Heiliggeistkirche, Baroque church in Speyer, Germany.
The Heiliggeistkirche is a plain baroque hall church built in Speyer between 1700 and 1702, measuring 24.60 m long and 14.05 m wide inside, ending in a three-sided choir. A tall octagonal wooden roof turret with a curved hood, open lantern and spire rises above the street facade, and the round-arched portal on Johannesstraße is flanked by Tuscan columns on high bases.
The Reformed community laid the foundation stone in 1700 and completed the church in 1702 with financial support from Reformed Christians in Germany and Switzerland; Johann Hieronymus Kilian was its first preacher. In 1792 the French Revolution closed it and Speyer's Jacobins met there. On Reformation Day 1817 the community renamed it "Kirche zum heiligen Geist", a year before the Palatinate church union of Advent 1818.
The name changed on Reformation Day, 31 October 1817, when the Reformed congregation renamed its church "Kirche zum heiligen Geist", a year before the Palatinate union of Reformed and Lutheran churches sealed at Advent 1818. Since 1979 the building has served the Protestant Church of the Palatinate for concerts, lectures, exhibitions and readings, and can be rented for celebrations and conferences.
The church is no longer used for regular services; since 1979 it has served the Protestant Church of the Palatinate for concerts, lectures, exhibitions and readings, and can also be rented for celebrations and conferences. Enter from Johannesstraße through the round-arched portal with its Tuscan columns. The ground floor covers 300 m², with a further 120 m² on the gallery and a vaulted cellar room for 32 people.
The sandstone pulpit was carved with rich German Renaissance strapwork, while its 1707 cover is an octagonal onion dome edged with gilded foliage and topped by a globe and cross. The late-baroque organ casing, built by Liborius Müller of Heidelberg in 1751–52, survives largely original.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 93,492 contributors worldwide.