Stiftskirche, Gothic church in Landau in der Pfalz, Germany.
The Stiftskirche is a Gothic church built from 1333 south of the Queich in Landau. Its oldest part, the early Gothic choir, was completed around 1335; the nave followed around 1340, and the west tower, paid for by the city council, was finished in the mid-15th century. The church is 70 m long with the tower, 15 m high inside and 20 m wide; the tower rises 55 m and carries an 18th-century tower keeper's dwelling with a domed cap.
In 1276 the city lord called Augustinian canons from Saverne to Landau, where they founded a convent and hospital and began a parish church in 1281. Construction of the Stiftskirche south of the Queich started in 1333; the early Gothic choir was finished around 1335, and the nave was complete around 1340 except for the west tower, built from 1349 to the mid-15th century at the city council's expense. In 1483 the monastery became a secular collegiate foundation, and in 1490 a second north aisle was added. From 1522 Johannes Bader preached the Reformation here, leading to a simultaneum in the early 1530s: the remaining canons kept the choir, Protestants used the nave, and the church became fully Protestant in 1893.
The name Stiftskirche refers to the secular collegiate foundation created in 1483 from the former Augustinian monastery, whose canons kept the parish rights. From 1522 Johannes Bader preached here in the spirit of the Reformation, and by the early 1530s a Simultaneum divided the building: canons held the choir, Protestants the nave, until 1893.
The church stands south of the Queich, its 55 m west tower visible from across the old town. The nave is 70 m long with the tower, 20 m wide and 15 m high inside. Visitors enter the nave; the early Gothic choir, finished around 1335, lies to the east.
The 1772 baroque organ case by Johann Ignaz Seuffert now holds a Rieger instrument from 2006 with 47 stops and 3,100 pipes on three manuals and pedal, roughly the size of the organ sold to Poland that it replaced.
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