Evangelische Kirche Gummersbach, Protestant church in Gummersbach, Germany.
The Evangelische Kirche Gummersbach, called Oberbergischer Dom, is a three-aisled Romanesque rubble-stone church with a projecting west tower and a nave from the 11th–12th centuries. A Gothic transept was added around 1450, and after 1570 the Romanesque nave was Gothicised while the north aisle stayed Romanesque and visibly lower. The interior measures about 294 m².
The first documented mention dates to 1109, in a tax register of the Cologne Severin monastery; the first building, however, was a Carolingian hall church of about 850 with a recessed rectangular choir and roughly 140 m² of interior. Around 1050 it was rebuilt smaller as a Romanesque hall with a half-round apse, and the west tower probably dates from then. Around 1150 it became a three-aisled Romanesque basilica; around 1450 the transept was rebuilt in Gothic style, and around 1570 the nave was Gothicised, leaving only the lower north aisle Romanesque.
Locals call the church Oberbergischer Dom, though it is a parish church, not a cathedral. Its patron was Saint Severin, venerated here, and the parish belonged to the Cologne Severinsstift, which listed the church in its tax register in 1109. The name reflects the building's size in the small town, not its rank.
The building stands at Von-Steinen-Straße 1 in the town center and is easily reached from several directions throughout the area. Its central location makes it convenient to visit as part of a walk through the town without extra travel time.
The north aisle is visibly lower than the south one: it kept its Romanesque form in the 1570 rebuilding, while the south aisle was replaced in Gothic style. The church also keeps old gravestones moved inside from the churchyard around 1813, mounted on the north aisle wall.
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