St. Bartholomew Church

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If you are now standing here in front of the Bartholomäi Church, you are in the oldest part of Altenburg. The Brühl below the church is the oldest marketplace in the city. 

And above the Brühl, a parish church was built on a rocky outcrop, and the apostle Bartholomew was chosen as its patron saint

(1) St. Bartholomew seen from "Sporenstraße“

(2) View from lower "Burgstraße“

(3) St. Bartholomew seen from "Kirchberg“

The first church building on the site of today's Bartholomew Church was a Romanesque hall church around the year 1100. It was severely damaged by the Hussite invasions in the 15th century. After that, a late Gothic three-nave hall church with a longitudinal and a transept was built. It was quite stately and had two towers.

The apse made of impressive sandstone ashlars and the crypt south of the choir are architectural highlights of the church. A crypt was also to be built on the northern side. Such lower churches were rather unusual for city churches at that time. On the contrary, they were often found in monasteries. Probably, there was a plan to transform the city parish church into a collegiate and monastic complex. However, this was not realized.

It was also fundamentally remodeled several times in the following centuries. The large windows on the east and north sides were given a Gothic shape. The windows of the choir show, among others, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Last Supper and Christ in the midst of Mary and Martha.

The appearance of the church also changed fundamentally in the 17th century. Between 1660 and 1669, the massive Baroque tower that still stands today was built after one of the two Gothic towers collapsed. The tower has several easily recognizable levels: On a massive square base structure rises an octagonal superstructure, which tapers upward in four levels. On top of the pedestal structure are three angelic figures that appear to hold the superstructure. Just below the tower dome is the inscription on the tower, "Gloria in excelsis Deo." ("Glory to God in the highest.")

Between 1878 and 1881, galleries were built inside the church and porches were built on the outside of the nave. The additions and galleries were later removed. The period between 1981 and 1989 is the last very exciting time for the church in terms of construction history. In a sense, it was finished during this period. The fixtures of the 19th century and some additions of the 17th century were removed again. The southern transept was now unified. The paintings of the walls and the net vault were restored in an original form.

A few words about the altar, bell ringing and organ must still be. The winged altar is very old. It dates approximately from 1510 to 1520 and came from Buchheim near Eisenberg. The central motif is a picture of Mary. St. Bartholomew can also be seen. As one of Jesus' disciples and a witness to Christ's first miracle, when he made wine out of water at a wedding, Bartholomew was popular as a namesake for churches in the Middle Ages. In Germany, his veneration increased greatly after Emperor Otto III had his alleged bones brought to Rome in 983 and Frankfurt Cathedral was dedicated to him in the 13th century.

The organ was built by Friedrich Ladegast, an important 19th century organ builder from Weißenfels, not far in what is now Saxony-Anhalt.

At the time of the fall of communism in the GDR (1989-90), it was thoroughly restored, and today one can play it with 2554 pipes and 44 sounding stops. Its musical effect is colossal.

The three bells of the church are made of bronze and come - of course - from the Thuringian Glockenstadt Apolda. In 1942, they were to be melted down for weapons production, but were fortunately rediscovered untouched in 1949.

Karl-Heinz Kühn, chairman of the parish church council, explains in the following interview why the Bartholomäi Church is so valuable.

What makes the church so interesting besides its long building history? Well, it was the parish church of Georg Spalatin, the helmsman of the Reformation and a close comrade-in-arms of Martin Luther. Luther himself preached in Altenburg. He married the reformer Wenzeslaus Linck to the daughter of an Altenburg lawyer - Altenburg's first priestly marriage. Many prominent theologians and artists came to the town for the occasion, including Philipp Melanchthon and Justus Jonas, and even Lucas Cranach the Elder.

The exhibition in the church is dedicated to Spalatin and his time. It is very exciting because it touches on many burning issues that have to do with us, our goals and values.

Sapalatin monument in front of the church

By the way, Bartholomew's Church, now a Gothic hall church, is revered today as one of the sites of the Reformation and was awarded the European Heritage Label in 2011.

As a place of worship, the church is no longer regularly used today. All the more it becomes a place for projects and exhibitions and attracts more and more visitors because of its (art-)historical importance. This can also be seen in and around the church in many places. So there is a lot to discover.