© NELE STRÖBEL

Ebrach Monastery church: "Ebracher Fuge"

Art competition for creating a new liturgical center

The >Ebracher Fuge< has been created to inspire reflection on the transition from community life to the stillness found in worship.

The vitality of the basic materials clay and wood is implicit in the simple, silent bodies which seem to float over all shadow joints.

The >Ebracher Fuge< developed from my search for a new liturgical center for the 21st century which would harmonize with the ideas of the Cistercian monks who originally built the church. Its basis, a 7 meter large disk, further develops the geometric construction of the Ebrach abbey's floor plan. The use of a substructure enables this podium of Solenhof slate to be built as a 15 cm shadow joint. The stones precisely continue the existing pattern. The bench planks have been reduced to the ground level, thus retaining their historical significance. The altar seems to float over this >Holy Island< as a >Stone Tablecloth< in the center. The ambo, with its cylindrical, conical form, is derived from the image of the Madonna with the protective cloak. An ark for storing the scriptures is planned for the side facing the congregation. Specially drilled holes transform the ceramic form into a resonating body.

Basic Geometry of the >Ebracher Fuge<

To determine the floor plan and radii, the 12 parts of the basic circle were marked concentrically at the intersections with squares and corresponding circles. The center of the 14-meter geometric figure is:

1. Easter light, 20 cm in diameter, followed by
2. Cross, 30 x 30 cm.
3. Priest's seat is a cube measuring 42.5 x 42.5 cm including shadow joint.
4. Cylindrical baptismal font, 60 cm in diameter or length of sides of the 2 equilateral triangles which build the shadow joint and the removable 15 cm deep font.
5. Conical, cylindrical ambo, 85 cm in diameter at the base. The diagonal reading surface is 42 cm. The ambo is 130 or 150 cm high. The podium steps consist of an equilateral triangle and a square.
6. The altar is a cube with a base 125 x 125 cm. It rests on a cylinder 100 cm high / 100 cm diameter.
7. The top of the credenza measures 175 x 87.5 cm and is 87.5 cm high (half a cube).
8. The radii of the seating elements for the congregation are 1400 cm.