Church of the Savior celebrates

Oldest Protestant church celebrates 200 years

The Heilandskirche church in Graz in the late 1850s and today

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Helmut Lunghammer/Heilandskirche)

Once a small house of prayer just outside the city gates, Graz's Heilandskirche church on Kaiser-Josef-Platz is now home to Austria's largest Protestant congregation. It is now celebrating 200 years of eventful history, which has not only included positive chapters - and has always been a topic of discussion.

When pastor Matthias Weigold talks about the founding years of the Heilandskirche, you can't help but smile with fascination: "It was initially a branch of Wald im Schoberpaß - that was the closest Protestant parish. The pastor came in winter on a sledge." A real trip around the world back then! "That was because it was forbidden to be Protestant until 1781. It was hardly possible to practise your faith in secret in the city - but it was possible in the countryside, which is why the congregations there were larger," explains Weigold. 

In the Styrian capital, around 40 years passed between the so-called Tolerance Patent of Emperor Joseph II - after whom Kaiser-Josef-Platz is named today - and the founding of the congregation in 1821. "The members of the congregation bought the land and financed a house of prayer. It had to look like a residential building - the tower, bells etc. were reserved for Catholics." This is why the tower still stands next to the church today and not on top of it: it was only added in 1853.

Today, we are the largest Protestant parish in Austria with 5500 members.

Pfarrer Matthias Weigold

Bild: Paul Stajan

The Protestant congregation grew slowly, also thanks to financial support from private families. "The Reininghaus family, for example, was wealthy and very active. Others financed the school and paid the teacher out of their own pockets for fifty years." Most of the Protestants were newcomers. In the 20th century, the parish's catchment area extended as far as Trieste.

National Socialism became the church's darkest chapter. Four converted Jews lost their lives. Today, a memorial is dedicated to them in the Heilandskirche.

This is how the Heilandskirche looked in 2021: the photos were taken by Helmut Lunghammer.

(Bild: Christian Jauschowetz)

The church attracted a lot of attention with its 2021 poster campaign, which featured a pastor kissing his wife and a pregnant pastor. "That's what the Heilandskirche stands for," recalls Weigold. What was seen by many as a provocation, Weigold saw "as a matter of course". 

"Less money and fewer people"
All this openness and progressiveness does not save the parish from the problem that many faith communities face: "We are becoming fewer. How we can be a church with fewer people and less money, that's what concerns us." The focus is increasingly on pop-up campaigns in public spaces.

And the celebrations for the 200th anniversary (thwarted by coronavirus at the time) are also intended to strengthen the community again. They begin tomorrow, Corpus Christi Day, at 10 am with a church service.