Walking to the west end of Schlossstraße from the market square, you reach a small courtyard and see before you a tall round tower with a pointed spire. Around the upper shaft runs an inscription like a band: Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. On the northern side of the church stands a pair of dark bronze doors covered in small lettering. Visitors pause in front of these doors longer than anywhere else in the town.
This is the Castle Church (Schlosskirche) of Wittenberg, officially named All Saints' Church (Allerheiligenkirche). According to tradition, on 31 October 1517 the friar and professor Martin Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses on the sale of indulgences upon the wooden doors of this church, and from that sheet of paper the Reformation spread across Europe. For Protestants around the world, this doorway is where the movement began.
IName, The Doors, And Meaning For Protestants
The German word Schlosskirche means church of the castle, as this building originally served as the chapel attached to the residence of the Electors of Saxony at the western corner of the old town. Its official name since the Middle Ages has been All Saints' Church, after the collegiate chapter of All Saints (Allerheiligenstift) founded on 6 May 1346. After the Reformation, the church kept that name, though people everywhere also call it the Reformation Memorial Church or simply the church with the Theses Door.
For Protestants, this place is not a holy site in the sense of possessing relics or working miracles. Protestantism does not teach pilgrimage to merit grace, nor does it venerate bodily relics. The meaning of this place lies in remembrance: in Protestant understanding, this is where the Word of God was placed above human authority. Luther's Ninety-five Theses challenged the sale of indulgences and opened the way to the three principles that became the foundation of Protestantism: by grace alone, by faith alone, by Scripture alone. Protestants come here to read the theses on the doors and stand before Luther's grave, not to petition a shrine.
Before the Reformation, however, this very building was a major center for relics. Elector Frederick the Wise (Friedrich der Weise) assembled here a collection that according to the German Wikipedia exceeded 19,000 relics, displayed every year on All Saints' Day, 1 November, for pilgrims to view and obtain indulgences. Because All Saints' Day drew the largest crowds of the year, Luther chose the eve of the feast, 31 October, to make his theses public. Beginning in 1524 according to the church's official website, or in 1525 according to Wikipedia after the death of Elector Frederick the Wise, the church adopted Lutheran worship, and the relic collection gradually dispersed.
Two points are often confused. First, the bronze doors bearing the Ninety-five Theses seen today are not the doors to which Luther attached his sheet. The original wooden doors burned along with the church during the fire of 1760. The present bronze doors were donated by King Frederick William IV of Prussia, designed by Ferdinand von Quast with relief figures modeled by Friedrich Drake, and inaugurated on 10 November 1858 for the 375th anniversary of Luther's birth. Weighing about one metric ton, they are cast with the Latin text of the theses. Second, historians still debate whether Luther physically nailed the sheet to the door. The earliest account was written by Philipp Melanchthon after Luther's death. What is certain is that on 31 October 1517 Luther sent the theses by letter to the Archbishop of Mainz and the diocesan bishop. The church itself presents the posting on the door as tradition, and the library follows that standard.
IIFrom Electoral Chapel To Reformation Memorial Church
The church standing today is the result of three building phases layered upon one another: the Late Gothic church of the late 15th century, the reconstruction after the fire of 1760, and the extensive Neo-Gothic remodeling of the late 19th century that turned the building into a monument to the Reformation. Most of what visitors see today, from the spire to the high altar, belongs to the third phase.
- 1346Foundation of the All Saints' chapterOn 6 May 1346 the collegiate chapter of All Saints was established at the castle chapel under Duke Rudolf I of Saxe-Wittenberg. The church has borne the name of All Saints ever since.
- 1490 or 1496Construction of the Late Gothic church beginsElector Frederick the Wise commissioned a new castle and church, with Conrad Pflüger as master builder. The English Wikipedia dates the construction from 1490 to 1511, while the German Wikipedia and the church's website give 1496 as the start of the church. See the historical note below.
- 1503ConsecrationOn 17 January 1503 the church was consecrated. In 1507 it was formally incorporated as the university church of the University of Wittenberg (Leucorea), founded in 1502.
- 1517The Ninety-five ThesesOn 31 October, according to tradition, Martin Luther posted the Ninety-five Theses on the north portal of the church. This date later became Reformation Day among Protestant churches.
- 1546 and 1560Burial of Luther and MelanchthonLuther died on 18 February 1546 in Eisleben and was brought back to be buried in the church beneath the pulpit. Philipp Melanchthon died on 19 April 1560 and was buried on the opposite side.
- 1760Destruction by fireDuring the Seven Years' War, bombardment set the church ablaze, destroying the wooden Theses Door and most of the historic interior. Reconstruction was completed in 1770, and the tower suffered further war damage in 1813 to 1814.
- 1883 to 1892Neo-Gothic remodelingArchitect Friedrich Adler and his pupil Paul Ferdinand Groth remodeled the building into a Reformation memorial and raised the 88-meter tower. The church was reconsecrated on 31 October 1892. The church's website dates the work from 1885, while other sources give 1883.
