are inserted into the irregular spaces, resulting in intersecting bundles of light. On the altar wall there is a cast of the cross created by Wotruba for the court church in Bruchsal .

In the basement there is an almost 350 m² community hall .

literature

  • Wotruba. The church in Vienna wall. Herder, Vienna 1977, ISBN 3-210-24541-X . With photos by OJ Erwin Reichmann; Margarethe Ottilinger : A church is emerging ; Fritz Gerhard Mayr : building description and plans; Illustrations for preliminary work, sketches and models; Rupert Feuchtmüller : From the inner drama of a building ; Friedrich Heer : Fritz Wotruba and his century ; Alexander Unger: A church as a communication center. On the religious significance of an aesthetic education ; Leopold Ungar : A metaphysical challenge.
  • Friedrich Kurrent : The Wotruba Church or the lack of courage to go unfinished . In: Friedrich Kurrent: Texts on architecture . Pustet, Salzburg 2006, ISBN 3-7025-0537-7 .
  • Franz Loidl : Ten years of the Wotruba Church on St. Georgenberg Vienna / Mauer 1986 . Vienna Catholic Academy, Vienna 1987.

Web links

Commons : Wotrubakirche  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Georgenberg / Wotrubakirche - Church of the Holy Trinity. Retrieved June 25, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Pehnt : Living trace. Churches in times of brutalism. In: Oliver Elser, Philip Kurz, Peter Cachola Schmal (Eds.): SOS Brutalismus. An international inventory. Project of the German Architecture Museum and the Wüstenrot Foundation . Park Books, Zurich 2017, pp. 40–46, here pp. 42–44. See also Wotruba Church / Church of the Holy Trinity. SOS Brutalism Website, accessed June 1, 2020.

Coordinates: 48 ° 8 ′ 51 ″  N , 16 ° 15 ′ 13 ″  E