Reformed church, Protestant church in Solothurn, Switzerland
The Reformed Church of Solothurn, built 1922–1924 by Armin Meili, is a neoclassical transverse church northwest of the old town. A monumental portico with relief-carved pillars by Otto Kappeler and August Suter leads into a cross-oriented interior dominated by a dark grey marble pulpit wall and fluted Ionic columns. A tower topped by a domed round temple closes the rear of the nave.
The Reformed congregation built its first church here in 1867, designed by Ferdinand Stadler, twenty years after the Sonderbund War. Immigration from Reformed cantons during industrialisation made a larger building necessary, and the present church was erected in 1922–1924 to plans by Armin Meili northwest of the old town. It is one of Switzerland's last Historicist churches and the last Swiss church of the transverse-church type.
The church's name refers to the Reformed congregation that built it after the Sonderbund War. Its interior is dominated by a pulpit wall of dark grey marble with a wooden communion table in front, and the space is framed by fluted columns with Ionic capitals. In summer, organ concerts are held here and at St. Ursen Cathedral and the Jesuit Church.
The building is located in the western part of town and is accessible by foot from various residential areas. Visitors should check ahead about whether services or visits are open to the public.
The church is one of the last Swiss buildings of the historicist period and the last in Switzerland that can be classed as a transverse church, with the congregation seated facing the pulpit wall rather than a distant altar. Its six bronze bells, cast in 1925 by H. Rüetschi of Aarau, are tuned to individual bells of St Ursen Cathedral.
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