St. Elizabeth's Church, Wrocław

The Elisabeth Church (Polish Bazylika Sw. Elżbiety Węgierskiej ) is a brick Gothic church in Wrocław's Old Town. It stands on the northwest corner of the ring ( Rynek ) between the Lord Street ( ul Kiełbaśnicza ) Oderstraße ( ul Odrzańska ) Nikolaistraße ( ul Sw. Mikołaja ) and at the Elisabeth Church ( ul Sw. Elżbiety ). From 1525 to 1946 the main Protestant church, it has since become Catholic garrison church.

Dimensions

The church is 68.2 meters long and 34.5 meters wide. The nave is 29.7 meters, the church tower 90 m high. The church holds 2000 seats and is thus one of the largest churches in Silesia.

History

The beginning of the church dates back to the 13th century. First, there was a Romanesque church, which was dedicated to St. Lawrence. After the destruction of Wrocław by the Mongols and the award of the Magdeburg law in 1242 a new church was built and consecrated on November 19, 1257 by Bishop Thomas of St. Elizabeth of Thuringia. Today's three-aisled basilica in Gothic style originated at the beginning of the fourteenth century under Duke Boleslaw III. From 1452 to 1456, a new, 130 -meter high tower was built.

During the Reformation, St. Elizabeth was a Protestant on April 6, 1525 as the one of the first churches in Silesia. At the suggestion of the reformer Johann Ambrosius Moibanus Hess became its first Protestant minister.

The 130 m high tower fell in 1529 by a storm and violent hail one. 1535 new, 90 m high church tower with six bells was built.

Following a renovation the church received in the years 1890-1893 a checkerboard tile roof.

The Second World War, the church stood with only minor damage. The last German sermon of the city dean Joachim Konrad on 30 June 1946 in this church. After the war, she served initially the Polish Protestant Church as a parish church, but was seized on 2 July 1946 and handed over to the Military Ordinariate of the Roman Catholic Church as a garrison church. This function has to this day.

A fire on June 9, 1976 large parts of the interior of the church were destroyed, including the Engler- organ, the roof trusses and the ribbed vault. With the renovation was begun in 1981, with modern building materials such as reinforced concrete were used. The reconstructed church tower is 91.5 m high and has a public observation deck.

A monument by the sculptor Karl Biedermann has been established for Dietrich Bonhoeffer in 1999 before the church, who came from Breslau.