St. Maria Königin

St. Maria Königin is a Catholic parish church in Frechen, built as the city expanded with new neighbourhoods after the 1950s. Rudolf Schwarz, general planner for Cologne's postwar reconstruction, designed it with his wife Maria Schwarz and Karl Wimmenauer. The church was consecrated in 1954, and a freestanding bell tower followed between 1961 and 1962.

Bricks of many different colours form the interior, a deliberate image of the variety of people who gather in the parish. The walls of the nave open toward the altar, so the room grows wider and higher as you walk in. Aachen bluestone covers the floor, and a pale wooden ceiling runs from the baptismal chapel to the altar. It stands on an elliptical island, flanked by two golden columns that link earth and heaven. Everything follows one theological plan: the concave rear wall wraps around the congregation like the outstretched arms of Christ. Three window areas of greenish industrial glass bring generous natural light around the altar, and on the wall behind it lights glow in the pattern of a crown. The Stations of the Cross come from Olaf Höhnen, a sculptor from Frechen itself.

Beneath the altar lies the only crypt in Frechen, a quiet room set aside for prayer. Next door stands the parish's integrative kindergarten, opened in 1957 and modernised and expanded twice since. Its garden holds natural playhouses, a trampoline, seesaws, swings, sand areas and a rope climbing frame, and together the two buildings serve as a centre of daily life for families in the town. The oldest children, the Pfiffikusse, spend their final year taking on responsibility and visiting the bakery, the fire station and the theatre.