The planned demolition of a Catholic chapel for a new building has led to a dispute over the project in Augsburg. The State Office for the Preservation of Monuments is now examining whether the building should be classified as a monument. The diocese of Augsburg wants to build social housing on the property in the Lechhausen district.
The 1960s chapel once belonged to the University of Education in Augsburg, which is on the list of monuments because of its special architecture. Today the church is part of the adjoining student residence, which is also to be demolished to make room for the apartments.
Also because of the impressive colorful windows of the university chapel, critics of the demolition demand that the building be placed under protection. The band of windows running around the cubic building shows various biblical scenes and motifs and was designed in 1960 by the artist Hilda Sandtner (1919-2006), who later became a professor of art education at the University of Augsburg. Architecturally, the entire complex of the former teacher training college is based on the Bauhaus style of Walter Gropius and Scandinavian buildings of the 1930s and 1940s.
The State Office now checks whether the building has the properties of a monument defined in the Monument Protection Act. A spokeswoman said the authority had already gotten a picture on the spot. The examination of the chapel will be processed with priority and a result is expected in the coming weeks. If the chapel were to be granted monument status, any changes made would first have to be approved by the monument protection authority. The St. Ulrichswerk, housing company of the diocese of Augsburg and developer of up to 60 planned social housing units, has put the plans on hold for the time being, the diocese reported. The church was not aware that the chapel could possibly be considered worthy of preservation or protection.