Baienfurt: Mariä Himmelfahrt

1925 – 1927

Architect: Otto Linder

Kirchstraße 8, Baienfurt, Germany

The Catholic Parish Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built from 1925 to 1927 according to designs by Stuttgart architect Otto Linder.

Expressionism

The reinforced concrete building with a parabolic vault is an outstanding example of Expressionist church architecture from the 1920s in Germany. It is especially notable due to its well-preserved interior paintings by Alois Schenk, which feature the color blue.

Otto Linder

Born in 1891 in Weißenstein near Göppingen, Linder attended the Staatliche Höhere Bauschule Stuttgart and the Technische Hochschule Stuttgart, where he studied under Paul Bonatz and Ernst Fiechter.

From 1920 to 1971, Linder worked as a self-employed architect primarily in Stuttgart.

Church Building

The floor plan shows a longitudinal building with three naves laid out in a west-east direction, an indicated transept, and a slightly projecting entrance hall.

The west façade with its large parabolic portal niche stands out first on the staggered structure with its high, stepped, hipped roof.

The narrow, high, rectangular windows are arranged in staggered groups of three.

The windows’ reddish-ochre framing, elongated reveals, and lintels structure the plastered façade with its horizontal incised lines.

Interior

Inside, the church is an expressionist Gesamtkunstwerk, with everything from the lighting to the painterly decorations by Alois Schenk contributing to this effect.

Five parabolic arches on elongated consoles connect the main nave with the side aisles.

The blue wall surfaces gradually shift from blue to gray in the side aisles and gallery, and then to violet in the choir.

The high altar with tabernacle was made in the workshop of Theodor Schnell the Younger in Ravensburg in 1927.

Organ

The organ, built by Reiser of Biberach in 1988, replaced a predecessor instrument of the same company from 1934 that was lost.

Tower Construction and Renovation

Up to that point, the tower had only reached the roof ridge, but it was completed in 1953.

However, the tower’s current design does not correspond to the original plan by Otto Linder.

Architect Karl Saur from Sonthofen recommended that the parish build a contemporary spire and suggested creating scale models of different design options.

Ultimately, the parish chose a spire that echoed the shape of the church roof.

From 1975 to 1977, the exterior of the church was renovated.

After a lengthy period of temporary arrangements, the chancel was expanded in 1999 to include a forward-projecting celebratory altar.