Kreuzkirche Hirschegg, Protected church building in Mittelberg, Austria.
Kreuzkirche Hirschegg is an Evangelical Lutheran church on a hillside in the north of Hirschegg, built 1952–1953 to plans by Gustav Gsaenger with local supervision by Fritz Horle. Its nave has an asymmetrical, nearly egg-shaped ground plan under a hipped roof, beside it an angular tower with a tented roof; sacristy and porch sit under a lean-to roof.
Protestant services in the Kleinwalsertal began in 1925 at Sanatorium Dr. Backer in Riezlern. After Austria's 1938 annexation to Nazi Germany, the community was detached from the Kreuzkirche am Ölrain in Bregenz in 1939 and made a vicariate of Oberstdorf's Christuskirchengemeinde. A church building association founded in 1949 led to construction of the church from 1952 to 1953 to plans by Gustav Gsaenger, with local supervision by Fritz Horle; it was enlarged in 1960.
The church belongs to the mother parish Christuskirche Oberstdorf and, as an Austrian vicariate church, is part of the Kempten deanery in the Augsburg church district of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria. Its name refers to the cross, and the crucifix and two angels at the altar were carved in 1953 by sculptor Andreas Schwarzkopf of Ruhpolding, painted by Angela Gsaenger, who also painted the Evangelist symbols on the gallery parapet.
The building is located at Am Berg 6 and holds services at 10:00 AM during the regular season. The service time shifts to 9:00 AM starting with the first Advent.
The egg-shaped nave has near-identical siblings: churches in Wommelshausen (Bad Endbach, since 1965), Gauselfingen (Burladingen) and Bodenmais (Johanneskirche) follow the same design. The altar crucifix and two angels were carved in 1953 by sculptor Andreas Schwarzkopf of Ruhpolding, painted by Angela Gsaenger, who also painted the Evangelist symbols on the gallery parapet.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 93,672 contributors worldwide.