Johanneskirche (Linz)

The Johanneskirche stands in Linz’s Neue Heimat district as a modern Protestant parish church built in 1965 to designs by Hubert Taferner. Its setting is a quiet residential area in the city’s south-west, where the buildings form a small ensemble around a paved forecourt. A tall reinforced-concrete tower rises above the church and adjacent flat-roofed parish house, marking the site from a distance. The church matters because it replaced earlier arrangements for a growing congregation after the Second World War. Refugees, especially Transylvanian Saxons, swelled the numbers, leading to the founding of the Linz-Süd parish in 1953. In 1978 the Neue Heimat group became independent as Linz-Südwest, and since 2016 the reunited parish has used this building for all its regular services. Inside, a glazed porch leads to a broad cantilevered gallery supported on two columns. Plain concrete walls give way to whitewashed brickwork at the west end, while the east wall is fully glazed to fill the nave with light. The raised chancel is lit by coloured glass and framed by over-life-size concrete reliefs of Christ and the apostles designed by Walter Ritter. Outside, the 40-metre tower carries a cross at its summit, overseeing the surrounding streets and rooftops.