Tregist village chapel
Between 1986 and 1989, a new building was erected with the help of the local community and designed by the West Styrian sculptor and painter Franz Weiss.
The exterior walls of the chapel are adorned with large, colourful murals depicting biblical motifs with images of saints, popes and people who have rendered outstanding services to the proclamation of the Christian teachings.
A regional reference is repeatedly made in the motifs, for example with houses from the area surrounding the chapel where Jesus carries the cross.
[1] The village chapel is located in the part of the dispersed settlement of Tregisttal belonging to the municipality of Bärnbach, at an altitude of around 470 metres above sea level, on the left bank of the Tregistbach stream.
The Alaunfabrik inn, which dates back to the former alum factory, is located 10 metres to the east in the municipality of Voitsberg.
The actual construction of the chapel began in September 1986, and on 5 April 1987 the completion of the building work was celebrated with the blessing of the gable crosses.
The plastered exterior walls are smooth and, except for the north-western side, are decorated with numerous murals by Franz Weiss.
The rainbow throne on which Jesus sits reaches down to the apostles, where it takes on the Styrian colours of white and green.
The apostles hold Bibles in their hands and are partly depicted with speaking gestures as proclaimers of the Holy Scriptures.
On the left-hand side is Nicholas of Flüe, a Swiss hermit with political influence, wearing a brown habit and leaning on a stick.
The first representative to the right of the entrance door is Hemma of Gurk, known as church founder, who is holding a chapel model in her hands.
Franz Weiss incorporated personal references in the design of Mary and gave her the facial features of his mother.
To the right of Mary is a depiction of Pope Paul VI's meeting with Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople on 5 January 1964 in Jerusalem.
On Mary's left is Mother Teresa, the Indian nun known worldwide for her commitment to the poor, the homeless, the sick and the dying.
In her left hand she is holding a bowl of soup, symbolising the feeding of the poor, and a drop of grace touches her heart.
Next to Mother Teresa is the archbishop and liberation theologian Dom Hélder Câmara, who campaigned for social justice and human rights in Brazil.
On the left-hand edge stands Brother Roger Schutz, the founder of the ecumenical Taizé community, where thousands of young people seek religious introspection every year.
The final figure on the right is the Hungarian Archbishop József Mindszenty, who is behind bars and has been imprisoned several times for speaking out against injustice.
[5]: 118 The northern wall of the transept is dedicated to the papal visits of John Paul II to Mariazell on 13 September 1983 and to Gurk on 25 June 1988.
Between these two images, and directly below the window, is a column bearing the papal arms of John Paul II, again in white instead of yellow.
[5]: 119 The upper panel on the north wall of the chancel shows a guardian angel with two children playing and dancing in front of him.
The background creates a local reference, as one can recognise the home of Franz Weiss as well as several farms in the surrounding area and the old chapel of Tregisttal.
The roof truss is clad with a wooden ceiling made of bleached spruce wood, into which several flat and high round arched niches are set.
[5]: 113 The altar, designed by Franz Weiss with a reverse glass painting in acrylic colours on plexiglass, shows the main image of Mary, Untier of Knots.
The ribbon symbolises humanity's connection to God, broken by original sin, like a knot that Mary unties.
Mary's left foot features the nuclear power plant and the knotted dark ribbon reads "Chernobyl".
In the panel to the left of the main image are Francis of Assisi with his stigmata and Joseph of Nazareth as a carpenter with the baby Jesus.
On the left is Archangel Michael with the flaming sword, and on the right are Adam and Eve, expelled from Paradise (Genesis 3:7).
[3] The two coloured glass windows were made by Master Odilo Kurka in his Schlierbach workshop according to designs by Franz Weiss.
The images of the so-called Easter window in the south transept begin with the Pietà, the mother Mary with her dead son, in the centre the risen Jesus with the banner of victory and above Jesus with the two disciples whom he met on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection and who now recognise him as he breaks bread, just as he did at the Last Supper (Luke 24:13–35).
