Turmeremit – The Hermit in the Tower
29 November 08 – 2 January 2010
Idea / Concept: Diözese Linz, Hubert Nitsch
For thousands of years people have been withdrawing from the bustle of life to gain a new perspective on life. Things will be no different in Capital of Culture Year. High up above in the steeple of St Mary’s there is a small room. This will accommodate voluntary hermits for a week at a time. A bed, a table, a chair – they will have to make do with that for this week. Yet this small place will provide the space to examine one’s own life plan and the meaning of everything. There is electricity but the hermits will use neither a computer nor a mobile phone. A diary that will be passed on from hermit to hermit will be a receptacle for personal reflections. There will be daily bouts of ‘Silence with the hermits’ at St Mary’s so that they may at least partially share their experience with others. Applications for the post of hermit are invited. The Linz photographer Paul Kranzler will document the project. His photos will be combined with excerpts from the diary entries and texts by different authors to form a book.
‘Building this church testifies to our love of the Mother of God, who is venerated in Upper Austria with such childlike intensity’, said Bishop Rudigier at the laying of the foundation stone on 1st May 1862. St Mary’s is of great significance for the diocese of Linz in terms of ecclesiastic history, where it is closely associated with the name of Rudigier but it is the very fact that it was built that carries a message of the spiritual power of life and of the community of Christians.
CHURCH OPEN FOR VISITS //
Mon – Sat 7.30 am – 7 pm, Sun and church holidays 8 am – 7 pm
SILENCE WITH THE HERMIT //
daily from 12.15 am in the Kreuzkapelle
WHERE //
Mariendom
Herrenstraße 19, 4010 Linz
www.mariendom.at
In cooperation with Diözese Linz supported by Bischof-Rudigier-Stiftung, Kolpinghaus, pro:Holz, Oberösterreichische Versicherung and Glaswerkstätte Schlierbach
