The Stuttgart Cathedral St. Eberhard is located in the heart of the city directly on Königstraße.
Built from 1808 to 1811 using the stones of the Hofkirche near Schloss Solitude, the church was completely destroyed by two bombardments in 1944. 1953 reconstruction works started under the Stuttgart architect Hugo Schlösser. St. Eberhard was then consecrated on 18 March 1955. Several renovations followed, including a profound redesign of the interior in 1990/91 under architect Bert Perlia, whereby the essential spatial structure of a spacious wayside church with a wide central nave and two side galleries was preserved.
After the recent renovation, Stuttgart’s Central Church of Catholics was reopened just in time for the first Advent in 2022, and now shines in a new, friendlier light – the centerpiece of the 940,000-euro work. “Thanks to the new LED technology, different moods can be created – tailored to the different forms of liturgy,” said architect Anna Blaschke during a visit. “Light instead of luminaires” is the motto. At the same time, energy consumption is reduced by 34 percent despite the festive illumination in St. Eberhard.
The redesign of the lighting of St. Eberhard was planned by Prof. Matthias Friedrich from the company LUNALICHT from Karlsruhe; the luminaires were supplied by LMT Leuchten + Metall Technik GmbH from Hilpoltstein.
LMT’s MINI pyca linear downlights with LFO collimator lenses with 2x 20° radiation were used in the central nave. These profile luminaires with dimensions of 32 x 43 x 6000 mm were installed precisely in the joints of the coffered ceiling. For the ceilings of the side aisles, the LFO lenses with 2×20° and 2x 38° radiance were integrated into the built-in housing with circumferential shadow gap – a project-related modification of the LMT standard luminaire PYCA 4.Q. These square 4-point downlights are 130 x 130 x 60 mm in size. All luminaires were supplied in the uniform light colour warm white 2700 K, and thus ideally suited for use in the contemplative church ambience.