The church can be visited
ChurchRostock
Nikolai Church
St. Nicholas' Church in the Hanseatic city of Rostock was built starting in 1230, making it one of the oldest surviving hall churches in the Baltic Sea region. It is one of the three surviving large parish churches in the city and is dedicated to Saint Nicholas.
The church was built as a brick church on a fieldstone plinth, with an extension of the choir and one bay of the nave towards the west, including the mighty, square tower, following in the 15th century. The original building was three-aisled with cross-rib vaults on round pillars. The first mention of the church, dedicated to Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of fishermen and seafarers, dates from 1257. Its consecration took place in 1312.
The choir had to be built so high that a street passage, the archway (Schwibbogen), remained underneath for thoroughfare. This passage, above which an image of Saint Nicholas can be seen, is still preserved today. The sacristy, known as the Tanner's Chapel, built to the north of the nave, was first mentioned in 1431. The originally slender, Gothic-pointed tower, which at 132 meters surpassed the neighboring St. Peter's Church, was destroyed by a hurricane in 1703 and was fitted in 1706 with a pyramid roof and a Baroque lantern adapted to the style of the time. In 1758, the organ was consecrated and the pulpit was completed.
Notable pastors of the church included Simon Leupold (1542) and Johannes Aurifaber (Vratislaviensis) (1550).
During the four-night bombardment by the British Air Force from April 23 to 27, 1942, the tower and nave completely burned out, and the vault of the nave, though not that of the choir, collapsed. The organ and the Baroque pulpit, unique in Rostock, as well as grave slabs and epitaphs, were destroyed. Some wood carvings (images of St. Nicholas and Christ) and the high altar were saved by being moved to storage. The restored Gothic high altar is now located in the north transept of St. Mary's Church. Parts of an old wall painting from the early 15th century are found in the nave. In 1948, the choir area was consecrated as an emergency church. The nave and tower stood until 1976 as a makeshift secured ruin with a temporary roof, its restoration long uncertain.
Rededication with expanded use+
In 1974, the St. Peter's and St. Nicholas' church communities were merged, and it was decided to give up St. Nicholas' Church as a parish church. Extensive reconstruction began in 1976. Offices and other service rooms for the church administration were installed in the tower. An unusual project for the time was also the installation of three residential floors in the rebuilt church roof. The roof turret at the eastern end of the nave was not rebuilt. However, the destroyed east gable of the nave was reconstructed.
From 1991, the vault was installed, heating was put in, and limestone slabs were laid in the nave. On July 5, 1994, the solemn reopening of the church hall took place with a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in B minor. The current organ (built in 1971) is a gift from Philipps Church in Rummelsberg, Bavaria. It was consecrated on April 21, 2002. Beneath the nave is a crypt with sarcophagi of Casimir Albrecht von Moltke and his wife, above which the Moltke confessional from 1741 formerly stood.
St. Nicholas' Church is not a parish church and no Sunday services are held in it. It sees itself as an inter-parish, spiritual and cultural center of the city, open for ecclesiastical and other cultural uses, and is mostly used as a concert church.
Organ+
A large organ has been available for concerts since 2002. The instrument was built in 1971 by organ builder Gerhard Schmid (Kaufbeuren) for the Protestant church in Rummelsberg (Bavaria), and came to Rostock in 2002, where it was re-erected by the original builder. The slider chest instrument has 35 stops on three manuals and pedal. The key actions are mechanical, the stop actions are electric.
Bells+
The current peal of St. Nicholas' Church is composed as follows:
- Bell 1 - D-flat'
- Inscription: I am with you always, to the end of the age.
- Bell 2 - E-flat'
- Inscription: Christ says: I am the light and the life.
- Bell 3 - F'
- Inscription: I am the resurrection and the life.
- Bell 4 - A-flat'
- Inscription: I am the vine, you are the branches.
All inscriptions are supplemented by the Ev.-Luth. St. Nicholas' Parish in Rostock 1962. The bells were cast by the Schilling & Lattermann bell foundry in Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz, a cooperating firm of the bell foundry in Apolda. With the cessation of services in St. Nicholas' Church, the bells lost their original function and are rarely rung, only at Christmas, Easter, and New Year. All bells are rung by hand.
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Source: Wikipedia · Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rostock_St._Nikolai_Kirche.jpg
This description draws on the facts documented in the linked Wikipedia article; Wikipedia content is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Wording and editing: Mobile History.
Location: 54.0878, 12.1464