St. John's Church, Gothic church in Lüneburg, Germany
St. John's Church is a five-naved Brick Gothic hall church on Am Sande, built of red brick between 1289 and 1470. A slender spire clad in grey-green panels rises from a square brick tower with a circular medallion, and stepped buttresses divide rows of tall pointed windows along the nave. Inside, white-plastered walls and clustered pillars with pale green bands carry pointed vaults with reddish-brown ribs above dark wooden pews.
A predecessor building is documented in 1174; the present five-naved hall church was built from 1289, with most of it finished by 1372 and the tower completed in 1384 at 110 metres. A lightning strike in 1406 burned the tower, rebuilt by 1408, and construction closed in 1470. In the early 15th century Conrad of Soltau, Prince-Bishop of Verden, failed to make St. John's his cathedral because the city council and the Prince of Lüneburg opposed it.
The carved altar from the 15th century groups the Crucifixion between seven scenes of the Passion and Easter on each side, framed by ten apostles above and 16 female figures below. The paintings on the outer wings, showing legends of Saints George, John, Ursula and Cecilia, were made by the Hamburg painter Hinrik Funhof in 1482. In the Elisabeth Chapel, glass paintings by Charles Crodel from 1969 commemorate Heinrich Radbrock, abbot of Scharnebeck and from 1533 superintendent in Lüneburg.
The church is open Tuesday to Sunday from 11:00 to 17:00, and closed during services. It stands on the Am Sande square in the city centre, and the entrance is at the base of the tower. Inside, a wide central aisle between dark wooden pews leads to the altar, with the Elisabeth and Ursula chapels flanking the choir.
The spire's upper roof frame is twisted into a corkscrew shape, so the tower looks slanted from every side; the tip stands 220 cm out of plumb. A legend says the master builder threw himself from an upper window after noticing the error, survived on a passing haywagon, then died falling against a tavern hearth.
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