Friedenskirche Monheim by Walter Maria Foerderer
The Friedenskirche (Peace Church) is a Protestant church in Monheim-Baumberg, Schellingstraße 13, built from 1968 to 1974 according to the plans of Walter Maria Foerderer in the Brutalist style.
In the post-war years, the population of Baumberg increased sharply. Consequently, in the 1960s, a spacious development area was elaborated under the leadership of the union-owned construction company "Neue Heimat" adjacent to the historic center. Following a competition, the Protestant Church in the Rhineland decided in favor of a design by the Swiss architect Walter Maria Foerderer. He directed personally the construction work in the early years, but later transferred the supervision to his office and to the Monheim architect Dietrich Mallwitz, who more or less independently implemented the concept for the adjacent buildings.
After construction began in 1968, the church was consecrated on May 9, 1971, and the complex was officially completed in 1974.
The tower, reminiscent of a Swiss mountain, received three bells in 1983 from the Eifeler Glockengiesserei. In 2003, finally, the concrete wall, which separated the church square to the south from the neighbourhood, was opened. The open forecourt, which is bordered by 13 ball acacias, can be reached via a small bridge that leads over an artificial watercourse.
The highest point of the complex is the crystal-shaped community center: an emergent, 23 m tall bell tower, which is connected to the east to the church and to the northwest to various community rooms. Attached there is a church hall with a stage for up to 200 people and other meeting rooms. The rooms in the basement have access to the amphitheater. A flat-roofed two-storey staff building with seven apartments is attached to the southwestern side of the complex and a kindergarten eastward. The buildings are horseshoe-shaped, with a south-facing church square.
