The sensational architecture of the former St Paul's Catholic Church in Ingelheim-West stood for a completely new type of church. This extraordinary church building by Swiss architect Justus Dahinden symbolised Ingelheim's cosmopolitan present. The new church building with adjoining parish and youth rooms was planned under Pastor Helmut Sohns (1935-2018). The church was deconsecrated in 2024 and is now used as a kindergarten.
At the end of the 1970s, the renowned Zurich architect and professor Justus Dahinden (1925-2020), who worked all over the world, was commissioned to design the building. He saw architecture as a "service for the whole person". He developed a "philosophy of the slant". The tilting of the façade into the slopes, which characterises the building of St. Paul's, reduces the feeling of threat in order to achieve a harmonious relationship between people and space. In line with an important concern of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), Dahinden planned an open space in which the worshippers are grouped around the central "people's altar" (versus populum).
A geometric, almost futuristic simplicity prevails in the former church interior, which was consecrated by Bishop Cardinal Volk in 1981. Many of the walls are constructed at an angle, which, according to Justus Dahinden, creates something marvellous: "The heavens open up!". The fascinating exterior façade of St. Paul's is also characterised by this simplicity.
In the interior of the modern and deliberately unadorned former church, which emphasised simple geometric shapes and came across as sober and without much pomp, there was a Klais organ (1997) and three sculptures (2012) by Mainz artist Rheinhold Petermann: a 2-metre high St Paul, a delicate 60 cm tall Madonna and a crucifix pointing to the resurrection as well as a futuristic-looking tabernacle. 12 concrete crosses commemorated the 12 apostles; above them were sconces, also known as apostle candlesticks. St. Paul's saw itself as an open, approachable place of encounter with a sustainable concept in a fruitful ecumenical and interreligious dialogue.
