Holy Trinity church (Zerbst/Anhalt): A Lutheran Church and Princely Memorial
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.8
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Germany
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
On this page15 sections
History
Holy Trinity church (Zerbst/Anhalt) is an Evangelical church in Germany, built in the late seventeenth century in a Classicizing architectural style for a Lutheran congregation. Prince Carl Wilhelm of Anhalt-Zerbst commissioned it as an effort to ease disputes between Reformed and Lutheran Christians. The foundation stone was laid on 4 June 1683 on the former cattle market, and the church was inaugurated on 16 October 1696, the prince’s birthday, with dedication to the Holy Trinity.
Construction and inauguration
The architect was Cornelis Ryckwært, a builder from the Netherlands who also designed palace buildings in Zerbst, Oranienbaum, and other places. The planned budget of 12,000 thalers proved inadequate, and the completed church cost 30,344 thalers. After Ryckwært died in 1693, Giovanni Simonetti, an Italian architect, became his successor and construction manager. Simonetti also created the high altar around 1690.
War damage and reconstruction
An Allied bombing raid on 16 April 1945 caused the church to burn out completely during the Second World War. The fire destroyed 126 artworks, while the vault and high altar suffered severe damage. Reconstruction began in the early 1950s. The organ gallery was reinstated, and the damaged high altar was repaired.
A comprehensive renovation in 1991 included replastering the facade, reroofing the building, and completely renewing its stained-glass windows. In 2003, the church was converted into a modern community center. Its architectural influence extended beyond Zerbst: the architect Friedrich Joachim Michael Stengel used it as the basis for his Ludwig Church in Saarbrücken.
Princely connections
The church is associated with the Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg princely families, a branch of the House of Anhalt, a German ruling dynasty. Its crypt contains the coffins of members of these families, including the grandparents of Sophie Auguste Friederike, who later became Catherine II, empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. Three of her siblings who died young are also buried there.
Remains
Holy Trinity church is a centralized building arranged as a Greek cross, whose four arms are approximately equal in length and meet at a central crossing. The crossing forms a large cube beneath a tall tent roof, a steep pyramid-like roof. The unusual finial, or ornamental terminal at the top of the structure, is one of the church’s distinctive features. Four Classicizing facades give the building an appearance resembling a theater or concert hall. Its architectural model was the Oosterkerk in Amsterdam.
Altar and baptismal furnishings
High altar
The high altar, created by Simonetti around 1690, includes a fully three-dimensional sculptural group of the Resurrection. The Evangelists Luke and John appear on its curved segmental pediments, while Matthew and Mark stand above the side passages. The vault and altar were severely damaged in the 1945 fire, and the high altar was repaired during the reconstruction of the early 1950s.
Baptismal font and altar
The Romanesque baptismal font originally came from Bergwitz. Approximately 800 years old, it is described as one of the oldest artworks in Zerbst. Beside it stands a baptismal altar from the Thuringian village of Schleid. Its painting, Christ and the Four Great Sinners, was found in Dessau and supplemented by Johann Heinrich Beck, a court and art painter there. The original work is by Peter Paul Rubens.
Paintings and commemorative works
Paintings
Around 1800, Heinrich Olivier made a copy of Alessandro Moretto’s Justina and the Bishop of Antioch, now hanging on the north wall. Beside it is The Holy Family on the Flight, dating from around 1500 and originating from the circle of Michelangelo. Michael Emig of Magdeburg created the altar paintings Crucifixion and Last Supper.
Luther epitaph
The southern part of the church contains a Luther epitaph, a commemorative monument that does not necessarily mark a burial place, and an oil painting probably depicting Superintendent Wolfgang Amling. The epitaph was made in 1917 for the town church in Wittenberg and has been in Holy Trinity church since 1927. Amling is associated with the founding of Zerbst’s Gymnasium illustre, a higher educational institution that existed from 1582 to 1798.
Pulpit and organ
Pulpit
The pulpit on the south side dates from the seventeenth century and has formed part of the church’s furnishings since 1966. It came from St. Ulrich’s Church in Sangerhausen and is supported by a figure of Moses. The panels of its pulpit basket show the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, with their traditional attributes, accompanied by two Old Testament prophets. A carved sounding board forms the upper termination.
Organ
The organ incorporates a Baroque organ case from Schmalkalden. The instrument was built by Orgelbau A. Schuster & Sohn of Zittau and inaugurated in 1962. It has 2,200 pipes, 33 stops, meaning controllable sets of pipes with distinct tones, and two manuals, or hand-played keyboards. It is described as the largest organ between Magdeburg and Wittenberg.
Crypt and surroundings
An inaccessible crypt in front of the high altar contains ten coffins belonging to members of the Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg princely families. Christian aus dem Winckel, a chief court steward, is also buried in the church. Directly opposite Holy Trinity church, near the Zerbst market, stands the medieval Church of St. Nicholas, which was destroyed in the Second World War and survives as a ruin. Holy Trinity church is the later seventeenth-century building.
