St. James' Church () is one of the five principal churches (''Hauptkirchen'') of Hamburg. In 1529, it became a

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

church. It is located directly in the city centre, has a 125 m tall tower and features a famous organ by

Arp Schnitger Arp Schnitger (2 July 164828 July 1719 (buried)) was an influential Northern German organ builder. Considered the paramount manufacturer of his time, Schnitger built or rebuilt over 150 organs. He was primarily active in Northern Europe, especial ...

from 1693. It is dedicated to

St James the Greater James the Great ( Koinē Greek: Ἰάκωβος, romanized: ''Iákōbos''; Aramaic: ܝܥܩܘܒ, romanized: ''Yaʿqōḇ''; died AD 44) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was the second of the apostles t ...

and often incorrectly referred to in English as ''St Jacob's''.

History

The history of the church goes back to 1255 when St. James' was a small Roman Catholic chapel located outside the Hamburg

city wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or Earthworks (military), earthworks to extensive military fortifications such as ...

s. After these were extended in 1260, it became part of the Hamburg city territory. It is now in the heart of the city, hidden behind one of the main shopping streets (''Mönckebergstraße''). Between 1350 and 1400, the chapel was replaced by a

hall church A hall church is a Church (building), church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height. In England, Flanders and the Netherlands, it is covered by parallel roofs, typically, one for each vessel, whereas in Germany there is often one s ...

with three

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

s, similar to St. Peter's. Around one hundred years later, a fourth nave was added to the south side of the structure. The

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christianity, Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is us ...

in the northeast also comes from this time (1438) and is today Hamburg's only example of secular

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

architecture. From 1806 to 1813, when Hamburg was occupied by Napoleonic troops, the church was used mainly as stables. The second tower, erected in 1826/27 after the previous one had become dilapidated, was destroyed in 1944, along with the rest of the church building, by bombing during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Only the historic interior furnishings were saved. It was not until 1963 that St. James' re-emerged, built to the medieval design, albeit with a modern

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

Notable features

The building sits a few metres east of the

10th meridian east The meridian 10° east of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Europe, Africa, the Atlantic Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole. The 10th meridian east forms a great c ...

longitude, which runs through the city centre. The famous Arp Schnitger organ of 1693 in the west gallery, with 60 registers and around 4,000 pipes, is the largest

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

organ in Northern Europe. From 1989 to 1993, the organ was completely restored, and since its rededication at

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

1993 it can be heard every Sunday during services. The 34 pictures in the organ gallery are the works of Otto Wagenfeldt and Joachim Lundt. They were created to portray the Bible in illustrations which everyone could appreciate and understand. St. James' has three medieval altars: the Holy Trinity Altar in the Main Choir (c. 1518, the St. Peter Altar in the first south nave (1508), and the St. Luke Altar in the second south nave (1500) that originally comes from the Hamburg Cathedral. The St. Luke Altar was built by the former Guild of St. Luke. All three were built originally to serve as Roman Catholic altars. Also worthy of notice is the Ministers' Room, which originally served as a library. Since 1543, it has been the collection room of the Cathedral ministers, and was remodelled in 1710. The ceiling murals, with their civic virtues, show the importance of maintaining parish to the city regiment. They were painted, like the landscape paintings on the wall, by Johann Moritz Riesenberger. Coats of arms on the walls name the pastors, vicars, and jurors who have served the parish since the sixteenth century.

Windows

The stained-glass windows are the work of

Charles Crodel Charles Crodel (September 16, 1894 – November 11, 1973) was a German Painting, painter and stained glass artist. Life Crodel was born in Marseille, he studied in 1914 with Richard Riemerschmid, one of the founders of the Deutscher Werkbund, ...

, who also created the windows of St. Matthew's Church in

Winterhude Winterhude () is a quarter in the ward Hamburg-Nord of Hamburg, Germany. As of 2020 the population was 56,382. History Winterhude was first mentioned in the 13th century, but archeological findings of tools, weapons and Tumulus, grave-mounds were ...

and those of

St. Mary's Church St. Mary's Church, St. Mary the Virgin's Church, St. Mary Church, Saint Mary Church, or other variations on the name, is a commonly used name for specific churches of various Christian denominations. Notable uses of the term may refer to: Albania ...

Fuhlsbüttel is an urban quarter in the north of Hamburg, Germany in the Hamburg-Nord district. It is known as the site of Hamburg's international airport, and as the location of a prison which served as a concentration camp in the Nazi system of repression. ...

. The windows depict in the main important events in the

ecclesiastical {{Short pages monitor