Sacred Heart Church in Wels, Parish church in Wels, Austria.
The Sacred Heart Church is a Neo-Romanesque parish church in Wels's Neustadt district. Its exterior walls, towers and interior columns are built of Neuhaus and Mauthaus granite in cyclopean technique, while the inner walls and vaults are of fired brick. The three-aisled nave is flanked to the west by two towers, each 73.5 metres high, and the crossing is covered by an octagonal tent roof with a lantern and cross.
Wels grew rapidly in the 19th century, so a new district, the Neustadt, was laid out in the north of the city. Parish priest Josef Flotzinger asked the Diocese of Linz for a church there, Bishop Franz Maria Doppelbauer backed the plan, and a church building association formed around 1900. The foundation stone was laid in 1905, financed entirely by donations, and the first service was held in 1907 in the unfinished building. Matthäus Schlager's design was completed in 1911 and consecrated by Bishop Rudolph Hittmair.
The square around the church is named Flotzingerplatz after Josef Flotzinger, the Wels parish priest who initiated the building. The church was financed entirely by donations, and its foundation stone was a rock that pilgrims from Upper Austria brought back from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Archduchess Marie Valerie attended the 1905 laying ceremony.
The church stands on Flotzingerplatz in the Neustadt district, surrounded by a park; the address applies to the square and the two adjacent building fronts. The twin towers rise 73.5 meters. The interior is largely plain, with the apse painting by Alfred Stifter as its focal point.
The church holds protected monument status in Austria's heritage registry, recognizing its architectural importance as a structure from the early 1900s. This official designation reflects its value as a historical record of the period.
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