Autobahnkirche St. Christophorus, Road church in Baden-Baden, Germany

The Autobahnkirche St. Christophorus is a church at the Baden-Baden rest area on the A5 motorway. Its tall pyramid-shaped building has a steep dark brown shingled roof, a thin pale fin running from the peak down the front corner, and a band of large glass windows and doors in concrete frames. The base is clad in light-colored rounded stones, and a cross stands at the top.

The idea for a road church at the Baden-Baden rest area dates to 1965, when the neighbouring municipality provided the land; the priest and mayor secured the Archdiocese of Freiburg as main financier. Architect Friedrich Zwingmann won the competition. The first sod was cut on 21 October 1976, and Auxiliary Bishop Karl Gnädinger inaugurated the church on 23 July 1978.

The church is dedicated to Saint Christopher, patron saint of travellers. Emil Wachter designed nearly every part of the building, including the walls, roof structure and altars, working the concrete into rough reliefs cast from styrofoam moulds. The four concrete steles at the ends of the avenues carry biblical figures: Noah in the east, John the Baptist in the west, Elijah in the north and Moses in the south.

The church stands at the Rasthof Baden-Baden rest area on the A5 motorway, and the surrounding grounds are laid out as a cross-shaped garden with a path crossing, rows of maple trees and four concrete image steles. The window walls are lit all around after nightfall. Around 300,000 visitors come each year.

The four concrete image steles at the ends of the avenues carry reliefs by Emil Wachter: Noah in the east (knowing where from), John the Baptist in the west (knowing where to), Elijah in the north (the individual and power) and Moses in the south (God and society).