Leoben-Hinterberg · Guardian Angel

Location: Center of the church
Dating: 1967
Material/Type: Reinforced concrete skeleton made of four intersecting frames; Altar, ambo and tabernacle as a structural ensemble
Artist / Manufacturer: Ferdinand Schuster (architect)
The church is designed as a square central building based on the basic shape of a Greek cross. The altar stands in the middle, flanked by the ambo/pulpit and tabernacle - the proclamation of the Word and the Eucharistic presence stand opposite each other like two poles. The stalls are grouped in three blocks around the altar, the fourth side is reserved for the clergy; An isolating singers' gallery was deliberately avoided. A central skylight lantern directs the light to this center.

Location: Next to the altar
Dating: 1967
Material/Type: Tabernacle designed like a safe
The tabernacle is considered the striking center of the church: According to Catholic teaching, Christ is physically present in the Eucharistic bread, which is why the tabernacle was deliberately designed like a safe as a 'treasure of the church'. When you enter the church, the eternal light falls immediately on it.

Location: Wall behind the Sessio (priest's seat)
Dating: 1967
Material/Type: Hand-woven tapestry
Artist / Manufacturer: Concept: Rudolf Szyszkowitz (1905–1976); Execution: Mira Zemann
The two guardian angels are depicted behind the priest's seat - corresponding to the patronage 'Holy Guardian Angel'. They were designed based on a concept by the Styrian painter Rudolf Szyszkowitz and woven by hand as a tapestry by Mira Zemann from Hinterberg.

Location: Between the two entrance doors (western side annex)
Dating: 1967
Material / type: chapel room (baptistery)
Opposite the pulpit and tabernacle is the baptismal chapel, directly between the two entrance doors. It symbolizes the entry into the church as a Christian: when you cross the threshold you become a member of the community - a path towards the center, towards Christ, who connects life, death and resurrection.

Location: entire building
Dating: 1967
Material/Type: Concrete, unglazed ceramic plates, aluminum, colorless glass
Artist / Manufacturer: Ferdinand Schuster (architect)
Unlike traditional east-facing processional churches in the area, Hinterberg shifts the orientation to the liturgical center: eight cross-shaped concrete supports support a flat ceiling with a central skylight lantern through which Christ symbolically appears as the 'light of the world' above the altar instead of above the sun rising in the east.

The church is dedicated to the Holy Guardian Angel (Feast: October 2nd). The church consecration day is celebrated on September 10th.

- 1967 – Completion and consecration of the parish church according to plans by Ferdinand Schuster.
- 1968 – Canonical establishment of the Leoben-Hinterberg parish; Start of the registration process.
- 1971 – Construction of a rectory and parish hall as an addition to the planned parish district (church, rectory, parish hall, youth home, kindergarten).

- The church was completed in 1967 - at the beginning of the Second Vatican Council - and is therefore considered an unusually early and consistent architectural implementation of the council's idea in Styria.
- The most important artists and architects in Styria at the time were involved in the construction and artistic design: architect Ferdinand Schuster and the painter Rudolf Szyszkowitz, known as the “Styrian pope of art”.
- The two guardian angel representations behind the priest's seat were designed based on a concept by Rudolf Szyszkowitz and woven by hand as a tapestry by Mira Zemann from Hinterberg.
- Unlike neighboring, traditionally east-facing processional churches in the region, the church in Hinterberg consciously shifts its orientation to the liturgical center: Christ as the “light of the world” is not symbolized by the rising morning sun, but by the light around the central altar.
- The church was built as the spiritual center of a newly emerging settlement; The free-standing campanile is intended to point to the center of the place “like a pointing finger”.