St. Nikolai Church Quedlinburg

The St. Nikolai Church was built for the glory of God. Its beginnings are thought to have been around 1200. Romanesque traces can be found in the church to this day. According to an old legend, a shepherd who gained wealth from a gold finding was instrumental in the financing of the building. That is why a statue of a shepherd with his dog made in the Baroque period  is still standing on one of the two sides of the tower. The popular saying calls the St. Nikolai Church “shepherd’s church. ”

In the 14th century St. Nikolai Church was converted into a Gothic church. The towers received their current height of 72 m and the vaults over the nave were pulled in. Also the large and precious bell with its fine carvings in the south tower dates from this period (1333). Nearly all the interior furnishings (pulpit/high altar/gallow) date back to the Baroque period. Other furnishings (Hl. Godehard / 2 Pietas, Moses, Romanesque crucifix) date much earlier.

In 1540 the Reformation was introduced in Quedlinburg under the abbess Anna II of Stolberg. Since that time, St. Nikolai Church has been a Protestant church.

From 1590 to 1599, the famous theologian Johann Arnd, the author of the “Six Books of True Christianity”, worked at the St. Nikolai Church. From 1737 to 1759 Johann Christian Erxleben was pastor of the St. Nikolai Church. He was the husband of Dorothea Christiane Erxleben. She was the first woman in German history to obtain her doctorate in medicine at a university (Halle a. d. Saale).

Opening Times

Monday - Saturday
10:30 am - 04:00 pm

Sunday 
12:00 am – 04:00 pm

Prices

• free entry
• donation desired

Guided Tours

• on request

Contact

Niklolaikirche – Ev. Kirchengemeinde Quedlinburg
Neustädter Kirchhof 1 | Quedlinburg
phone: (+49) 0173-90 16 21 8
e-mail: ev.kirche.quedlinburg@kirchenkreis-halberstadt.de
web: www.kirchequedlinburg.de