Herz-Jesu-Kirche, Modern parish church in Neuhausen-Nymphenburg, Germany.
The Herz-Jesu-Kirche is a modern church built from 1997 to 2000 by Allmann Sattler Wappner. Its exterior is a glass prism 16 metres high, 21 wide and 48 long, with a steel frame and semi-opaque blue glass. Inside, a separate wooden cube with over 2,000 vertical light-wood slats lets sunlight vary toward the altar. A glass and steel bridge links the upper levels of the U-shaped courtyard wings.
The building was designed by the architecture firm Allmann Sattler Wappner and opened on November 26, 2000. It signaled a shift in how contemporary Germany approached religious architecture and worship spaces.
The front consists of 24 by 18 squares of small rectangles bearing patterns of stylised white nails. The artist Alexander Beleschenko devised an alphabet for them, modelled on cuneiform, in which a set arrangement of nails stands for a letter; the inscription quotes the Passion from the Gospel of John. The whole front opens like a two-winged gate only on high feast days.
The church stands at Lachnerstraße 8 in Neuhausen, its U-shaped forecourt paved with large light grey stone tiles. The main glass front opens fully only on high feast days; on ordinary days entry is through two smaller doors set in the main portal. A side aisle runs between the outer glass shell and the inner wooden hall.
The front consists of 24 by 18 squares of small rectangles bearing patterns of stylised white nails. For this, artist Alexander Beleschenko devised an alphabet in which a set arrangement of nails, modelled on cuneiform, stands for a letter; the panels carry a Passion inscription from the Gospel of John. The whole facade can swing open like a two-winged gate, but only on high feast days; otherwise visitors enter through two smaller doors cut into the main portal. The church claims the largest church doors in the world.
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