Autobahnkirche Dolina, Road church in Grafenstein, Austria.
Autobahnkirche Dolina is a shrine next to the A2 motorway with a high nave and two-sided choir arrangement. The structure is supported by concrete pillars and creates a modern church building for travelers.
Three Slovenian girls from Dolina reported a Marian apparition on three consecutive days in 1849, and healings were soon attributed to the site. A church investigation was ordered by the bishop while locals raised funds. The church was built from 1861 to 1863 to plans by Anton Bierbaum, executed by Anton Faleschini. Its tower, added in 1882, collapsed in 1889; the nave was rebuilt by Wilhelm Klebel and consecrated in 1957.
The interior holds a wooden Madonna from the 15th century and stained glass by Giselbert Hoke that shape the sacred space. Red wall paintings by Johanes Zechner create a warm spiritual setting for those who enter.
The church stands in Dolina, a few minutes from the A2 motorway exit Grafenstein. The entrance front faces a concrete wall, and the interior is reached past a roofed structure on supports. The village of Dolina lies in the municipality of Grafenstein, in the Klagenfurt field.
The 1999–2000 conversion by architects Ferdinand Čertov and Robert Morianz wrapped the historic church in a concrete shell with an entrance wall and a roof carried on pillars. Inside, vertical and horizontal light slits cut through the concrete, and painter Johanes Zechner covered a wall in shades of red.
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