By Ernst Fuchs

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s fantastic baptistery

The fantastic Thal parish church designed by Ernst Fuchs, where Arnold Schwarzenegger was baptized, is celebrating its 30th anniversary.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Jörg Schwaiger, Reinhard Holl, AFP/Mario Tama)

The parish in Thal celebrates the anniversary of the consecration of its unique church, designed by Ernst Fuchs, on Corpus Christi. Arnold Schwarzenegger was baptized here.

Processions, flowers, brass band music: Catholics celebrate Corpus Christi today with colorful customs. The parish of Thal also celebrates the high feast in honor of the body and blood of Christ with a holy mass in its unique Jakobskirche church.

The Styrian oak was baptized here
And the faithful in the idyllic community near Graz have two reasons to celebrate: the church, in which the 2,500-inhabitant village's greatest son, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was baptized in 1947, is also celebrating its 30th anniversary! Of course, the original building is much older: the church, as it can still be seen today, was built in 1739.

However, due to the strong population growth in the 1980s, it was quickly bursting at the seams - a structural extension was needed. The then Styrian bishop Johann Weber gave his sanction to the project and diocesan architect Manfred Fuchsbichler established contact with Ernst Fuchs, the most influential representative of the Viennese School of Fantastic Realism. He was to redesign the old church. The world-famous Viennese sculptor, graphic artist and painter was very familiar with the biblical scriptures as well as Jewish and Christian symbolism - and agreed.

The fascinating interior of the church(Bild: Jörg Schwaiger)

A total work of art imbued with Christian symbolism
The fascinating Ernst Fuchs Church, as most Thalers, as well as pilgrims and wedding couples, call it, was to become one of his masterpieces, a total work of art imbued with Christian symbolism with a fantastic variety of colors and shapes and colorful lighting effects. "You have to recognize it from afar: This is a holy place. Wherever your eyes look, there must be something to see," said Fuchs.

And there is a lot to see. "Above the altar, a sun rises in the shape of a cross, a parable of divine glory," said Fuchs, explaining the hanging cross made of Swarovski crystal glass and Murano glass. "One is reminded of the prophet Isaiah's song of praise: 'The Lord is your eternal light, your God, your radiant splendor'," said Fuchs. Even after three decades, churchgoers are still discovering hidden symbols - a legacy of the great artist.