Bleckkirche, Romanesque Revival church in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

Bleckkirche is a church building in Romanesque Revival style made of brick in Gelsenkirchen with distinctive architectural features from its construction period. The interior displays a Renaissance altar from 1574, which comes from an earlier time and defines the chancel area.

The Catholic lord of Schloss Grimberg, Johann Hermann Franz Graf von Nesselrode, had a small two-bay church built in 1735 for his Protestant subjects on the Bleck. In 1888/89 the Bochum architect Hellhammer extended it into a Neo-Romanesque brick hall with a west tower, transept and a choir with a 5/8 polygonal apse.

The church serves today as a venue for theater, concerts, and art exhibitions that shape the cultural life of the city. Visitors find regular artistic events here that connect the house of worship with contemporary cultural activity.

The church stands in the Bismarck district, right next to the Zoom Erlebniswelt zoo, so it is easy to combine with a zoo visit. The entrance is through the arched doorway at the base of the west tower, where a small sign is mounted beside the opening. The brick tower with its clock face and round-arched louvered windows is the landmark to aim for when approaching.

The building stands very close to a zoo and creates a rare mixture of sacred architecture and animal enclosures in the Gelsenkirchen-Bismarck district. This unexpected neighbor combination creates an interesting contrast between quietness and lively activity.