The Church that lets the Church fall into disrepair. A symbol for all that has happened.

Since 1969, the Calvary Church in Bruck an der Mur has stood empty and decayed. The parish has never been happy with it - until today.

The ravages of time are gnawing away at the Church "to the Blood Sweating Savior". People have helped it along over the decades.

The blood-sweating Saviour no longer breathes. Abandoned and dilapidated, the little church of the same name lies on Calvary Hill above Bruck an der Mur in Upper Styria. The plaster has long since crumbled down to the masonry, the window panes hang in shards in their frames, a hole in the wall gives a view into the former sacristy. Inside, a similar picture emerges: the pews are in a state of disrepair, the wall paintings are fading. A former visitor has left a water bottle on what remains of the altar. On the floor lies dusty an empty canister of liquid wax that once served as an incendiary for the candles.

At the foot of the mountain, the traffic of the motorway through the Mur valley rolls thunderously, but only a forest path leads up to Calvary through the forest. The fact that church services were celebrated here for centuries, probably also weddings, high masses on holidays: all very far away. And somehow that fits. Because the church never wanted this place of worship.

It is the citizens of Bruck an der Mur who, in 1716, in the midst of a plague epidemic, make a vow: If God delivers them from the plague, they will build him a new church. God is open to reason and the plague disappears. But the church was a thorn in the side of the parish of Bruck: "When the construction work began in 1719, my predecessor wrote to the mayor: 'We don't need this church'," says the current parish priest of Bruck, Clemens Grill. Because even then there were too many churches for the small town. So the church on Calvary - whose name recalls the Passion of Jesus - initially remains the property of the municipality. Only years later, in the 19th century, does it become the property of the parish.

A swastika on the roof

But there is still no agreement about the responsibility for the church. After the end of the First World War, the church was in urgent need of renovation. But the money is lacking. At a municipal council meeting in June 1926, the political camps argue about whether the city should contribute to the costs. The "Arbeiterwille", the party organ of the Styrian Social Democracy, writes of a total of "10,000 shillings or 100 million crowns". In his speech, the Social Democratic deputy mayor takes up the history of the founding of the church. With the economically difficult situation of the post-war period, "a plague-like condition had also befallen Austria", the "Arbeiterwille" quotes him. It would be "irresponsible to spend so much money on the construction of a chapel instead of alleviating the plight of the unemployed".

In contrast, the Christian Socialists and the National Socialists were in favour of the costs being partly covered by the public purse. It was not until three years later that the "Grazer Tagblatt" reported that an agreement had been reached: The city takes over a third of the costs, and a church building association goes on a fundraising tour among the citizens.

The statues of the saints were stolen in the 1970s.

A few years later, the church on Calvary again made the headlines for political reasons. On the morning of 19 August 1933, a five-metre swastika was emblazoned on its roof - the symbol of the NSDAP, which had been banned in Austria only two months earlier. A 20-year-old roofer is arrested as a suspect. The shingles are covered over: White spots remain visible afterwards, but the swastika is no longer recognisable.

After the Second World War, fewer and fewer Masses are held in the unloved and controversial church. A lightning strike is probably the reason why the Bruck parish priest Viktor Ziesel abandoned the church, holds the last service in it in 1969 - and abandons it to decay. The remaining statues of the saints were stolen in 1974, and in 1990 the roof was damaged by arson. Soon all that is left of the baroque splendour is a memory.

"At least one end"

Instead of prayer, to this day it is violence that takes possession of the building. "We don't even report the vandalism anymore," says Father Grill. "It's an idle matter. No insurance company in the world would still pay us anything for the damage."

For Grill, the church is therefore "a burden". Demolishing it, however, is not an option because of the existing monument protection: "It may be a heretical thought, but then at least the whole thing would have an end." At the same time, he sees the church as an "important monument". Time and again, "courageous people come forward to say they have an idea or think something should be done". Regional media also jump on the bandwagon again and again.

Empty pews: the decline in church membership does not make renovation of the church any more likely.

But what to do? The costs of a renovation would run into the millions. It's hard to argue with that in times of declining church membership: "We had more church departures last year than at any time in the 16 years since I've been a priest," Grill says. In addition, the Roman Catholic parish of Bruck an der Mur - as in the 18th century - still has too many churches. One of them, the Minorite Church, has been used by the Romanian Orthodox community since 2021. Another former church - the Holy Spirit Chapel, located directly at the motorway intersection - stood just as empty for decades, was lavishly restored from 2011, reopened in 2020 and has since been without use again.

Strictly speaking, the Church of the Blood-Sweating Saviour on Calvary is no longer a place of worship. It was profaned in 2018 and is now, according to church law, just another building owned by the parish - which still looks like a church. This does not change its fate. Only in June, the heavy iron door was torn off its hinges by unknown persons and had to be repaired. Since then, the church, which had previously stood open, has been firmly locked. And continues to wait to see what happens to it. 

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Cathcon:  There can be no greater symbol of all that has happened.  A Church dedicated to the Redemptive Passion of Our Lord on the Cross ignored and left to go to rack and ruin.