Evangelical Church in Bruck an der Mur

The Evangelical Church in Bruck a der Mur is a remarkable example of Protestant architecture and history in Austria. Located in the town of Bruck a der Mur in the state of Styria, the church serves as the parish church for the evangelical community in the region. The church belongs to the Evangelical Superintendency AB Styria, which is one of the two Lutheran denominations in Austria.

The Origins of the Evangelical Faith in Bruck a der Mur

The town of Bruck a der Mur has a long and rich history of evangelical faith, dating back to the 16th century. Before the peasants’ uprising in 1525, which was partly motivated by religious grievances, there were already some clergymen in Bruck who preached the Lutheran doctrine, such as the town pastor Dr. Otmar and the priest Christoph Wagner. They were influenced by the writings of Martin Luther, the German reformer who initiated the Protestant Reformation.

In 1577, the town received a significant boost for its evangelical faith, when Archduke Karl, the ruler of Inner Austria, granted freedom of belief to the citizens of Bruck at the state parliament. This was a rare and progressive act, as most of the Habsburg territories were staunchly Catholic and opposed to the Protestant movement. The freedom of belief allowed the evangelical community in Bruck to practice their faith without fear of persecution or discrimination.

However, this freedom was short-lived, as the Counter-Reformation, a Catholic revival movement that aimed to restore the dominance of the Catholic Church, began to take effect in the late 16th century. In 1598, the Archduke Ferdinand II, a devout Catholic and a fierce opponent of Protestantism, issued an edict that banned all non-Catholic worship and ordered the expulsion of all Protestant preachers and teachers. Many evangelical believers in Bruck were forced to either convert to Catholicism, emigrate to other regions, or practice their faith in secret.

The Establishment of the Evangelical Community in Bruck a der Mur

The evangelical community in Bruck a der Mur had to endure centuries of oppression and hardship, until the 19th century, when the political and social climate in Austria became more tolerant and liberal. In 1861, the Emperor Franz Joseph I issued the Protestant Patent, which granted legal recognition and civil rights to the Protestant churches in Austria. This paved the way for the establishment of a formal evangelical community in Bruck a der Mur.

The first evangelical services in Bruck a der Mur were held in the church of Lichtenstein Castle, where the community was granted guest rights from 1859 to 1863. The castle, which is located on a hill overlooking the town, was owned by Count Hugo Henckel von Donnersmarck, a prominent industrialist and a supporter of the evangelical cause. The castle church, which dates back to the 12th century, was renovated and adapted for the evangelical worship.

However, the guest rights at the castle church were not sufficient for the growing evangelical community, which needed a permanent place of worship in the town. From 1869 to 1900, the community used a makeshift church in a guest room above an ice cellar, which was rented from a local brewery. The conditions of the ice cellar church were poor and inadequate, and the community longed for a better and more dignified space.

In 1902, the community acquired a prayer room in a building on the main street of the town, which was formerly used as a warehouse. The prayer room was renovated and furnished by Otto Bartning, a famous German architect and a pioneer of modern Protestant church design. Bartning, who was a friend of Count Henckel von Donnersmarck, donated his services and materials for the project. The prayer room, which had a capacity of 120 people, was inaugurated in 1903 and served as the main evangelical church in Bruck a der Mur for over half a century.

The prayer room, however, was not large enough to accommodate the increasing number of evangelical believers in Bruck a der Mur, which reached over 1,000 by the early 20th century. The community decided to build a new and bigger church, and commissioned Otto Kuhlmann, another renowned German architect and a colleague of Bartning, to design it. Kuhlmann, who had designed several Protestant churches in Austria, such as the Kreuzkirche in Graz and the Heilandskirche in Fürstenfeld, created a plan for a neo-Gothic church with a tower and a nave. The construction of the new church was supposed to start in 1913, but it was delayed and eventually cancelled due to the outbreak of the First World War.

The community had to wait for another opportunity to build a new church, which came in the 1930s, when the economic and political situation in Austria improved. The community launched a fundraising campaign and purchased a plot of land near the town center, where the new church was to be built. A new design was created by a local architect, Josef Schmid, who proposed a modernist church with a flat roof and a circular plan. The construction of the new church was scheduled to begin in 1938, but it was again interrupted and aborted due to the outbreak of the Second World War.

The community had to endure another period of hardship and persecution, as the Nazi regime, which annexed Austria in 1938, suppressed and discriminated against the Protestant churches. The prayer room was confiscated and used as a storage room by the Nazi authorities, and the evangelical services were banned and restricted. Many evangelical members of the community were arrested, deported, or killed for their faith or their resistance to the Nazi regime.

The Construction and Design of the Evangelical Church in Bruck a der Mur

The evangelical community in Bruck a der Mur finally realized its dream of building a new church after the end of the Second World War, when Austria regained its independence and democracy. The community resumed its fundraising efforts and hired two architects, Sepp Letzner and Laurenz Schweighofer, to design the new church. Letzner was a professor of architecture at the Graz University of Technology, and Schweighofer was his former student and assistant. They collaborated on several church projects in Styria, such as the Christuskirche in Leoben and the Auferstehungskirche in Kapfenberg.

The new church was constructed from 1957 to 1959, on the same plot of land that the community had bought in the 1930s. The church was built with reinforced concrete and brick, and covered with a white plaster. The church consists of a central building with an octagonal shape, which is connected to a rectangular entrance porch and a rectangular chancel. The central building has an eight-sided tent roof with a gallery, which is crowned by a pointed ridge turret. The entrance porch has a gabled roof and a stepped portal, and the chancel has a flat roof and a large cross window.

The design of the church reflects the principles of abstract historicism, a style that combines elements of traditional and modern architecture. The church has a clear and simple geometric form, which is inspired by the early Christian and Romanesque churches. The church also has some features that evoke the Gothic and Baroque styles, such as the coupled arched windows, the pointed turret, and the ornamental details. The church is a harmonious and elegant synthesis of the past and the present, of the old and the new.

The church also has some references to other Protestant churches in Austria, especially those that were designed by Otto Bartning, the mentor of Letzner and Schweighofer. One of the most obvious references is the octagonal Church of the Redeemer in Krems a der Donau, which was built by Bartning between 1912 and 1913. The Church of the Redeemer is considered to be the first modern Protestant church in Austria, and it has a similar shape and structure to the Evangelical Church in Bruck a der Mur. Another reference is the Holy Spirit Chapel in Bruck a der Mur, which is a late Gothic central building that was built during the pre-Reformation period. The Holy Spirit Chapel is the oldest Protestant church building in Rottenmann, and it has an eight-sided plan that serves as a model for the Evangelical Church in Bruck a der Mur.

The Evangelical Church in Bruck a der Mur was inaugurated on October 4, 1959, in a festive ceremony that was attended by the representatives of the evangelical and ecumenical churches, as well as the local and national authorities. The church was dedicated to the glory of God and the service of the evangelical community, which had finally achieved its long-awaited goal. The church received its three-bell peal in 2002, which was donated by the Henckel von Donnersmarck family, the descendants of the count who had supported the evangelical cause in the 19th century.

Bruck a der Mur, Austria