The Church of John the Baptist

John the Baptist

John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...

(Germ. St. Johannis or Johanniskirche) is the oldest Lutheran

Evangelical Church in Germany

The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...

 church in Lüneburg

Lüneburg

Lüneburg is a town in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is located about southeast of fellow Hanseatic city Hamburg. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, and one of Hamburg's inner suburbs...

 and located in the city center.

History

The Church of John the Baptist is considered an important example of northern German Brick Gothic

Brick Gothic

Brick Gothic is a specific style of Gothic architecture common in Northern Europe, especially in Northern Germany and the regions around the Baltic Sea that do not have natural rock resources. The buildings are essentially built from bricks...

 architecture. The five-naved hall church

Hall church

A hall church is a church with nave and side aisles of approximately equal height, often united under a single immense roof. The term was first coined in the mid-19th century by the pioneering German art historian Wilhelm Lübke....

 was erected between 1300 and 1370 and repaired in 1420. In the early 15th c. Conrad of Soltau, as Conrad III Prince-Bishop of Verden, failed to make St. John's the new cathedral of his see

Episcopal See

An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...

, since the city council and the Prince of Lüneburg resisted that fearing the political interference of another power. The outer structure was marked by rebuilding in 1765. Particularly striking is the lightly sloping steeple, which at a height of 108 meters is the highest church steeple

Steeple (architecture)

A steeple, in architecture, is a tall tower on a building, often topped by a spire. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religious structure...

 in Lower Saxony. The stained-glass in the Elisabeth Chapel was made by Charles Crodel in 1969.

Organ

The church's organ was finished in 1553 by Hendrik Niehoff

Hendrik Niehoff

Hendrik Niehoff was a Dutch pipe organ builder, who learned with noted builder, Jan van Covelen . According to Liuwe Tamminga, Niehoff was born in Leeuwarden, the capital of Province Friesland...

 and Jasper Johansen and rebuilt in 1714 by Arp Schnitger

Arp Schnitger

Arp Schnitger was a highly influential German organ builder. He was primarily active in Northern Europe, especially the Netherlands and Germany, where a number of his instruments survive to the present day; his organs can also be found as far away as Portugal and Brazil.Notable examples still in...

 student, Matthias Dropa and in the latter 20th century by Rudolf von Beckerath

Rudolf von Beckerath

Rudolf von Beckerath was a German master organ builder. He was born in Munich, but grew up in Hamburg, where his parents moved the year he was born. He initially pursued an interest in mechanical engineering...

. Among its noted organists were Christian Flor (1676–1697) and Georg Böhm

Georg Böhm

Georg Böhm was a German Baroque organist and composer. He is notable for his development of the chorale partita and for his influence on the young J. S. Bach.-Life:Böhm was born in 1661 in Hohenkirchen, near Ohrdruf...

 (1698–1733). Noted Bach scholar Christoph Wolff

Christoph Wolff

Christoph Wolff is a German-born musicologist, presently on the faculty of Harvard University. Born and educated in Germany, Wolff studied organ and historical keyboard instruments, musicology and art history at the Universities of Berlin, Erlangen, and the Music Academy of Freiburg, receiving a...

 says Böhm gave the young Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

 lessons here during Bach's residency (1700–1702) at the nearby Michaeliskirche.
Further history of the Johanniskirche organ

Legend

The 108-meter-high spire

Spire

A spire is a tapering conical or pyramidal structure on the top of a building, particularly a church tower. Etymologically, the word is derived from the Old English word spir, meaning a sprout, shoot, or stalk of grass....

of the church looks as though it is sloping from each side: the truss on the upper part is twisted into a corkscrew shape. A legend states that when the master builder noticed the mistake, he fell from an upper window in the church tower; however, he landed on a passing haywagon, so he lived. Feeling that he had been vindicated by God, the master went into a local tavern to celebrate. After a few too many drinks he leaned back in his chair and fell over. As he fell he hit his head on the stone hearth of the fireplace and was killed.

External links

Parish website City of Lüneburg: Skt. Johanniskirche