fot. Martin Falbisoner, wikimedia, CC 4.0

A concrete cave hiding a ‘sacred tree’. Church in Cologne

From the outside, the church of John XXIII in Cologne resembles a concrete cave. Inside, the architect has placed, equally unnatural, a concrete tree whose ‘branches’ weave the ceiling. From each side, the building looks different, and the sculptural forms of the concrete on the roof are intriguing. Interestingly, behind the church’s strange, brutalist shapes lies symbolism concerning the genealogy of Jesus.

The sacred beneath the profane

In the 1960s, the University of Catholic Theology in Cologne announced a plan to build a new church along with a student residence and several other buildings. The winner of the competition to design the new university buildings was Heinz Buchmann, who, however, was not the only author of the bizarre church standing in the middle of the site. It was the theologian Wilhelm Nyssen who, together with the sculptor Josef Rikus, worked out the main symbolism behind the unusual building.

The concrete roof forms a kind of artificial cave under which the chapel is hidden. Despite their artificiality, the raw cuboids are arranged in irregular shapes as in nature. Coloured glass, too, is not associated with the creations of nature, but it should be noted that in Brutalist thought such an element mimics a sheet of water flowing down from a mountain. Only the water shimmering in the sun separates the sacred place from the rest of the world. The glass also adds to the lightness of this concrete cave. The details on the walls are also interesting. The concrete has been carved with canelures, which are grooves known from ancient columns. The whole creates a bunker overgrown with the earthy.

Jesse Tree

Stepping inside is equivalent to entering a sacred cave. The interior stores the trunk and roots of a concrete tree. At the centre is a tabernacle stacked with dark oak blocks. It is the trunk of the Tree of Jesse from which the rest of the structure ‘grows’. Grey ‘branches’ wind up and form the ceiling of the chapel. In other sections of the church, concrete trusses are discernible on the ceiling, a typical element of constructivism. Since we are talking about a church, the lattice pattern may also refer to Renaissance coffers. Interestingly, the trunk is supported by columns, on which most of the weight of the structure is distributed.

In addition to the raw and modern concrete, the red brick decorating the floors is also noticeable. Granite flooring also appears in several places. A little more warmth is brought into the interior by the wooden chairs with their angular shapes.

photo by Raimond Spekking, wikimedia, CC 4.0
Zobacz

In the fashion of brutalism

According to Nyssen, the ‘tree’ standing in the middle of the chapel is meant to symbolise the biblical Tree of Jesse, the father of King David. This motif, popular since the Middle Ages, is, of sorts, the family tree of Jesus. The number of members is based on records from the New Testament, but in some churches the layout and extensiveness of the Jesse Tree differs from the biblical original. The motif was placed on external decorations, above portals or on stained glass windows.

In contrast, Nyssen and Rikus transformed the Jesse Tree into the modernism that was current at the time. Constructivism and brutalism were expressed in forms and materials rather than ornamentation, so the medieval motif spills over into the entire interior. One could say that the faithful enter under the branches of the biblical tree. In terms of style, it is worth noting that the Brutalist church makes piecemeal use of classical architectural elements, only to then scatter them disorderly throughout the building. The structure denies the classicism of Gothic, Renaissance or antiquity and hides its sacredness in an earthy bunker. The contrast between medievalism and modernism is particularly noticeable when considering Cologne’s most famous monument, the 157 m high cathedral.

The construction of the Johannes XXIII church in Cologne was completed in 1968, and after 48 years it was listed as a historic monument. In turn, a restoration was carried out in 2016. Today, it is one of the finest examples of German Constructivism and Brutalism. The monument is particularly appreciated for its sculptural concrete forms.

Source: Baukunst-nrw

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