St. Peter und Paul, Catholic church in Weil der Stadt, Germany

St. Peter und Paul is a red-brown stone church in Weil der Stadt, built at the close of Swabian Late Gothic. Its west tower carries a green copper spire with a cross and a round clock with a black face and blue numerals above narrow arched windows; the steep-roofed nave has a smaller green spire behind the tower and another to the right. Inside, a three-aisled hall church has six reddish stone pillars with pale bands, a ribbed ceiling over light plaster, and a tall dark altarpiece with gold ornament in a pointed arch.

A three-aisled basilica without transept was begun between 1180 and 1220, with two towers at the east ends of the aisles. Around 1370–80 a three-storey rectangular west tower was added, its octagonal bell storey later. From 1492 to 1519 the church was largely rebuilt as a late Gothic hall church, reusing the three towers. After French troops burned the town in 1648, the nave vault was replaced by a painted wooden ceiling; Joseph von Egle reconstructed the Gothic vault in the 1860s.

The church was dedicated to Saint Peter alone until Saint Paul was added as a second patron after the mid-17th century. The high altar was completed in 1700, and the Rococo pulpit was installed in 1742. On the outside of the wings of the Three Kings altar, a 2018 picture puzzle by Dieter Groß hides faces among clowns, rogues and spirits, including Adolf Hitler beside a skull and Donald Trump.

The church stands in the town centre of Weil der Stadt, with the red-brown tower and green copper spire visible from the surrounding streets. Inside, the central aisle of light stone tiles runs between rows of wooden pews toward the baroque high altar of 1700. Look for the 1939/40 glass window behind the baptismal font on the right, whose temptation scene gives the devil Adolf Hitler's features.

The bell system includes six bronze bells, some of which date back to the Middle Ages and bear witness to centuries of use. These historical bells are occasionally rung for special occasions and contribute to the town's soundscape.