Stiftskirche Kaiserslautern

The Stiftskirche (Collegiate Church) in Kaiserslautern, Germany is a Protestant parish church and one of the most historically and architecturally significant buildings in the city. It is the oldest hall church between the Rhine and Saar rivers and one of the most significant gothic church buildings in the Palatinate region.

It is the church my grandmother was baptized in and attended when she lived in Kaiserslautern before emigrating.

The Stiftskirche dates back to the 12th century:

• Around 1152, a Premonstratensian monastery and hospital were founded on the site, supported by Emperor Frederick I, “Barbarossa”.
• In the mid-13th century, construction began on the current gothic church building to replace an earlier Romanesque church.
• The choir, the oldest part, was completed by the end of the 13th century, while the nave was built in the early 14th century.
• In 1511, the monastery was secularized and dissolved in 1565 after the Reformation.
• In 1818, the church was the site of the union of the Lutheran and Reformed churches in the Palatinate region, earning it the title “Mother Church of the Palatine Union”.
• During the Second War, the main tower and parts of the roof were destroyed by Allied bombing. After the war, the church was rebuilt, although the main tower was reconstructed in a more simplified form.