Markuskirche

Markuskirche stands in Stuttgart’s Süd district, beside the historic Fangelsbachfriedhof in the Heusteigviertel. You see a rare German example of a Jugendstil church, designed by architect Heinrich Dolmetsch. The building combines plastered reinforced concrete with Romanesque windows, columns and friezes. A 48.5-metre side tower rises above the surrounding streets.

Stuttgart’s growing population created the Markus parish in the late nineteenth century, before construction began in 1906. King Wilhelm II attended the inauguration in 1908. The three-aisled hall survived the Second World War with little damage and received extensive restoration between 1976 and 1978. Inside, a coffered barrel vault spans the unified nave, while relief friezes show scenes from the Gospel of Mark.

Art Nouveau details shape the doors, lamps, railings and sacristy furniture, while a golden lion marks the western gable. The church also preserves a 1908 Walcker organ with sixty registers across three manuals and a pedal. Its stone organ prospect is described as the only one of its kind north of the Alps. A plaque carries the full Stuttgarter Schuldbekenntnis, prepared here after Niemöller’s sermon in 1945. Beyond the walls, the cemetery established in 1823 holds the graves of Nikolaus von Thouret and Carl von Schiller.