Pfarrkirche Seliger Pater Rupert Mayer, Modern parish church in Poing, Germany.
Pfarrkirche Seliger Pater Rupert Mayer is a contemporary parish church in Poing with a striking white roof made from thousands of three-dimensional ceramic tiles arranged in geometric forms. Inside, the simple rectangular structure relies on skylights and large windows to fill the worship space with natural light and create an airy, uncluttered interior.
The church was built from 2015 and consecrated on 10 June 2018 by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, after meck architekten won the competition in 2011. Completion was delayed eight months when the firm supplying the façade tiles went insolvent in October 2017. It replaced the overcrowded historic St. Michael church as Poing's new centre grew, and cost 14.6 million euros.
The church is dedicated to Rupert Mayer, a Jesuit beatified in 1987. Its largest bell bears his portrait and the inscription "Ich schweige nicht!" ("I will not be silent!"). The other three bells are dedicated to the Holy Family, Edith Stein and Adolph Kolping, and the four notes are as1, b1, des2 and es2.
The church stands in Poing's new town centre, a short walk from the historic St. Michael church in the old centre. A staircase leads up to a passage between the building's two shells and on to a balcony on the roof. The baptismal font sits at a large window with a view of a small lake and the tower of the Protestant church.
The roof deliberately avoids a traditional church spire, instead using the white ceramic tiles themselves to create an abstract spiritual form. This choice reflects a conscious artistic decision to express faith in a contemporary language rather than relying on conventional symbols.
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