Pfarrkirche Heilig Kreuz, Bottrop, Germany 1953-57
Rudolf Schwarz, Architect
Georg Meistermann, Artist, Stained Glass
Theo Heiermann, Sculptor, Doors and Interior Objects

Alternative title: Bottrop Vernacular

I was really happy, coming around the corner, as it seemed that one could get a good view of the back of the church, but I was less impressed when I saw that Aldi had built right next door.....there is a huge parking lot, used by people who looked like they were reeeaaaaly enjoying shopping who looked even happier to see some idiot taking a picture of them sitting in their car, waiting for the wife to finally hurry up and get back to the car to give them some food.

It is a poor photo, and the light was rather flat, but I did want to show the back side of the parabola. Plus, I can't understand how one can design such a powerful chuch and add a bell-tower like that one. To me, they don't belong together.

Tags:   2010.09.04 bottrop schwarz rudolf heilig kreuz bottrop kirche church catholic katholisch expressionist backstein brick ziegel

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Pfarrkirche Heilig Kreuz, Bottrop, Germany 1953-57
Rudolf Schwarz, Architect
Georg Meistermann, Artist, Stained Glass
Theo Heiermann, Sculptor, Doors and Interior Objects

Tags:   rudolf bottrop heilig kreuz church kirche schwarz ziegel modern heiermann germany expressionist brick beton architektur architecture 50s

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Pfarrkirche Heilig Kreuz, Bottrop, Germany 1953-57
Rudolf Schwarz, Architect
Georg Meistermann, Artist, Stained Glass
Theo Heiermann, Sculptor, Doors and Interior Objects

One of the churches which most stood out in my mind during my studies--also because it was so much different than anything I had seen before in secular architecture. So raw and so industrial with the exposed concrete frame (it isn't even an equilateral hexagon for crying out loud!!). The floor-plan is a simple parabola, which, according to the architecture-theorist Schwarz, is *the* ideal form for a church. The architect Schwarz, however, was a little bit nervous about actually building it though, perhaps because of the direct 'testability' of his own theory and built reality. It was the Pastor who demanded the parabolic form, and Schwarz consented.

"The parabolic form is never ending and even in the darkest edge, the walls reflect one out into the infinite light." The glass wall is just a membrane, placed at random. The window by Meistermann strengthens the image of a never-ending space..

Little did I know at the time that the sculptor who did the bronze doors here as well as several objects on the interior would one day be my father-in-law. The world is sometimes soooo small.

The church, I am afraid, is not being used as such anymore, but for exhibitions, and there are plans to turn it into an hall for funeral urns (I'm sure there is a word for that).

I didn't get inside. grrrr.

Tags:   rudolf schwarz kirche church bottrop heilig kreuz holy cross josef bernard theo heiermann georg meistermann stained glass catholic spiral spirale

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I would almost have to say that this is my favorite of the bunch.

This old church 'skeleton' is a war memorial in the heart of downtown Köln. The first time I stumbled across it was at night, when I was new to Köln. There was just a very weak spotlight on the two figures of the grieving parents and everything else around it was just barely noticeable in the darkness. It took my breath away, as if I was the only person who knew about it--like finding a hidden treasure. It was very moving at the time and hasn't lost any of its power (there I am using that word again).
The figures were originally done by Käthe Kollwitz and are located on a soldiers-cemetary in Belgium as far as I know. The copies here were hewn by Ewald Matare´.

The memorial is not (usually) accessible.

It can, however, be viewed from all sides either from the street or from the surrounding buildings which encorporated the walls of the church as their own exterior walls. The foyer of the 'Gürzenich', the very old 'community-hall' of Köln (rebuilt after the war by Rudolf Schwarz, Hans Schilling and Karl Band) wraps around the memorial in the back. Even O.M. Ungers opened up the auditorium of the new Wallraff-Richartz Museum to look out onto the memorial, although not quite as gracefully as his colleagues in the 50's.

Tags:   2009.10.19 alt st alban köln cologne war memorial mahnmal weltkrieg world church ruin gürzenich schwarz schilling band kollwitz matare grieving parents

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This old church 'skeleton' is a war memorial in the heart of downtown Köln. The first time I stumbled across it was at night, when I was new to Köln. There was just a very weak spotlight on the two figures of the grieving parents and everything else around it was just barely noticeable in the darkness. It took my breath away, as if I was the only person who knew about it--like finding a hidden treasure. It was very moving at the time and hasn't lost any of its power (there I am using that word again).
The figures were originally done by Käthe Kollwitz and are located on a soldiers-cemetary in Belgium as far as I know. The copies here were hewn by Ewald Matare´.

The memorial is not (usually) accessible.

It can, however, be viewed from all sides either from the street or from the surrounding buildings which encorporated the walls of the church as their own exterior walls. The foyer of the 'Gürzenich', the very old 'community-hall' of Köln (rebuilt after the war by Rudolf Schwarz, Hans Schilling and Karl Band) wraps around the memorial in the back. Even O.M. Ungers opened up the auditorium of the new Wallraff-Richartz Museum to look out onto the memorial, although not quite as gracefully as his colleagues in the 50's.

Tags:   2009.10.19 alt st alban köln cologne war memorial mahnmal weltkrieg world church ruin gürzenich schwarz schilling band kollwitz matare

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