St. Peter’s Church, Main church in Hamburg-Altstadt, Germany
St. Peter's Church is an evangelical place of worship in Hamburg-Altstadt and rises with its 132-meter (433-foot) copper-covered spire above the city center. Brick walls in Gothic style and pointed windows shape the appearance, which belongs to the oldest church buildings in the city.
A wooden chapel stood here by the early 11th century; the church is first documented in 1195 as a market church. From 1310 it was rebuilt as a three-aisled Brick Gothic hall church, consecrated in 1327, with the tower foundation laid in 1342. The Great Fire of 7 May 1842 destroyed almost everything except the north wall, the side apse and the two lower tower storeys; the neo-Gothic rebuilding by Alexis de Chateauneuf and Hermann Peter Fersenfeldt was consecrated in 1849, and the 132-metre tower was completed in 1878.
The church is named after the apostle Peter, whose patronage Pope Honorius III confirmed in 1220. The bronze lion-head door handles in the left wing of the west portal date from the tower's foundation in 1342 and are considered Hamburg's oldest work of art. Since the Reformation the parish has had 31 senior pastors and one senior pastor woman.
Visitors can climb 544 steps to reach the observation platform, which is accessible from Monday to Saturday between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. The climb is worthwhile for the panoramic view over the inner city and harbor, but requires good fitness.
The bronze lion-head door handles on the west portal date from the laying of the tower foundation in 1342 and are considered Hamburg's oldest work of art. They survived the Great Fire of 1842, when most of the church's artworks were rescued.
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