St Martin's Church (German: Martinskirche) is a Protestant parish church in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

, Germany. It is also the preaching-church of the bishop of the

Evangelical Church of Hesse Electorate-Waldeck The Evangelical Church of Kurhessen-Waldeck (; EKKW) is a United Protestant church body in former Hesse-Cassel and the Waldeck part of the former Free State of Waldeck-Pyrmont. Constitution The EKKW is a full member of the Protestant Churc ...

. It is in the

Gothic style Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved from Romanesque ar ...

and was begun in 1364 and completed in 1462, dedicated to

St. Martin of Tours Martin of Tours (; 316/3368 November 397) was the third bishop of Tours. He is the patron saint of many communities and organizations across Europe, including France's Third Republic. A native of Pannonia (present-day Hungary), he converted to ...

. It became a Protestant church in 1524, when

Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse (13 November 1504 – 31 March 1567), nicknamed (), was a German nobleman and champion of the Protestant Reformation, notable for being one of the most important of the early Protestant rulers in Germany. He was ...

converted to Protestantism. From the 16th century until the end of the 18th century it was the burial place for the

landgrave Landgrave (, , , ; , ', ', ', ', ') was a rank of nobility used in the Holy Roman Empire, and its former territories. The German titles of ', ' ("margrave"), and ' ("count palatine") are of roughly equal rank, subordinate to ' ("duke"), and su ...

s of Hesse. It was rebuilt to a slightly modified plan after the Second World War. It is a three-aisle six- bayed

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 ...

with two towers at the west end. Its '5/8-Schluss' choir dates to the Gothic period - this style is named after the eight segments to the vaults in the five east-end arches. From 1960 until his death in 1993 the organist

Klaus Martin Ziegler Klaus Martin Ziegler (23 February 1929 – 22 September 1993) was a German choral conductor, organist and Protestant church musician. Career Ziegler was born in Freiburg. He studied music at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe and matriculated f ...

was the church's cantor.

History

Early history

In 1330, with the construction of the new district of 'Freiheit', it was decided that Kassel needed another city-centre church. In 1343 the

Bishop of Mainz The Diocese of Mainz, (, ) historically known in English as Mentz as well as by its French name Mayence, is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. It was founded in 304, promoted in 780 to Metropol ...

proclaimed an

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 ...

to pay for it. This led to the construction of the quire of the present church, now used as the parish church. The church was dedicated the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

St Martin of Tours Martin of Tours (; 316/3368 November 397) was the third bishop of Tours. He is the patron saint of many communities and organizations across Europe, including France's Third Republic. A native of Pannonia (present-day Hungary), he converted ...

and

Elizabeth of Hungary Elizabeth of Hungary (, , ; 7 July 120717 November 1231), also known as Elisabeth of Thuringia, was a princess of the Kingdom of Hungary and the landgravine of Thuringia. Elizabeth was married at the age of 14, and widowed at 20. After her hus ...

. A

stift The term (; ) is derived from the verb (to donate) and originally meant 'a donation'. Such donations usually comprised earning assets, originally landed estates with serfs defraying dues (originally often in kind) or with vassal tenants of noble ...

was settled on the new church to pay for a nave (like that at Ahnaberg Convent) run by the

Premonstratensians The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in United Kingdom, Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their religious habit, habit), is a religious order of cano ...

. The stift was set up in 1366-67 and

Pope Urban V Pope Urban V (; 1310 – 19 December 1370), born Guillaume de Grimoard, was head of the Catholic Church from 28 September 1362 until his death, in December 1370 and was also a member of the Order of Saint Benedict. He was the only Avignon pope ...

confirmed a new construction phase to provide a parish church whilst the quire was handed over to the canons. Several of the church's canons took offices at the Hessian court in the period running up to the Reformation. In 1437

Louis I, Landgrave of Hesse Louis I (; 6 February 140217 January 1458), nicknamed the Peaceful (), was Landgraviate of Hesse, Landgrave of Hesse from 1413 to 1458. Following Louis' death, his sons, Henry III and Louis II, divided Hesse into Upper Hesse, Upper and Lower Hes ...

brought a relic of the

True Cross According to Christian tradition, the True Cross is the real instrument of Jesus' crucifixion, cross on which Jesus of Nazareth was Crucifixion of Jesus, crucified. It is related by numerous historical accounts and Christian mythology, legends ...

back to Kassel, meaning the Martinskirche was also sometimes known as the Stift of the Holy Cross (''Stift zum Heiligen Kreuz).'' Work on the nave was slow and after two more construction phases one of the nave vaults collapsed in 1440. It only proved possible finally to consecrate the nave in 1462. The south tower was intended as a single tower until 1487 - it first received its distinctive octagonal structures in 1564-65, finished with an onion dome.

