Columbarium of the All Saints Church

Printed glass not only lends facades a special destinction, it can also be used effectively in interior design. The All Saints Church in Erfurt is a good example of how manifold the applications can be. A high degree of sensitivity was required in the redesigning of the church interior.
Along with a monestary and a hospital for the poor, the All Saints Church of Erfurt was built in the 12. century as a rectangular, single-nave church with a west tower protruding to the south. During the course of the centuries, parts of the church had been destroyed, rebuilt and extended. The emphasis of the latest renovation completed in the automn of 2007 was on the redesigning of the church interor: the northern nave of the church now accomodates a columbarium, the church ceremonies continue to be held in the southern nave. A competition of ideas was carried out for the columbarium as the ambition was to have the burial area for the urns integrated in the church interior and not located in a separate hall, a vault, or an additional building as is usually the case. In addition to this special location, this is probably the first columbarium in a catholic church in which christians as well as non-christians can be buried in one area. The Erfurt designer Evelyn Koerber was able to convince the jury with her concept. She designed 15 stelas in which the urns containing the ashes of the deceased could be kept.
The architects Spangenberg + Braun wanted to create a separation of the various areas in the church interior without blocking the view of the creatively designed columbarium. They decided on a glass partition between the northern and the southern nave and designed these with writings from the bible. The glass was printed using the OKACOLOR digital print process from OKALUX. This discrete design of the glass creates a spatial separation on the one hand, while at the same time gently illustrating the close proximity of the various areas to one another.