, native_name_lang = German , image = Marienkirche Mühlhausen.JPG , caption = St. Mary's Church seen from the Raven's Tower, facing east , pushpin map = Thuringia#Germany , coordinates = , location = Mühlhausen,

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

, country =

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, denomination =

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

, previous denomination =

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

, founded date =

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, founder = , dedication =

Mary, mother of Jesus Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

, people =

Thomas Müntzer Thomas Müntzer ( – 27 May 1525) was a German preacher and theologian of the early Reformation whose opposition to both Martin Luther and the Roman Catholic Church led to his open defiance of late-feudal authority in central Germany. Müntzer w ...

, status =

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

, functional status =

Museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

(since 1975) , architectural type =

Hall church A hall church is a church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height, often united under a single immense roof. The term was invented in the mid-19th century by Wilhelm Lübke, a pioneering German art historian. In contrast to an archi ...

, style =

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

, Gothic Revival , years built = 13th to 15th century
1898–1903 (central spire) , spire quantity = 3 , spire height = (central)
(north and south) , materials =

Travertine Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and even rusty varieties. It is formed by a p ...

, bells = 3 , bell weight = St. Mary's Church (german: Marienkirche, link=no) in the town of Mühlhausen, central Germany, is the second-largest church building in

after

Erfurt Cathedral Erfurt Cathedral (german: Erfurter Dom, link=no, officially ''Hohe Domkirche St. Marien zu Erfurt'', English: Cathedral Church of St Mary at Erfurt), also known as St Mary's Cathedral, is the largest and oldest church building in ...

. It was constructed mainly during the 14th century in the

style. The church's central spire, built in 1898 to 1903, is the highest in the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

and forms a significant feature of the town's skyline. St. Mary's was a site of events relating to the German Peasants' War around 1525, as the revolutionary leader

was active as a pastor at the church. The

Sauer The Sauer (German and Luxembourgish, , ) or Sûre ( French, ) is a river in Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. A left tributary of the Moselle, its total length is . Rising near Vaux-sur-Sûre in the Ardennes in southeastern Belgium, the Sauer ...

organ, built in 1891, is considered the largest surviving 19th-century organ in Thuringia.

Building

The church is a five-

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, par ...

d Gothic

hall church A hall church is a church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height, often united under a single immense roof. The term was invented in the mid-19th century by Wilhelm Lübke, a pioneering German art historian. In contrast to an archi ...

built of local

travertine Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and even rusty varieties. It is formed by a p ...

. The central

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

is twice as wide as the side aisles. At the western end of the church are the three

steeple In architecture, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religi ...

s: two side spires, roughly high, and the main high central spire. The towers have a square ground plan and substructure, with an octagonal superstructure on top. On the eastern side are three choirs, a large central choir flanked by two smaller ones. The central choir appears tall and slender, which is typical of the Gothic period. The northern side choir was a baptismal chapel dedicated to Saint Nicholas, while the sacristy is located under the southern one. The interior of the hall church is divided by four rows of each five slender, high columns into 30 rectangles. In the Medieval period, the

matroneum A triforium is an interior gallery, opening onto the tall central space of a building at an upper level. In a church, it opens onto the nave from above the side aisles; it may occur at the level of the clerestory windows, or it may be located ...

housed a library (which was common for larger churches to have at the time). The

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...

of the church is as wide as the nave and does not protrude from the overall width of the church at its ends. The south portal of the transept, which serves as the main entrance to the church, is elaborately structured and ornamented in a way typical of the Gothic style. Two side pillars make the portal appear visually prominent and wider, although it is aligned with the side wall of the church. On the illusory balcony above the centre of the portal are four statues looking down on the square in front of the church. They represent Emperor Charles IV, his wife

Elisabeth of Pomerania Elizabeth of Pomerania ( pl, Elżbieta pomorska, cs, Eliška Pomořanská; – 15 April 1393) was the fourth and final wife of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia. Life Elizabeth was the daughter of Bogislaw V, Duk ...

, as well as two of his children, perhaps also a court lady and a courtier. The figures, now colourless, were once painted. Above the illusory balcony is an image of Jesus Christ as the Judge of the World. There are numerous sculptures at the church gate. They were destroyed in 1525 during the Peasants' War and only restored around 1900. The fact that the south portal serves as the main entrance is often explained with the

St. Vitus Cathedral , native_name_lang = Czech , image = St Vitus Prague September 2016-21.jpg , imagesize = 300px , imagelink = , imagealt = , landscape = , caption ...

in Prague, which was begun at about the same time, as a model, where the south portal had to serve as the entrance because the nave and west façade were not completed until centuries later. However, churches with a southern main entrance have existed since the early 13th century at the latest, for example

Paderborn Cathedral Paderborn Cathedral (german: Paderborner Dom) is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paderborn. It is located in the city centre of Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The cathedral is dedicated to Saint Mary, Saint Kilian and ...

and Herford Minster, which are among the first large hall churches in Germany. 20100430 140206 Westeingang.png, Western portal 20100430 140650 Nordosteingang.png, Northeastern portal Maria Marienkirche Mühlhausen.JPG, Madonna statue at the main portal Orgel Marienkirche Mühlhausen.JPG, The organ by

Wilhelm Sauer Wilhelm Carl Friedrich Sauer (23 March 1831 – 9 April 1916) was a German pipe organ builder. One of the famous organ builders of the Romantic period, Sauer and his company W. Sauer Orgelbau built over 1,100 organs during his lifetime, amongst ...

Bach family

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

was employed at Divi Blasii, Mühlhausen's other main church in 1707–1708, and is also known to have performed at St. Mary's. His cantata ''Gott ist mein König'' was premiered in the church. Accessed via JSTOR (subscription required) Bach visited St. Mary's in 1735, when his son Johann Gottfried Bernhard Bach was appointed as organist.

References

Thueringen-Muehlhausen-Kirche-St-Marien bearbeitet.jpg, St. Mary's Church, looking northeast 20100430 140324 Romanische Nordturm und neugotische Mittelturm.jpg, Central and northwest spire Portal Marienkirche Mühlhausen.JPG, The southern portal and main entrance to the church Marienkirche Mühlhausen innen.JPG, Interior view

Sources

* * * *

External links

*
St. Mary's Church, Müntzer Memorial
on the town's website {{DEFAULTSORT:Muhlhausen Mary Mary's Church Lutheran churches in Thuringia Museums in Thuringia Gothic hall churches in Germany Lutheran churches converted from Roman Catholicism Buildings and structures in Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis 14th-century churches in Germany