The twin towers of Stadtkirche St Marien, with their distinctive octagonal turrets, dwarf the 4-story buildings on the eastern side of the Marktplatz. The church is the oldest surviving building in Wittenberg, with the choir dating back to 1300 and much of the rest of the church built between then and 1470. Immediately catching the eye in the attractive but white and grey interior is the altar painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder, depicting The Last Supper, with Luther shown as the disciple receiving the cup. Melanchthon and Elector Frederick (the Wise) are shown in the wing paintings.
Hidden away in the darkest part of the church – in a side aisle to the right of the west door – I found a stone commemorating the death, on 25 January 1586, of Cranach's youngest son, the painter Lucas Cranach the Younger. Martin Luther was married in the church in 1525, and often preached here, and his six children were baptised in the superb late Gothic font, which was made in 1457 by Hermann Vischer of Nuremberg [Nürnberg]. |
