Family chapel in Carinthia by Gerhard Sacher

On the site of today's village of Zollfeld, located ten kilometers north of Klagenfurt, there was an important center, Virunum, during Roman times, serving as the capital of the province of Noricum under Emperor Claudius. A thousand years of history is etched into the landscape. The current contribution is a private family chapel by Gerhard Sacher from the architectural studio Sacher.Locicero. The concrete chapel, situated on a plateau, is dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalene. The simple chapel draws from early medieval shapes, while adapting the proportions to Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man." The chapel is free from superfluous details. The resulting form made of light concrete appears homogeneous. The gable roof has a ridge height of eight meters. Both the front and back (eastern and western walls) of the chapel are made of glass. In the side concrete walls and the roof, there are three notches fitted with colored stained glass depicting biblical scenes by local painter Karla-Heinz Simonitsch. The sculptural decoration of the doors made of hand-hammered bronze, as well as the large cross behind the church, comes from Brno sculptor Jaromír Gargulák. Despite its simple appearance, the creation was very challenging, and the casting into forms took place in two stages.