Alte Kirche, Reformed church on the market square in Nordhorn, Germany

The Alte Kirche am Markt is a late Gothic hall church clad in large dark grey Bentheim sandstone blocks, with three aisles of three bays and a single-bay choir closed on five sides of an octagon. Brick vaults rest on ribs cut from natural stone, and a lower two-bay sacristy flanks the north side. The later west tower, joined to the nave by a visible masonry seam, carries a green copper spire above an octagonal belfry; a stair turret projects on the south side.

The church grew out of a missionary church of Saint Liudger and was consecrated on 6 July 1445, the same day as the church of Frenswegen Abbey. It belonged to the Catholic Diocese of Münster until the Reformation; Bentheim adopted the Lutheran faith in 1544 and the Reformed confession in 1588. A document of 1489 records Count Everwyn of Bentheim permitting the citizens to build a stone bell tower, on condition that it be guarded in times of feud.

The church is officially named St. Ludgerus, after the missionary bishop Liudger whose mission church preceded it. After the county adopted the Reformed confession in 1588, images were removed from churches and burned in Neuenhaus; the apostle frescoes here were whitewashed in 1614 and uncovered again in 1967. The communion table dates from 1600.

The church is located in central Nordhorn and accessible on foot from the town center. Visitors can take their time viewing the architecture, especially when daylight illuminates the stained glass.

The tower was added later than the nave: a document of 1489 records Count Everwyn of Bentheim allowing Nordhorn's citizens to build a stone bell tower, on condition they guard it in times of feud. The joint between nave and tower shows the two building phases. The tower can be climbed to a viewing platform over 70 metres up.