Rudolf Schwarz (15 May 1897,

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

– 3 April 1961,

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

) was a German

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

known for his work on Kirche St. Fronleichnam,

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

. He also played a decisive part in the reconstruction of Cologne after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He took a leading role with Cologne's reconstruction authority between 1947 and 1952, contributing to the rebuilding of the city with some of his own designs. Among these is the Wallraf-Richartz Museum (1956), which now houses the Museum of Applied Art. He also reconstructed the

pilgrimage church A pilgrimage church (german: Wallfahrtskirche) is a church to which pilgrimages are regularly made, or a church along a pilgrimage route, like the Way of St. James, that is visited by pilgrims. Pilgrimage churches are often located by the graves ...

of Saint Anne in

Düren Düren (; ripuarian: Düre) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, between Aachen and Cologne on the river Rur. History Roman era The area of Düren was part of Gallia Belgica, more specifically the territory of the Eburones, a people ...

, near Aachen, which is probably his most famous work. Schwarz worked with the German blacksmith

Carl Wyland Carl Hubert Wyland (22 May 1886 – 24 May 1972) was a German blacksmith. Early life and career Hailing from a traditional Cologne locksmith family Wyland led since the 1920s by large orders in Germany and Europe. From the 1950s he was also op ...

and closely with the Fr.

Romano Guardini Romano Guardini (17 February 1885 – 1 October 1968) was a German Catholic priest, author, and academic. He was one of the most important figures in Catholic intellectual life in the 20th century. Life and work Guardini was born in Verona, I ...

at Burg Rothenfels, where he designed the chapel for

Quickborn Quickborn is a rich town in the district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It belongs to Metropolregion Hamburg and is located on the north part of Hamburg on Autobahn A7. Geography Quickborn is located about 18 km north from ...

, a large German Catholic youth movement run by Guardini. His wife,

Maria Schwarz Maria Schwarz (1921–2018) was a German architect and professor best known for her church architecture. Maria Lang was born on 3 October 1921 in Aachen, Germany. Her father, a contractor sparked her interest in architecture at a young age. In 1 ...

, worked together with him and is still in business as an architect, especially in reconstructing and modifying her husband's buildings.

Architecture Principles

Rudolf Schwarz accompanies his extraordinarily rich architectural opus constantly with numerous writings. Outstanding for the theoretical discussion are above all three books: ''Vom Bau der Kirche'' (1947; translated in English as ''The Church Incarnate''), ''Von der Bebauung der Erde'' (1949) and finally ''Welt vor der Schwelle'' (1960), where he illustrates the continuity of building from geological stratification to architecture as the last layer of earth-building by human life. Schwarz establishes architecture in the sacred by understanding it as a reflection of a primordial images founded in creation. These archetypes reflect the basic conditions that have arisen in creation. The architecture is a spatial representation that evokes these archaic archetypes.

"The subject of this design is the age-old struggle between man and earth. In it, man stands for buoyancy, lightness and clarity against heaviness, darkness, unformedness – for the delicate against the massive. Extricating himself from the earth and her clutches, he renews victoriously the age-old legend."

Rudolf Schwarz defined, at least as far as the scope of his writings, an incomparable position on the nature of the sacred in architecture. In a sense this works as a renewed cosmogony based on the expression of a society that is constantly reinventing itself in the wake of an ever-evolving creative force. An important role for the development of the sacral dimension in the architecture of Rudolf Schwarz has the theologian

, who accompanied him from his first buildings.

References

* * Steven J. Schloeder, ''Architecture in Communion: Implementing the Second Vatican Council through Liturgy and Architecture.'' San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1998: 23-24 and 234-38. . * Adam Caruso, Helen Thomas (Hg.): ''Rudolf Schwarz and the Monumental Order of Things.'' gta Verlag, Zürich 2016, .

External links

* * * 1897 births 1961 deaths 20th-century German architects Architects from Strasbourg People from Alsace-Lorraine {{Germany-architect-stub