- 1996 and 2016UNESCO inscription and major restorationIn 1996 UNESCO inscribed the church as part of the Luther Memorials in Eisleben and Wittenberg. Following a comprehensive restoration from 2012 to 2016, the church reopened on 2 October 2016 ahead of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.
Sources differ on two dates. The first is the start of construction: the English Wikipedia states that the church was built between 1490 and 1511, whereas the church's official website and the German Wikipedia state that the castle was begun in 1489 and the church itself in 1496, with vaulting and completion around 1508 to 1509. A reasonable reading is that work on the castle complex began first and the church wing followed. The second is the start of the late 19th-century remodeling: the church's website gives 1885 to 1892, while other sources date the overall restoration from 1883, the 400th anniversary of Luther's birth. The library's index table records 1490, the earliest date, for cross-reference.
IIIThe 88-Meter Tower, The Bronze Doors, And The Two Tombs
The church forms an elongated Late Gothic single-nave hall with net vaulting across five bays and a polygonal apse, occupying the northern wing of the castle. The round tower at the western end originally served as a residential and defensive castle tower before Friedrich Adler raised it into an 88-meter bell tower crowned with a copper-clad Neo-Gothic dome and encircled by a mosaic hymn inscription. Inside, most of the furnishings date from 1883 to 1892, including the altar, pulpit, nine statues of Reformers along the wall piers designed by Rudolf Siemering, pews, and stained glass. What survived the fire of 1760 consists mainly of the bronze epitaphs, the marble figures of the two Electors, and the two graves beneath the floor.
A pair of bronze doors on the north facade set within a Late Gothic sandstone portal dated 1499, inaugurated on 10 November 1858 and cast with the Latin text of the 95 Theses. In the tympanum above is a painting by August von Kloeber showing Luther holding his German Bible and Melanchthon holding the Augsburg Confession kneeling beside the cross, flanked above by sandstone statues of Electors Frederick the Wise and John the Steadfast.
Rebuilt between 1885 and 1892, with a viewing platform at a height of about 60 meters. Its three current bronze bells were cast in 1960 by the Schilling foundry in Apolda. The mosaic band around the shaft bears the opening words of Luther's famous hymn.
Luther's grave lies beneath the pulpit, with the coffin placed about 2.4 meters below the floor under a bronze plaque cast in 1872 after a 1548 model. Melanchthon's grave lies opposite. Together they represent the two pillars of the Wittenberg Reformation.
Frederick the Wise (died 1525) and his brother John the Steadfast (died 1532) are buried beneath the chancel floor, flanked beside the altar by two life-size kneeling marble statues. On the chancel walls hang two bronze epitaphs cast at the Vischer workshop in Nuremberg: Frederick's epitaph on the north wall by Peter Vischer the Younger in 1527, and John's epitaph on the south wall by Hans Vischer in 1534, the finest works surviving from before the 1760 fire.
A limestone altar about 12 meters high with a carved wooden crucifix from 1890 and an oak pulpit depicting the Four Evangelists, both designed by Adler, stand behind a cast-iron baptismal font made in Berlin in 1832 after designs associated with Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The chancel windows depict the Nativity, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Pentecost after woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer.
| Feature | Measurement / Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Tower height | 88 m | church website and Wikipedia |
| Bronze Theses Door | Approx. 1,000 kg, 1858 | English Wikipedia |
| Luther's grave | Approx. 2.4 m below the floor | English Wikipedia |
| Main organ (Ladegast and Eule) | 57 stops, 4 manuals, approx. 3,500 pipes | church website and German Wikipedia |
| City coats of arms on windows | 198 coats of arms, restored 2012 to 2016 | church website |
IVSite Setting And Orientation
A clear caveat is needed first. Protestantism does not teach geomancy (feng shui), and is even further removed from such concepts than Catholicism, as the Reformation began by setting aside practices regarded as human additions outside Scripture. The orientation of this church follows the medieval liturgical orientation it inherited, with the chancel facing east and the main castle tower at the west, and its position was determined by the castle layout rather than by geomantic site selection. The observations below represent a traditional Vietnamese reading of landform and orientation offered by the library for comparative interest, not church doctrine or the intention of the builders.
The first feature to note is its position within the town. Wittenberg is a long, narrow historic town along the northern bank of the Elbe River, with its main thoroughfare running from east to west. At the eastern end stands the former Augustinian monastery where Luther lived, in the center lies the market square with the Town Church where he preached, and at the western end stands the castle with the Castle Church where he posted the theses and is buried. These three landmarks form a single straight axis, and in traditional Vietnamese site reading, a structure standing at the terminus of a long axis where the main street leads directly toward it is described as receiving the approaching flow, a natural gathering point for people.
Second is the water setting. The Elbe flows to the south of the town, a few hundred meters from the church, meaning water lies to the left when facing east along the liturgical axis. Traditional geomancy favors a setting with a mountain behind and water in front, yet this region is a flat alluvial plain without mountains, so in a flatland reading the river acts as the moving current while the thick walls and round towers of the castle provide the solid backing.
