St. James's Church, Gothic parish church in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany
St. James's Church is a Gothic parish church in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, built of light beige stone with a broad reddish-brown tiled roof. Its long side wall has tall pointed windows with dark glass between buttresses capped with small tiled roofs. A square tower with two slender openwork spires rises higher than the roof; the south tower is 55.2 m and the north tower 57.7 m.
Built from 1311 to 1484, the church was consecrated in 1485 by the Bishop of Würzburg and dedicated to St James the Greater. Its east chancel was finished in 1322, the nave built 1373–1436, and the west choir bridging the street added 1453–1471. In 1525 peasant leader Florian Geyer read the rebels' articles from the west chancel.
The church stands on the medieval pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela and is dedicated to St James the Greater. Its name recalls the pilgrims who passed through Rothenburg; the Twelve Apostles Altar's rear panels show rare scenes of the Jacobus legend. In 1525 the peasant leader Florian Geyer read the rebels' articles aloud from the west chancel.
The west choir bridges the street, so the church is entered from the street level in the old town centre. The main nave and east choir lie beyond the west gallery; the Holy Blood Altarpiece is on the western gallery, reached inside. The two towers differ in height: the south tower measures 55.2 m, the north tower 57.7 m.
In the Holy Blood Altarpiece, carved by Tilman Riemenschneider between 1500 and 1505, Judas is the central figure at the Lord's Supper, not Jesus, and the two faces closely resemble each other. The Judas figure can be lifted out; it hides the seam between the two relief blocks and covers the sleeping Apostle John, who only becomes visible once it is removed.
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