Parish Church of Bregenz-Herz Jesu

The Roman Catholic parish church Bregenz-Herz Jesu is located in the Kolpingplatz in Bregenz, Vorarlberg (height of the plaza in front of the main gateway 413 m above sea level = around 17 m above the mean level of Lake Constance).The parish church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is part of the Feldkirch diocese’s Bregenz deanery.On the third Sunday after Pentecost, the church’s patron saint is celebrated on the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

A three-aisled basilica with two 62-meter-high brick neo-Gothic towers was built on a cross-shaped ground plan.The north-west facing twin tower facade is reminiscent of Norman architecture.The basilica’s most prominent feature is the clerestory, which is about twice as tall as the side aisles.Through the clerestory, the center nave lights the church on all sides.The church has a cathedral-like reverberation of 8 seconds.

The altars, which were also designed in the neo-Gothic style, were completed just before World War I.Several sculptures and reliefs on the high altar portray Christ’s birth, the Last Supper, Christ as a sacrifice priest, the sacrificial lamb, Christ on the Mount of Olives, and Christ’s Ascension, among other things.The altars in the four wings are dedicated to the Good Shepherd, as well as to Saints Mary, Joseph, and Aloysius.

The pulpit was built between 1939 and 1941.The baptismal font in the left transept was made of Treuchtlingen marble in modern style.The Stations of the Cross are designed in a contemporary style, commencing on the right aisle in front of the Judas kiss and ending opposite with the angel who proclaims the resurrection.In the basilica’s doorway, a cast stone statue of St. Anthony of Padua with the Child Jesus, made by Bregenz artist Emil Gehrer, stands.