Alte Kirche Heumaden

The Alte Kirche Heumaden stands in Stuttgart’s Heumaden district, within the Sillenbuch borough, and serves the Alt-Heumaden Evangelical congregation. Its eastern section preserves late Gothic tracery windows and buttresses. After Esslingen attacked Heumaden in 1499, builders reconstructed the church, retaining the eastern ground plan. The western nave once stood about two metres below the choir. Later extensions widened the building westward, while small street-facing windows reflected the partly buried wall. Reformation changes covered wall paintings and removed gilded altar images. Heinrich Kepler, brother of astronomer Johannes Kepler, was buried in the surrounding cemetery in 1615. His gravestone has not survived. Lightning struck the tower in 1666, prompting repairs to seating, panelling, paint, and the tower structure. An early Gothic crucifix stands in the choir, although its origin remains unknown. Architect Heinrich Dolmetsch directed the major 1893 renovation. That work added pointed-arch nave windows, restored choir details, raised the nave ceiling, and created the patterned wooden ceiling. Four skylights brought more light into the nave. The two-manual organ received an expansion to fifteen stops from Weigle in 1960. Sandstone treatment followed in 2002, and interior paint was renewed in 2004.