The dispute over the planned redesign of the altar room in the Basilica of Weingarten in the district of Ravensburg continues – despite a multi-hour information and discussion event on Wednesday evening.
Father Ekkehard Schmid and the parish council want a new altar, but an initiative wants to preserve the historic, baroque altar of 1931 – more than 5,800 signatures were collected in a petition.
At the invitation of the parish council, numerous faithful and citizens came to the Basilica on Wednesday evening to find out about the plans for the new altar. Supporters and critics spoke, it moderated the Ravensburg member of the Bundestag Axel Müller (CDU).
The result?
"Further formats of conversation follow before the parish council passes on its results as a vote to the bishop, who ultimately decides," the diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart announced on Thursday afternoon.
Bishop Klaus Krämer has been in office since December 2024.
Costs currently at 175,000 euros
In 2024, the parish of Sankt Martin, in coordination with the diocese, had organised an idea competition for the redesign of the altar room of the Weingartn Basilica. The design by the Austrian sculptor Albrecht Zauner won. The project is funded by the church community.
According to the current data, the costs for the redesign amount to 175,000 euros for ambo, altar, seating in the altar room (sedils), tabernacle and relic stele including artist fee, of which 100,000 euros would already be available through long-term, earmarked reserves.
"The validity of the decision of the parish council for Zauner's draft confirmed the diocese," the bishopric's notice said.
Diocesan master builder Thomas Schwieren had put himself behind the judgment of the diocesan art commission that it was an "iconographically and theologically successful design".
Holy blood relic in focus
In his design, Zauner draws on historical circumstances when he provides a second, more intimate place for worship for the Holy Blood Relic kept in the altar in a stele in front of the northern side altar, where it was kept from 1724 to 1731.
The new altar, like the previous one, also contained a shrine in which the relic is usually visible.
According to legend, it contains earth mixed with the blood of Christ. Zauner had already stated that the focus was still on the relic, which would be more visible in the simple, white altar than in the reddish altar of 1931.