Third is the form of the tower. Instead of the twin symmetrical towers typical of many cathedrals, a single round tower rises high above the nave. Traditional Sino-Vietnamese site reading calls a solitary peak a lone summit (độc phong), often associated with steadfastness. The parallel between that visual form and the hymn verse encircling the tower is a coincidence of architecture and text, as the spire was raised upon an existing defensive castle tower rather than designed for geomancy.
VObservances In The Protestant Liturgical Year
The church has been owned by the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) since 2016 and has had its own parish congregation since 1949 alongside the Wittenberg Protestant Preachers' Seminary. Services follow the Protestant liturgical calendar on the Gregorian calendar, together with commemorations linked to Martin Luther. Only fixed dates are listed below, without service times.
| Date | Calendar | Observance | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31 October | Protestant calendar, Gregorian | Reformation Day (Reformationstag) | The principal feast of the church and of the entire city. Festive morning services take place at the Castle Church and the Town Church with brass ensembles and organ music, accompanied by the Reformation festival in the streets. It is a public holiday in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. |
| 1 November | Protestant calendar | All Saints' Day | The medieval patronal date of the church, observed by Protestants as a day of thanksgiving for the saints in Scripture rather than invocation of the saints. |
| 18 February | Gregorian calendar | Anniversary of Luther's death | Commemorating his death in 1546. Visitors customarily lay flowers upon his grave slab inside the church. |
| 10 November | Gregorian calendar | Luther's birthday | Born in 1483 in Eisleben. Marked in Wittenberg by special services and concerts of Luther's chorales. |
| Advent, Christmas, Holy Week, Easter | Protestant calendar | Major seasons of the liturgical year | Observed according to the common Lutheran liturgical calendar, centered on the preaching of the Word and congregational hymnody. |
Regarding the Vietnamese community: the library has not found a source documenting a permanent Vietnamese Protestant congregation based in Wittenberg itself. However, in Berlin, about an hour away by train, there are active congregations such as the Vietnamese Evangelical Mission in Berlin (Evangelische Vietnam Mission e.V.) and the Vietnamese Samariter Protestant Congregation in Berlin, from which Vietnamese Protestants in Germany frequently travel in groups to Wittenberg for Reformation Day on 31 October.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Schlossplatz, 06886 Lutherstadt Wittenberg
- Getting there
- The church stands at Schlossplatz 1 at the western end of the old town of Lutherstadt Wittenberg, about a twenty-minute walk from Lutherstadt Wittenberg Hauptbahnhof, which has direct train connections from Berlin and Leipzig.
- Coordinates
- 51.8664, 12.6379
This is an active church with weekly worship services and historic graves, so visitors are asked to respect the customs of the house: keep silence inside the nave, do not step on or place items upon the bronze grave slabs in the floor, and do not enter the chancel during services. Visitors enter the church through the courtyard entrance rather than through the bronze Theses Door, which is viewed from the outside.
Nearby places in the library
VIIContribute To This Page
Contribute photos, information or video for All Saints' Church, Wittenberg
Góp ảnh, thông tin hoặc video cho Nhà thờ Lâu đài Wittenberg (Schlosskirche)Everyone is welcome to enrich this page: a photo you took, a detail the page misses, a short video. Every contribution is read and answered.
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?Quick Questions
Is Wittenberg Castle Church where Martin Luther posted the Ninety-five Theses
According to tradition, yes, on 31 October 1517 on the north wooden doors. Because the earliest written account of the posting was penned by Philipp Melanchthon after Luther's death, historians still debate whether the sheet was physically nailed to the door. What is certain is that Luther sent the theses to the Archbishop of Mainz on that same day.
Are the present Theses Doors the original doors
No. The original wooden doors burned in the fire of 1760. The current bronze doors were donated by King Frederick William IV of Prussia, designed by Ferdinand von Quast, and inaugurated on 10 November 1858, weighing about one metric ton and bearing the Latin text of the 95 Theses.
Where is Martin Luther's tomb
Inside All Saints' Church (Schlosskirche) in Wittenberg, beneath the pulpit, where his coffin rests about 2.4 meters below the floor under a bronze plaque. Luther died on 18 February 1546 in Eisleben and was brought to Wittenberg for burial. Philipp Melanchthon, who died in 1560, is buried on the opposite side.
When was Wittenberg Castle Church inscribed by UNESCO
In 1996, as part of the Luther Memorials in Eisleben and Wittenberg, which comprise six sites: Luther's Birthplace and Death House in Eisleben, and the Melanchthonhaus, Lutherhaus, Town Church, and Castle Church in Wittenberg, under criteria (iv) and (vi).
How does the Castle Church differ from the Town Church in Wittenberg
The Castle Church stands at the western end of the old town and is associated with the posting of the 95 Theses and Luther's tomb. The Town Church of St. Mary in the market square was where Luther regularly preached and where the first Protestant worship services were celebrated. Both belong to the UNESCO World Heritage site.