Stadtkirche Wittenberg, Gothic church in Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Germany.
The Stadtkirche Wittenberg is a pale-stone Gothic church with two towers, each topped by a dark octagonal cupola with a lantern and small spire; the left tower carries a black clock face with gold Roman numerals. Between the towers, a recessed arched opening spans the width above a lower central section, and a steep roof of reddish-brown tiles slopes down to the right. The nave is a three-aisle hall.
First documented in 1187 as a wooden parish church, St. Mary's gained its present chancel around 1280; between 1412 and 1439 the nave was rebuilt as a three-aisle hall and the two towers erected, originally topped by stone pyramids. In 1547 the pyramids were removed to mount cannon, and in 1556 octagonal caps, a clock and a tower keeper's dwelling followed. The interior was refitted in Neo-Gothic form by Carlo Ignazio Pozzi in 1811, with restorations in 1928, 1980–83 and 2010–2015.
The 1547 Reformation Altar was designed by Lucas Cranach the Elder, who painted most of the front; his son completed it and painted the rear panels. The central panel shows the Last Supper with Luther as "Junker Jörg", and the predella shows Luther preaching. On the south exterior wall, a 1305 Judensau relief is accompanied since 1988 by a memorial plaque by Wieland Schmiedel.
The church stands in the old town centre of Lutherstadt Wittenberg, a short walk from the market square and the Castle Church, both part of the same UNESCO World Heritage listing since 1996. The south wall with the medieval relief and its 1988 memorial plate can be viewed from the street at any time. The towers were scaffolded during restoration work and were finished in summer 2015.
On the south exterior wall survives a stone relief from around 1305, a Judensau showing a rabbi peering under a sow's tail while others suckle, with the inscription "Rabini Shem hamphoras". Luther cited it in his 1543 tract Vom Schem Hamphoras. In 1988 a memorial plate was set below it, and courts in 2019 and 2022 allowed the relief to remain as part of that remembrance ensemble.
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