Stiftskirche, Stuttgart

The Stiftskirche (Collegiate Church) is an inner-city church in Stuttgart, the capital of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the main church of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg (Evangelische Landeskirche in Württemberg) as well as the parish church of the evangelical (Lutheran) inner-city church district of Stuttgart.

View on the Stiftskirche from the west
View from the northeast across Schillerplatz.

History and structure

Structures of a small Romanesque church from the 10th and 11th centuries could recently be traced as having been exactly in today's church outline.

In 1240, a stately three-naved church with two towers was built in the Romanic style, apparently by the Counts of Württemberg who from around that time were residing in the nearby Old Castle. From the end of the 13th century a double tomb is preserved in today's South tower chapel. It contains the remains of Ulrich I, Count of Württemberg and his second wife, Countess of Württemberg, Agnes von Schlesien-Liegnitz (both died in 1265).

With Stuttgart the new residence of the rulers of Württemberg, a new Gothic chancel was built from 1321 to 1347. To it was added a Late Gothic nave in the second half of the 15th century by Ulrich V.

In 1500, a coloured, later (from the 19th century) golden pulpit was added.

With the adoption of the Lutheran Protestant Reformation in Württemberg in 1534, all pictures and altars were removed from the naves, pewage and a gallery were added. The tombstones were moved to the interior of the church.

The Lutheran reformer Johannes Brenz (died 1570), the main Protestant Reformer of Württemberg, was buried under the chancel.

From 1574, small statues of all the Counts of Württemberg (i.e. since Ulrich I) were added at the North wall of the chancel.

In 1608, a new grave crypt or burial vault was added. All of the Württemberg rulers until 1677 were buried there. Catherine Pavlovna of Russia, Queen of Württemberg from 1816 until 1819, was buried here from 1819 to 1824, before her remains were brought to a mausoleum on the Württemberg mountain.

In 1826, the roof of the chancel was renovated, as was most of the interior of the church in the 1840s.

Towards the end of the Second World War, the church was heavily destroyed by the bombing raids on Stuttgart in 1944.

In the 1950s, the church was restored, however, not in all historical detail.

Other burials

Renovation

The latest major renovation took place from 1999 to 2003. The design and realization of the new concept comes from the Hamburg-based Architect Bernhard Hirche. The altar sculpture was created by the Sculptor Holger Walter.[1]

References

  1. ↑ Auer/Gräf/Müller: Stiftskirche Stuttgart, Architektur und Gegenwartskunst,Verlag Das Beispiel Darmstadt 2004,S.86, S.94,ISBN 3-935 243-40-5
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Coordinates: 48°46′36″N 9°10′41″E / 48.7767°N 9.17806°E / 48.7767; 9.17806

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