HEILIGGEIST KIRCHE – HEIDELBERG
Church of the Holy Spirit in Old Town
It is the central landmark of medieval Heidelberg. Set right on the market square. While finding your way around town, you may often get a direction to head along the Hauptstrasse until you get to the Heiliggeist Church and turn… The basilica in Heidelberg was first mentioned in the historical record in 1239. The original church construction was late Romanesque style, but a reconstruction and enlargement beginning in 1398 replaced much of it with typical Gothic pointed arches. The chancel was finished by about 1410, and the nave completed in 1441. The high bell tower was delayed for almost half a century, and not finished until the beginning of the 16th Century.
Within the chancel, you’ll find tombs of the Prince Electors of the Palatinate, though most of the memorial markers were destroyed in 1693 in the War of Palatine Succession. There were once a total of 54 epitaphs, but the only remaining one is the original, dedicated to the Prince Elector Ruprecht II who died in 1410 when the chancel was completed and his wife Elizabeth. During the succession war, also known as the Thirty Years War, when Heidelberg was taken by the forces of the Catholic League and the German Holy Roman Empire commanded by the Dutch Count Tilly in 1622, the church’s treasure collection became the conquerer’s bounty. On the order of the Catholic Elector, Maximilian of Bavaria, the library was packed up and sent off to Munich and Rome. The collection once consisted of over 5,000 books and 3524 manuscripts, but only 885 were returned to Heidelberg in 1816. The Catholics lost Heidelberg to the Protestants after only eleven years when the Swedes bombarded Heidelberg Castle and retook the city (see Heidelberg Castle)
Over the next several centuries, the Heiliggeist Church often switched its religious affiliation between Catholic and Protestant with the fortunes of the Reformation and the change in hands Heidelberg from the Palatine to Baden. In 1706, when both denominations wanted to hold services, a partition barrier was added and the former warring factions could pray in peace. The partition stayed in place for 230 years, until it was removed in 1936 under the Third Reich. Today, the Heiliggeist (Holy Spirit) Church of Heidelberg is Protestant. The church is directly across the stunning Hotel Zum Ritter’s most photographed façade and often ends up in the picture (see Ritter St Georg). © Bargain
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Heiliggeist Church
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See Also:
RHINE AND MOSEL RIVER CRUISES - KD FLEET
PHILOSOPHERS WALK - A POETS VIEW
GIANT WINE BARREL OF HEIDELBERG
