St. Christoph

St. Christoph stands in Mainz as an early Gothic church, with a Romanesque tower and paired arched windows. Its construction unfolded between 1240 and 1330. Johannes Gutenberg may have been baptized here, linking the church to Mainz’s printing history. Baroque alterations from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries shaped the building before wartime destruction.

Air raids in August 1942 and February 1945 left only the outer walls largely standing. Restoration added concrete columns and buttresses. A Heinz Hemrich relief on those supports presents symbolic scenes from Mainz’s history, while modern windows by Alois Plum add colour. The eastern chancel chapel contains a baptistry and sacristy within the Romanesque tower’s ground floor.

Today, the preserved ruins function as a war memorial and host worship services from several churches. Since 2020, ecumenical peace prayers here have followed the Coventry Cross of Nails tradition. Colourful glass panels explain the memorial, Nazi rule, and World War II’s impact on Mainz. Beside the church, Karl Heinz Oswald’s Gutenberg statue marks the 2000 celebrations. A floor plaque remembers the dead and warns the living.