Erlöserkirche, Protestant church in central Lüdenscheid, Germany

The Erlöserkirche is a Protestant church in the centre of Lüdenscheid's old town, with white plastered walls, a dark grey gabled roof and three tall arched windows with gridded panes on the visible facade. Its tower rises on the left, carrying a clock face and a steep narrow spire with a small cross; a black lamppost stands before the left wall. The classical nave, built in 1826, has an apse, round-arched windows and pilasters dividing the facade, while the tower shaft dates from the 11th century.

A church existed here by 1067, when a predecessor was first documented; it was dedicated to Saint Medardus, the town's patron, until the Reformation. In the 12th century a late-Romanesque two-bay pillar basilica replaced a Romanesque predecessor, with a Gothic choir added later. Deemed unsafe, it was demolished in 1822, though the Romanesque tower shaft survived. The new nave by Werden Abbey master builder Engelbert Kleinhanz was consecrated on 26 March 1826, after a design by Wilhelm Tappe was rejected in 1823 on the advice of Karl Friedrich Schinkel.

The name Erlöserkirche (Church of the Redeemer) replaced Medarduskirche in 1902, ending a dedication to Saint Medardus that dated back to before the Reformation; Medardus was also the patron saint of Lüdenscheid. The tower's upper storey, once open to the nave, served as a lord's gallery and as a Michaelskapelle.

The church stands in the old town centre, its tower topped by the stepped baroque hood added in 1785. The nave is entered from the gabled side facing the street, where a small cross hangs above the door. The tower shaft, the oldest surviving structure in the city, shows Romanesque round-arch friezes on its north and east sides, now partly hidden by the nave roof.

The tower facade is studded with approximately 180 iron anchors that function as tie rods holding the stone structure together. These anchors serve both a structural purpose and create a distinctive visual pattern across the tower's exterior.