St. Trinitatis, Catholic Priory Church in Leipzig
- Emilia Margaretha
Since the bombing of the Second World War, this prominent site across from Leipzig’s city hall has been empty. The new church now fills the entire triangular site and the clear edge it creates is the prelude to future development of the unused land adjoining it to the west. The new bell tower, in combination with the city hall tower opposite it, forges a gateway on the six-lane Martin Luther Ring. The church sanctuary, in contrast, is oriented to Wilhelm Leuschner Platz; its tall wall helps frame the outdoor space. The presbytery is in cut into the building massing between these two high points. Although the building makes a monolithic impression, it is open and inviting. Above the entrances to the presbytery, bridge-like cantilevering building components, which take the form of wall-like beams, span between the two ends of the site. The durable building envelope is one component of the complex sustainability concept for a self-sufficient church. At dusk a pastel glow emanates from the porphyritic tuff (see p. 730ff). With their archaic, austere design, the interiors are the antipode of the hustle and bustle of the city. In the fellowship hall the urban activity is visible through floor-to-ceiling glazing, but in the church sanctuary the glass’s transparency is obscured by the artistic treatment of the windows. With a ceiling height of 14.50 m, the church sanctuary yields for a transcendental spatial experience, heightened by the light entering through the skylight above the altar.
