Wotruba Church
By Greyscape
6th April 2019
The Wotruba Church, known locally as Kirche Zur Heiligsten Dreifaltigkeit (the Church of the Most Holy Trinity) sits on top of a hill in Mauer in the 23rd district of Vienna. It was designed by Fritz Wotruba and built by architect Fritz Gerhard Mayr.
An iconic brutalist design, created from 152 concrete blocks whose weight ranges from 1.8 to 141 tons, nothing could be more different from a typical pastel coloured, ornate Viennese church. It would have been hard to imagine how Wotruba’s design would translate into such an extraordinary tranquil contemplative space.
‘The hardness and immobility of material gave me more satisfaction than true-to-life representations’
Wotruba, a sculptor attributed his inspiration for the church on his visit to Chartres Cathedral in France. The architect, Mayr, worked with Fritz Wotruba to bring his extraordinary sculptural brutalist design to life, creating a space that is equally a sacred space and a living sculptural tribute to Wotruba, who sadly died before the project was completed.
The interior is simple and peaceful and works in perfect harmony with the brutalist exterior, light floods in from irregularly shaped windows set within the brutalist sculptural blocks. Wotruba’s sculpture can be found in several public spaces in Vienna, what the Kirche Zur Heiligsten Dreifaltigkeit offers is an opportunity to become part of one of his brutalist visions.
Photo Credits: Duncan Gibbs ©
