by Kurt Schwippert (1903 - 1983)
Main altar of the Vatican Pavilion church, Brussels World's Fair 1958
Altar with tabernacle, 1960s, photo: Bernd Kirtz
Whenever visitors take in the entire upper church, their gaze has always been – and remains to this day – drawn to the monumental, block-like altar. Standing under a canopy in front of the straight, dark choir wall, it dominates the chancel as the spiritual center of the church (pictured here before Vatican II, still with its tabernacle). The table is made of polished Belgian Granite. It is clad on all sides with eight bronze relief panels (antependia), all of which relate to the Holy Mass celebrated at the altar.
Altar table – bronze reliefs of the front side. Photos: Max Schulz 2019
The three panels on the front show:
• Left: ram and altar grate – the image represents Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac;
• In the middle: two hands and five jugs – for the sacrifice of Melchizedek;
• Right: a table with a lamb and fire – for the sacrifice of Abel.
Altar table – bronze reliefs on the left side, photos: Max Schulz 2019
The two panels on the left side of the altar table show:
• Left: A hand and two baskets with bread and fish – representing the feeding of the multitude.
• Right: Two rings, a pitcher, and four wine jugs – representing the wedding at Cana wine miracle.
Altar table, bronze relief on the right side, photos: Max Schulz 2019
The panels on the right side of the altar table show:
• Left panel: seven-armed candlestick, altar of burnt offering, table, offering bowl – representing the cult vessels of the Tabernacle.
• Right panel: hand, two bowls, rain of bread – representing the manna, the bread from heaven, which nourished the people of Israel in the desert.
Altar table, bronze relief on the back, photo: Max Schulz 2019
Panel back: A table community with bread and wine is hinted at – representing the Last Supper, the Eucharist.
Through their motifs from the Old and New Testaments, all panels refer, both individually and as an ensemble, to the celebration of the Eucharist, which is depicted as a table community in the largest of the reliefs.
As with his other commissions from the 1950s, Schwippert confined himself to brief, emblematic, and symbolic forms. A contemporary observer described them as abstract, yet accessible and executed with exceptional formal precision. The artist himself referred to them as 'clarified images' meant to signify the mystery of the sacrificial feast that lives within the Church.
Kurt Schwippert: Three Ages of Life, 1952. Youth: Girl with Flower. Photo: Wirtschaftsbetriebe Duisburg
Many people from Duisburg have already encountered a work by Kurt Schwippert elsewhere—rarely by design or plan: His sculptures 'Three Ages of Life' (Drei Lebensalter) stood at the Buchholz forest cemetery (Buchholzer Waldfriedhof). They previously adorned—mounted side by side—the entrance facade of the old Duisburg crematorium. Following its demolition in favor of a new crematorium opened in 2002 on Düsseldorfer Straße, they were placed opposite the entrances to the mourning halls, united into a group of three.
References:
Franz-Josef Heyen: Kurt Schwippert – Werkverzeichnis der Plastik, zusammengestellt nach dem Werkbuch des Bildhauers, Düsseldorf 1983.
Niesen, Josef: Kurt Schwippert, in: Internetportal Rheinische Geschichte, retrieved from:
http://www.rheinische-geschichte.lvr.de/Persoenlichkeiten/kurt-schwippert/DE-2086/lido/57c94da06086e5.82843469 (Sep. 7, 2018).
