Evangelical Church, Gummersbach-Lieberhausen, Parish church in Lieberhausen, Gummersbach, Germany

The Evangelische Kirche Lieberhausen is a late Romanesque three-aisled pillar basilica of rubble stone, 23.80 m long and 11.70 m wide including its oblong west tower. The unadorned four-storey tower, capped by a slate pyramid, opens into the wide central nave, which has two square cross vaults; the transept and choir were renewed in the 15th century. Inside, vaults and walls carry pre- and post-Reformation paintings.

First documented in 1174 as owing tithes to the Cologne Severin Foundation, the church appears in the Liber valoris around 1274 as a chapel subordinate to Gummersbach and became an independent parish church in the 14th century. The transept and choir were renewed in the 15th century, after which the interior was painted. In 1586 Pastor Hermann Garenfeld preached Lutheran doctrine and the congregation turned Protestant; from 1589 old paintings were repaired and new ones added.

The village proverb "so bunt as die Lieberhuser Kerke" (as colourful as the Lieberhausen church) refers to the painted interior; in the mid-19th century the walls were whitewashed to silence it. Pastor Hermann Garenfeld preached Lutheran in 1586, and the congregation turned Protestant. After 1589 new paintings, including the Ten Commandments, were added alongside the old ones.

The church is accessible during certain hours on weekdays, and visitors can explore the interior. It is best to check opening times beforehand and notify in advance if you wish to attend special services or organized tours.

A local saying, "so bunt as die Lieberhuser Kerke" (as colourful as the Lieberhausen church), was so well known beyond the village that mid-19th-century authorities ordered the walls whitewashed to stop it. That whitewash hid the paintings until 1909, when they were rediscovered and restored by Anton Bardenhewer.