Schlosskirche

Geschichte

All Saints' Church, commonly referred to as Schlosskirche to distinguish it from the Stadtkirche of St. Mary's – and sometimes known as the Reformation Memorial Church – is a Lutheran church in Wittenberg, Germany. It is the site where the Ninety-five Theses were likely posted by Martin Luther in 1517, the act that has been called the start of the Protestant Reformation. From 1883 onwards, the church was restored as a memorial site and re-inaugurated on 31 October 1892, 375 years after Luther's posting.HistoryA first chapel dedicated All Saints was erected at the new residence of the Ascanian duke Rudolf I of Saxe-Wittenberg from about 1340. Consecrated on 6 May 1346, Rudolf subordinated his foundation to the immediate jurisdiction of the Holy See. With further donations made by his successor Duke Rudolf II, it was determined the Wittenberg main church by Pope Boniface IX in 1400.FoundationWhen in the late 15th century the Wettin prince Frederick III the Wise, elector of Saxony from 1486, had the former Ascanian fortress rebuilt, a new All Saints' Church was designed by the architect Conrad Pflüger (c. 1450 – 1506/07) and erected between 1490 and 1511 in the Late Gothic style. Consecrated on 17 January 1503, it became part of Frederick's electoral castle or Residenzschloss, also called ''''. Extensive furnishings by Tilman Riemenschneider, Jacopo de' Barbari, and Albrecht Dürer contributed to the construction of the castle complex and then the church.