The Catholic church in Oberwart (Pfarrkirche Oberwart), consecrated to the Ascension of Christ, was built by renowned Carinthian architect Günther Domenig and his partner Eilfried Huth between 1967 and 1969. Their new Easter Church (Osterkirche) is part of a church complex and forms an ensemble with the older church Mariae Himmelfahrt, a Romanesque building with a baroque façade.
When it was built in the late 1960s, the interior of the church was pared back to an absolute minimum. The gilded cross and the 13-panel pictures at the altar are later additions by Carinthian artist Valentin Oman in 1989. Another two additions include a large steel cross on top of a circular section, a visual rendering of the church tower, and the inscription Ich bin die Auferstehung und das Leben (I am the resurrection and the life) above the main entrance. Both were added in 2005.
Today the Easter Church is one of the most outstanding examples of the architectural style known as Brutalism. With its reduced geometrical forms, associated and co-ordinated elements and its plain fair-faced concrete walls, the church conveys a clear, concise and yet expressive message. The building is designed like a rotunda and its octagonal building references Byzantine churches with its upward spiral. Inside the dome-like building, worshippers and visitors are welcomed into a light-flooded open space within which is a concentric circular arrangement of chairs.
Researcher Joshua Koeb
Function
1969Religious object: catholic church
2018 Religious object: catholic church
Ownership
1969 Katholische Kirche – Erzdiözese Eisenstadt
2018 Katholische Kirche – Erzdiözese Eisenstadt
Condition
1969 Good
2018 Good
Property Management
1969
2018
Form of government
1969 Parliamentary Republic
2018 Parliamentary Republic
Spatial Planning Agency
1969
2018
Type of heritage and protection
1969
2018 National monument (BDA 17.1.2018 GdStr. 1656/1, 1656/2, 1657)
Interview with Christian H.
Employee
Interview with Gerhard G.
Local resident
Interview with Renate S.
Parish staff