St Anthony’s Church

Words & Photography: Karin Bürki

Proto brute

It was the first church in Switzerland built in reinforced, raw concrete – in 1927, some 25 years before the term brutalism was coined. Karl Moser’s St Anthony’s Church is an uncompromising feat of superlatives: the church tower rises 62 metres into the sky, the austere architecture recalls industrial buildings. The exposed concrete church also broke new artistic ground with the huge glass paintings by Otto Staiger and Hans Stocker. At the same time ruthlessly stark and awe-inspiring in its monumentality, the sacral Gesamtkunstwerk (or total work of art) attracted a great deal of international attention. St Anthony’s Church ranks among the most important and iconic works of modern architecture in Switzerland. No wonder it remains a popular place of pilgrimage for architects and brutalism fans from all around the world.

Brutal on the outside, surprisingly gothic, earthy and psychedelic on the inside

While the exterior just about sits on the good side of the kind of clean-cut monumentalism favoured by the Duce, the interior is surprisingly warm and simple – and very gothic. The exposed concrete barrel vault and its eight supporting columns even add a classical element. The clinker-tiled floor radiates a soothing, earthy warmth, while the modernist stained-glass windows by Hans Stocker and Otto Steiger bathe the church in almost psychedelic fractals of light on sunny days. But it is the plain wall behind the altar – adorned only by a gold mosaic cross – that stands out as one of St Anthony’s most striking features.

Soul silo

Inspired by the 1922 French church of Notre Dame du Raincy, St Anthony’s polarised opinion from the start. The locals soon coined a new word for it: soul silo.