Kilian's Church on Kaiserstraße (Kaiser Street) in

Heilbronn Heilbronn () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, surrounded by Heilbronn (district), Heilbronn District. From the late Middle Ages on, it developed into an important trading centre. At the begi ...

is a Gothic

hall church A hall church is a Church (building), church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height. In England, Flanders and the Netherlands, it is covered by parallel roofs, typically, one for each vessel, whereas in Germany there is often one s ...

constructed from Heilbronner sandstone, whose origin dates back to the 11th century. Its western tower, constructed by Hans Schweiner, is one of the first major

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

buildings to be built north of the Alps. Inside the church there is an altar by Hans Seyffer from 1498, which is regarded as a masterpiece of sculpture from the Late German Gothic period. Some of the

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

is by

Charles Crodel Charles Crodel (September 16, 1894 – November 11, 1973) was a German Painting, painter and stained glass artist. Life Crodel was born in Marseille, he studied in 1914 with Richard Riemerschmid, one of the founders of the Deutscher Werkbund, ...

. The Monument Foundation of Baden-Württemberg appointed the church as monument of the month in December 2016.

History

Construction

The first church in Heilbronn was the St. Michael's Basilica, mentioned in the founding documents of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Würzburg The Diocese of Würzburg () is a Latin Church diocese of Catholic Church in Germany. The diocese is located in Lower Franconia, around the city of Würzburg, and the bishop is seated at Würzburg Cathedral. Founded in 741, the diocese lost all te ...

in the year 741, and mentioned for a second time in another official document in 899.Christhard Schrenk: ''Gotteshaus mit wechselvollem Schicksal''. In: ''Der Kiliansturm: Turm der Türme in Heilbronn'', Heilbronn 2005, p. 15 It is very likely that this church was in the same place where the St. Kilian's church stands today, but this thesis lacks definitive proof. Excavations in 1880 found that there was a small romanesque church, sized 10x11m in the same place around the year 1100. Instead of this small romanesque church, there was a considerably more sizeable early gothic church in 1280. Its year of construction is unknown. The church was sanctified to

Saint Kilian Kilian, also spelled Cillian or Killian (or alternatively ; , original Gaelic form Ceallach), was an Ireland, Irish missionary bishop and the Apostle of Franconia (now the northern part of Bavaria), where he began his labours in the latter half ...

in the 13th century, a

letter of indulgence In the teaching of the Catholic Church, an indulgence (, from , 'permit') is "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for (forgiven) sins". The ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' describes an indulgence as "a remission bef ...

from the year 1297 is the first source to mention the new name. After planning had started in 1508, the construction of the new western tower by Hans Schweiner was heavily influenced by the

reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

and was finally completed in the year 1529. It is supposedly "one of the most original pieces of work from the Early Renaissance in Germany" as well as the first major Renaissance building north of the alps.

Destruction in 1944

When World War II broke out, most of the art treasures, such as the altar or the

in the church were moved to the tunnels of the salt mine in Kochendorf. On September 10, 1944, American

incendiary bombs Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires. They may destroy structures or sensitive equipment using fire, and sometimes operate as anti-personnel weaponry. Incendiarie ...

damaged the roof. The British attack on December 4, 1944, destroyed almost the entire church. In April 1945, American artillery damaged the church even further.

Reconstruction from 1946 to 1974

The reconstruction was divided into several phases. After the rubble was cleared away in 1946 and 1947, the reconstruction began in 1948 under the supervision of the renowned architect Professor Hannes Meyer. Most Neogothical elements from the renovations made during the 19th century were not reconstructed, instead the architect aimed to bring out the Renaissance core of the church. The penultimate phase was completed after the stained glass was finished by

in 1967 and the altar was put back into its original place on December 1, 1986. Officially, the renovation ended on November 17, 1974, after the western tower was fully repaired.

Choir

The Late Gothic choir is brought together by a colourful stained glass window by

The High Altar by Hans Seyffer

The high altar contains numerous figures, reliefs and decorative attachments. The altar is 11.64 metres high and 7.68 metres wide and contains three parts (predella, shrine with side panels and a superstructure). During the Second World War, the altar was dismantled. The figures and the relief panels from the sides survived in the Kochberg salt mines at a depth of 200 metres, while the superstructure and the shrines were walled in the western tower of the church. The decision to begin reconstruction came after long deliberations and with the approval of the monument administrator, Count Adelmann. In seven years the parts that had been destroyed were reconstructed by the restorer Walter Hammer and sculptor Josef Wolfsteiner. Soon after his death the sculptor responsible for the altar fell into obscurity, and the altar ended up being attributed to the Würzburg sculptor

Tilman Riemenschneider Tilman Riemenschneider ( 1460 – 7 July 1531) was a German wood carving, woodcarver and sculptor active in Würzburg from 1483. He was one of the most prolific and versatile sculptors of the transition period between the Gothic art, Late Gothi ...

until the end of the 19th century. Eventually it was determined through research and style comparisons that Hans von Heilbronn had to have been the sculptor. In the year 1909 Moriz von Rauch found the full name of the sculptor: Master Hans Seyffer while looking through documents in the Heilbronner Archive. Any uncertainty that may have remained was cleared in 1963 when the restorer Walter Hammer uncovered the "Hans Syfer" label while doing restoration. In the upper right wing the year 1498 is engraved in the top right, this most likely refers to the year of completion.Hans Dieter Bechstein: ''Heilbronn – Die Kilianskirche: Mittelpunkt der Stadt'', Heilbronn 1975, p. 77

References

External links

{{Coord, 49, 08, 30, N, 9, 13, 09, E, region:DE-BW_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Heilbronn Kilianskirche Heilbronn Kilianskirche Heilbronn, St. Kilian Buildings and structures in Heilbronn