Katharinen Church

St. Catherine's Church is one of the large churches in the city of Salzwedel in the northwest of Saxony-Anhalt. It is of Romanesque origin but is attributed to Brick Gothic. Its patron saint is Saint Catherine.

The Neustadt district of Salzwedel was founded in 1247. The documented start of construction of St. Catherine's Church was in 1280. It was built as a parish church for Neustadt. Extensions were made at the beginning of the 14th century. A choir, higher than the nave, was built on the east side of the nave. Around 1450, the entire church was extended to this height. Additionally, it received a vault. In 1460, the next extensions took place. In 1467, the Corpus Christi Chapel was completed. A two-story sacristy extension was built on the south side; the spire was renewed. With this, the church had almost reached its present form. The originally nine stained-glass windows in the choir, three of which are preserved, also date from that time. They show scenes from Genesis and the life of Christ. Since the introduction of the Reformation in Salzwedel, the church community has been Evangelical-Lutheran.

On August 7, 1644, the spire burned down after a lightning strike. In the second half of the 19th century, the then main altar was sold to Frankfurt Cathedral, where it now forms the central part of the high altar. In its place, in 1981, came the so-called Unicorn Altar from the monastery church of Dambeck. Another carved altar previously stood in the Mönchskirche in Salzwedel and was installed in St. Catherine's Church in 1947 for the 700th anniversary of Neustadt.

During the Second World War, St. Catherine's Church remained undamaged but fell into disrepair in the subsequent decades. On Christmas Eve 1961, the last Christmas vespers for the time being were celebrated in the church. The church was abandoned as the walls threatened to drift apart. After 1974, the restoration of the church began with the help of numerous volunteers. On Christmas Eve 1975, services could be celebrated in St. Catherine's Church again for the first time. In 1978, a new organ by the Potsdam firm Schuke was inaugurated. During the period of the Wende in 1989, St. Catherine's Church was the starting point for numerous protests. Even before the completion of the renovation work, new structural damage occurred in 2010, so that the west hall had to be closed. Since then, a fundamental renovation of the west hall has been taking place.

After its re-consecration in 1975, the peal consisted only of the Apostle Bell. In the 2000s, it was supplemented by four bells to form a full peal.