Christuskirche

Christuskirche stands in Heidelberg’s Weststadt, where its 65-metre tower shapes the district skyline beside St. Bonifatius. Hermann Behaghel designed the Protestant church with Art Nouveau, Renaissance, and Gothic elements. Granite supports the 38-metre-long building, whose square interior faces the pulpit and holds about 1,200 seats.

Construction began in 1900 after the Landfried family provided land for the growing Protestant community. The church opened in 1904. Five jagged ornaments crown the copper tower tip, above a four-to-five-metre cross and a golden weathercock. Four clocks bear the Reformation cities Wittenberg, Worms, Speyer, and Augsburg, while gargoyles below them represent the four evangelists. Hans Fries’s crowned angel floats above the main portal.

Three choir windows by Rudolf Yelin the Elder portray Jesus’s birth, passion, and appearance to Paul after the resurrection. Two side windows show an anointing and a miraculous healing. Medallions depict Melanchthon, Luther, Hus, Zwingli, and Calvin. The Walcker organ, built in 1903, returned close to its original state after restoration in 2011, while a Krämer organ from 1790 adds a late-Baroque voice. Four steel bells carry Latin inscriptions meaning Christ lives, reigns, triumphs, and conquers.