Memorial church for world peace in Hiroshima, 1959 / 60
Gabriele Baumgartner
2017 / 2020
The idea for a peace church was born after the end of the Second World War. It was to serve not only as a centre for the Catholic community of Hiroshima, which is under the control of the German Jesuit Mission in Bonn, but also as a memorial and symbol of peace for the world. Numerous countries contributed to the financing and took over individual elements of the furnishings. Monsignor Otto Mauer reported that the Austrian ambassador in Tokyo, Dr F. H. Leitner, gave Archbishop Dr Rohracher the suggestion to participate in 1958. Austria took over the financing and design of the 16 stained glass windows on the upper floor of the nave.
Several Austrian institutes and organisations took part in this project: on the one hand by raising the funds and on the other by organising an artistic competition.
On both sides of the nave, 8 windows were to be designed in a 240x60 cm format, rectangular with a Gothic trefoil shape. The artists were free to choose the subject matter, the only condition being a non-figurative expression. On 30 June 1959, the jury unanimously selected Josef Mikl as the winner of the competition. In Bonn, a second German-Japanese jury confirmed this Austrian decision.
Jury:
Alexander Auer
Dr. Adele Knindl
Monsignore Professor Otto Mauer
Präsident Manfred Mautner Markhof
Professor Arnulf Neuwirth
Dr. Alfred Schmeller
Dr. Dipl.Ing. Karl Schwanzer
artists:
Peter Bischof, Vienna
Marius Decleva, Graz
Wolfgang Hollegha, Vienna
Josef Mikl, Vienna
Hans Staudacher, Vienna
Max Weiler, Innsbruck
Josef Mikl had submitted designs on the themes On Christian Love and On Eternal Peace, taken from Immanuel Kant's philosophical design of the same title, each for one side of the nave. The shapes, but above all the colours, were intended to convey the themes and evoke emotions. Mikl thus immersed the depiction of love on one side of the wall in yellow and red tones. The opposite side forms the colour contrast in which blue tones dominate and thus symbolise eternal peace.
The stained glass windows were made in the glassworks of Schlierbach Abbey and installed in Hiroshima in the Obergarden.
16 stained glass windows | each 240 x 60 cm
Glaserei Stift Schlierbach
