Strong Stuff from the Church

The Pavilion of Christ - unusual and stirring architecture

by Silke Berenthal

Christians have shown themselves proud here - a world class EXPO Pavilion, cultural highlight and place of spiritual rest all at once! The church spent years mobilising the best creative powers in the country to realise a project that seemed utopian to many people. After going through the highs and the lows of carrying it out, the church has a result that is worth seeing. Quality has its price, one must admit, but that which is here presented to EXPO visitors seems to justify it.

Almost everyone who enters the Pavilion of Christ is captivated by its unusual architecture and by the spirit which fills this church. Here we have reached New Space. The Pavilion of Christ embodies purism in a modern way. One can spend time here without any postmodern multi-media background noise - instead, everything is reduced to essentials.

Harmony reigns in the rooms and hallways of the pavilion, and a feast of colour for the eye, especially in the lavish use of materials in the cloister windows. There are nine "cabinets" to discover, in each of which simple means are used to surprise the visitor. For example, there is a "sound cabinet" for repose, becoming aware of music and listening with the inner ear. Or the "give and take cabinet", the biggest hit so far: 162 cases with compartments invite the visitor to take something out and leave something else in its place.

The idea came from Professor Thomas Hengartner, Director of the Museum of Ethnology in Hamburg. Through scientific research he had discovered that the contents of 40 to 60-year-old women’s handbags is an illustrious mixture, and he hoped that a lot of things from these handbags would find new owners in this "cabinet". Unusual, silly but also useful things are lodged here for a few minutes or hours and then wander off again. Teenagers also find this idea very appealing.

The prayer services, held at the canonical hours of the Catholic Church, also continue to be attended by grateful visitors. At the beginning the organisers were afraid the hectic rush of the fairgrounds would enter here and disturb the atmosphere of prayer. But this subsided quickly, during the first days, for the Pavilion of Christ demands that one stand still. The pavilion is dominated by nine pillars, which can be seen from the outside by the nine squares where they join the roof. In German the word "nine" sounds somewhat like "new". Yes - and this is what visitors to the EXPO can experience - a new church at the beginning of the new millennium.

This article was taken from the North Elbian Church Newspaper, No. 31/2000.

Strong Stuff from the Church

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