St. Martin is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church in the town of

Olten Olten (; High Alemannic: ''Oute'') is a town in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland and capital of the district of the same name. Olten grew into a town during the Middle Ages at the location of a bridge over the Aare. After a period of de ...

(Switzerland). It is a three-nave columned

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

without transept with three chorapsideas. The church is considered as the "most significant

Neoromanesque Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

Greater Church of Switzerland from the late period of

historicism Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying the process or history by which they came about. The term is widely used in philosophy, ant ...

Building history

In addition to the 1876 built by the Roman Catholic parish Olten Notkirche St. Gallen architect August Hardegger built from 1908 to 1910, the large neo-Romanesque parish church. The new church has even more than the seats than the

Solothurn Cathedral The St. Ursus Cathedral (Cathedral of St. Ursus) or Solothurn Cathedral is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Basel in the city of Solothurn, Switzerland. It is a Swiss Swiss inventory of cultural property of national and regional sig ...

, making it the largest clearance Church in Canton Solothurn. The former makeshift church was rebuilt to Pfarreireumen and Josef Hall.

Organ

The first organ was of Orgelbau Goll (Lucerne) built with 33 registers. 1932 built the organ builder Willisau AG a new organ with 49 registers, which in 1949 reorganized by the organ builder Goll and extended to 64 registers. The present organ was of Mathis Orgelbau (Näfels) newly built 1992nd The instrument has 50 stops on three manuals and pedal. The play and Registertrakturen mechanically.

Gallery

File:St. Martin in Olten (Innenansicht).jpg, A view of the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

of Saint Martin's Church from the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

File:St. Josefsglocke in f'.jpg, A

church bell A church bell is a bell in a church building designed to be heard outside the building. It can be a single bell, or part of a set of bells. Their main function is to call worshippers to the church for a service of worship, but are also rung o ...

of Saint Martin's Church File:JEHOVAH at RomanCatholic Church Martinskirche Olten.JPG, The divine name of God,

Jehovah Jehovah () is a Romanization, Latinization of the Hebrew language, Hebrew , one Tiberian vocalization, vocalization of the Tetragrammaton (YHWH), the proper name of the God in Judaism, God of Israel in the Hebrew BibleOld Testament. The Tetr ...

, depicted in the

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

of Saint Martin's Church File:20170712 Olten 0898 (36796220561).jpg, The outside of Saint Martin's Church

References

Olten 1900s architecture Romanesque Revival church buildings Roman Catholic churches completed in 1910 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Switzerland {{Switzerland-church-stub