Modern era

During his time as king of Westphalia,

Jérôme Bonaparte Jérôme Bonaparte (born Girolamo Buonaparte; 15 November 1784 – 24 June 1860) was the youngest brother of Napoleon, Napoleon I and reigned as Jerome Napoleon I (formally Hieronymus Napoleon in German), Kingdom of Westphalia, King of Westphal ...

tried to transfer the seat of the Paderborn Archdiocese to Kassel and make the Martinskirche into a cathedral, but his brother

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

prevented him. At the end of the 19th century the unfinished building was redesigned and completed by the architect Hugo Schneider (builder of the Luther Church). From 1889 to 1892 he built the north tower and replaced the Renaissance-style south tower with one in the Neo-Gothic style. The church was severely damaged by British bombing in 1943, causing the nave to collapse. During the raid on 22 October that year, the sandstone walls of the church were so badly damaged that they had to be repaired with

shotcrete Shotcrete, gunite (), or sprayed concrete is concrete or mortar conveyed through a hose and pneumatically projected at high velocity onto a surface. This construction technique was invented by Carl Akeley and first used in 1907. The concr ...

and a wooden lattice-work. The reconstruction from 1954 until 1958 was headed by Heinrich Otto Vogel from Trier - the nave was reconstructed, but the steeples replaced with modern ones. The alabaster and marble monument to Philip the Magnanimous was moved to the middle of the central nave in 1955. A service of re-dedication was held on 1 June 1958. In 1964 a three-manual organ with 57 registers and over 5000 pipes was installed. Since 1997 a light-installation by

Christina Kubisch Christina Kubisch (born 31 January 1948) is a German composer, sound artist, performance artist, professor and flautist. She composes both electronic and acoustic music for multimedia installations. She gained recognition in the mid-1970s from he ...

has been housed in the church. It has also housed three contemporary art exhibitions - ''Documenta X'' in 1997 ('Staging and Visualisation - Aesthetic and religious experience today'), ''Documenta XI'' in 2002 ('The free view') and ''Documenta XII'' in 2007 ('Sight and Hearing - on the relationship between image, word and sound'). Between 2010 and 2012 Madeleine Dietz redesigned the church's altar, chancel, font and ambo.

Bells

Princely tombs

Organ

In September 1732, J.S. Bach & his wife went to Kassel to inspect the renovated organ at the Martinskirche. A contemporary organ, with a.o. a quarter tone manual, was installed in 2017 built by Rieger Organbau. Orgel Martinskirche Kassel 2017

Bibliography

* Alois Holtmeyer: ''Die Bau- und Kulturdenkmäler im Kreis Cassel-Stadt''. Verlag Elwert, Marburg 1923 (Die Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler im Regierungsbezirk Kassel; Bd. 6). * Peter Horst: ''Die Martinskirche in Kassel'' ( Große Baudenkmäler, Heft 212). 2. Auflage, München/Berlin 1977 * Franz T. Piderit: ''Geschichte der Haupt- und Residenzstadt Kassel''. Historische Edition Carl, Vellmar 2004, (Nachdr. d. Ausg. Kassel 1882). * Christian Presche: ''Die fürstlichen Grabstätten in der Kasseler Martinskirche''. In: ''Zeitschrift des Vereins für hessische Geschichte und Landeskunde (ZHG)'', Bd. 107 (2002), ISSN 0342-3107.

External links

Parish website

* https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=a59f61798466cebb3c3719f322e101e7&prevstart=0
Recording of the 'Osannaglocke' bells

References

{{Authority control Churches in Kassel 1360s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1364 establishments in Europe Protestant churches in Hesse