Democratic donor windows

The artist Christoph Brech has redesigned the choir and oratory windows for Munich's Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche. The source material for the artist's windows were well over a thousand chest X-rays donated by Munich citizens. "The decisive factor for my design was the tapestry-like painting on the wall in the lower part of the choir. I wanted to continue this pattern on the windows and take it upwards, but no longer as a motif that always remains the same, but as an individual change,' says Christoph Brech, explaining the starting point of his idea:

By lining up hundreds of lungs, the differences in human anatomy become tangible. Every chest is different, every person is unique. Every human being is unique before God. And everything external, like skin colour, is no longer recognisable. Many parishioners of Holy Cross Parish donated their X-rays for the new stained glass windows, which are now installed in the church in their name. The donors are thus immortalised in their church windows, just as in the old tradition. The only new aspect is that anyone can be a donor and does not have to be wealthy - in other words, a democratic donor window.

Photos (c) Wolfgang Pulfer