St. Stephanskirche ), Brick Gothic hall church in Gartz (Oder), Germany
St. Stephen in Gartz is a Brick Gothic hall church whose four-bay nave was built in the second half of the 14th century and whose single-aisle choir with a five-sided apse dates from the 15th century. The nave survives as a roofless ruin, while the choir and one western nave bay were re-roofed and separated after 1945. The massive tower, medieval in its lower parts, was rebuilt with a tent roof after the war.
A parish priest in Gartz is first recorded in 1249, and a church dedicated to St. Stephen ten years later, probably a Romanesque building. The Gothic nave hall was built in the second half of the 14th century, the polygonal choir around 1400, attributed to the school of Hinrich Brunsberg. Red Army shelling set the church alight on 20–23 April 1945; the choir was re-roofed by 1952 and one nave bay rebuilt as a two-storey cultural house from 1982 to 1987.
The parish is first recorded in 1249, and the church dedicated to St. Stephen ten years later. Since 1981 the nave bay has served as a two-storey cultural centre, while the former choir remains the sacred space where services were held again from 1953 until 1960.
The church can be visited by prior arrangement, as the parish notes; the choir serves as the sacred space while the adjoining nave bay is a two-storey cultural house. The nave itself remains a ruin with secured wall crowns, so visitors should stay on the walkable areas.
The tower's lower sections are medieval, but its top brick storey was added in the 18th century; after wartime destruction the tower was rebuilt with a tent roof, and the baroque helm was not reconstructed. Four bells from an Apolda foundry were hung in it in 1986.
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