Saint Giles church, Gothic church in Old City, Germany
Saint Giles Church is a brick hall church in Lübeck's Old City, its western tower rising 92 metres. The tower was built in two phases: the lower two storeys stood before the nave and aisles were added, and the three upper storeys, with a trefoil frieze like that of Saint Mary's Church, followed in the first half of the 14th century. The nave is 15.3 metres high and about 8.5 metres wide, with narrow aisles 11.3 metres high and 3.5 metres wide.
The church was founded in 1227, making it one of the oldest structures in Lübeck's Old City. In 1530, the first Protestant communion in Lübeck was held here, marking the city's shift toward the Reformation.
The church's coat of arms carries a "T" for "Tilgenkark", the Low German name of the church, and "St Tilgen" or "St. Illigen", the Low German forms of the saint's name. The parish served the craftsmen's quarter on the eastern slope of the old town, and the surviving buildings of the Beguine convents, like the Aegidienhof, are now housing.
The interior is largely open to visitors and shows layers of construction from different periods. Some areas may be temporarily closed because of restoration work, so it is worth checking before your visit.
During the 1806 Battle of Lübeck a howitzer shell struck the church vault but failed to explode, and a cannonball from the same engagement remains lodged in the wall near the north door. The church came through every war intact; the March 1942 air raid destroyed stained glass and work by Curt Stoermer inside but left the exterior unharmed.
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