Church center in Riem

In the 1980s one of the mottos the churches bandied about was “tear down walls, build bridges”. Nowadays the two Christian faiths are going down new paths, moving together in terms of premises but surrounding themselves with a wall. The wall was a thorn in the side of the residents of the new development in the Riem district of Munich, which was built on the site of the former airport, on several accounts. Ten-meter high walls. That took some getting used to for those living in the vicinity. Nowadays no one gets incensed by the church center, on the contrary. It has become as established as the pine trees on thee square where it stands. Compared with the neighboring shopping mall and its rear wall the whitewashed brick wall comes across as pleasantly reserved. Twelve meters of white. The perimeter wall might well have turned out higher. 
One spire, two denominations. Two thirds of the ensemble belongs to the Catholic Church, the rest the Bavarian Evangelical-Lutheran Church. A white wall with deep indents surrounds the complex. Following one of the alleyways to the heart of the complex leads visitors to a series of open courtyards and roof terraces with greenery. A small city within a city has emerged here, a sort of modern monastery with a kindergarten, two parish centers and two separate churches. Though enshrined in the mesh of the parishes the places of worship are recognizably independent. It is calm. Quiet rooms open up, a place for concentrating on one’s faith. Both the churches are striking for their clear proportions, attracting our gaze as it ascends the walls before coming to rest on the wooden load-bearing frame in the ceiling. Bustling Neu-Riem is far away; and yet so close.