Wittenberg Castle

Wittenberg Castle and the associated All Saints' Church are UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Lutherstadt Wittenberg.

The slender, 88-meter-high castle church tower rises visibly from the silhouette of Lutherstadt Wittenberg, marking the western end of the old town. Approaching this castle church tower, one recognizes a filigree-like neo-Gothic spire, beneath which is a mosaic-decorated banner with the words of Martin Luther's hymn "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, a good defense and weapon" in meter-high letters. Rather inconspicuous next to the castle church tower stands the actual castle, on whose southern wing there is also another tower structure. The world-famous castle church is part of the UNESCO World Heritage and closes off the entire complex from the north side. It gained fame when, on October 31, 1517, the hitherto almost unknown Wittenberg Augustinian monk and theology professor Martin Luther disseminated his 95 Latin disputation theses, which are considered the trigger of the Reformation.

The mention of a castle can already be found in a document from around 1187. In 1338, Wittenberg Castle last appears in documents, as a new Ascanian castle was built on the present site around 1340 under the Ascanian Duke and later first Elector of Saxony, Rudolf I. From this time on, the castle served as an official residence for servants and was demolished as part of the castle's reconstruction under Elector Frederick the Wise to make way for new official residences. On May 6, 1346, the "All Saints" foundation was established, which was located in the newly built Ascanian castle. The "All Saints" chapel, founded by the Ascanian Duke Rudolf I, was placed under the direct jurisdiction of the Roman See. On February 24, 1361, Duke Rudolf II endowed the "All Saints" chapel with income, gave it statutes, and regulated its divine service order. Subsequent rulers continued these revenues. In 1400, by order of Pope Boniface IX, the city church of St. Mary and the Mary Chapel on Apollensberg were subordinated to the castle church. In 1415, under Rudolf III, the chapel was moved to the attic of the present castle church to relocate it to a brighter place and to accommodate a larger number of visitors.

According to plans by Konrad Pflüger, a new residential castle was built under the direction of Frederick the Wise, which was also intended to serve as a fortification for the southwest corner of the city. For this purpose, the existing Ascanian castle was demolished in 1489, and a new foundation for the castle was built on its foundations from 1490 to 1496. From 1493 to 1496, master builder Hans von Torgau directed the construction. This was followed by the interior development. Through its architectural involvement as the third wing of the castle in 1496, the castle church is also closely linked to the further history of the castle. The original form of the castle church must have been in such an inadequate state in 1496 that after its demolition, a new church building was erected, which was only completed in 1506 (see the adjacent woodcut by Lucas Cranach the Elder from 1508 from the "Wittenberg Heiltumsbuch").

After the founding of the University of Wittenberg Leucorea in 1502, the castle church was assigned to it as a university church in 1507, and the church thus developed into an academic place of consecration. Here, students received their doctorates, Philipp Melanchthon delivered his famous inaugural address here, devotions were held in the church, and the academic dignitaries of the university were buried here. Some of these dignitaries can still be seen today on the walls in their epitaphs, and the famous reformers Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon found their final resting place in the castle church itself. Many important masters of that time, such as Lucas Cranach the Elder, Albrecht Dürer, Jacopo de'Barbari, Tilman Riemenschneider, etc., participated in the construction of the castle and later the castle church. In 1524, Protestant worship was introduced in the castle church.

Wittenberg, too, has not been spared from wars throughout its history. Already in 1547, during the Schmalkaldic War, the helmets of the two round towers were removed so that cannons could be stationed on the towers. The castle increasingly lost its importance and almost collapsed before, in the Seven Years' War in 1760, the castle and the castle church fell victim to bombardments and subsequently burned down to their foundations. Most of the church's interior, with its valuable artworks and relics, was lost. Only the metal art monuments have been preserved, in particular the tomb of Frederick the Wise, which the renowned bronze caster Peter Vischer created in Nuremberg in 1527.

Ten years later, the church was rebuilt. However, it again fell victim to the flames during the storming of Wittenberg in 1814 during the Wars of Liberation. After Wittenberg's annexation to Prussia in 1815, which had conquered the city from the castle in 1814, the castle was converted into barracks. In the process, the remaining artistic insignia were completely removed. Thus, the once magnificent castle became a simple citadel. After Wittenberg University was moved to Halle (Saale) in 1817, the castle and university church were handed over to the newly founded Protestant Preacher Seminary for use. In memory of Martin Luther's great deed, King Frederick William IV of Prussia donated the bronze-cast Thesis Door on Martin Luther's 375th birthday on November 10, 1858, with an inauguration ceremony.

The castle church owes its current appearance to a renovation in the Neo-Gothic style between 1883 and 1892 by Friedrich Adler. Its inner core was completely redesigned according to historical records, and the spire of the castle church tower was rebuilt. On October 31, 1892, the redesigned church was reconsecrated.

The Castle Church Parish was founded in 1949 to assign the church its own congregation in addition to the preacher seminary.

On the occasion of the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's birth in 1983, twelve stained-glass windows with portraits of Luther's thirteen most important Reformation students were inaugurated in the castle church. The Lutheran World Federation commissioned the artist Renate Brömme, who implemented the stained-glass paintings in an adaptively timeless style.

Recent History

From 1978–1992, preacher Friedrich Schorlemmer worked at this church, who, among other things, became internationally known at the 1983 Kirchentag in the presence of then Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker with the symbolic act of beating a sword into a plowshare – a sign of hope for the GDR peace movement. The GDR authorities had previously declared the public use of the "Swords to Plowshares" symbol illegal.