Kreuzkirche

Kreuzkirche
Dresden Kreuzkirche (2008)
Basic information
Location	Dresden, Germany
Geographic coordinates	51°2′56″N 13°44′22″E / 51.04889°N 13.73944°E / 51.04889; 13.73944Coordinates: 51°2′56″N 13°44′22″E / 51.04889°N 13.73944°E / 51.04889; 13.73944
Affiliation	Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Saxony
Rite	Protestant
Ecclesiastical or organizational status	Cathedral
Website	Official Website
Architectural description
Architect(s)	Johann George Schmidt
Architectural style	Late Baroque Neoclassicism
Completed	1800

The Dresden Kreuzkirche (Church of the Holy Cross) is a Lutheran church in Dresden, Germany. It is the main church and seat of the Landesbischof of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Saxony, and the largest church building in the Free State of Saxony. It also is home of the Dresdner Kreuzchor boys' choir.

A Romanesque basilica dedicated to Saint Nicholas had existed at the southeastern corner of the Dresden market since the early twelfth century, documented about 1168. A Side-chapel of the Cross, named after a relic bequeathed by the Meissen margravine Constance of Babenberg (1212–1243), was first mentioned in 1319. Over the decades, it became the name of the whole church, which was officially dedicated on 10 June 1388 to the Holy Cross.

From 1401 it was rebuilt as a hall church with a prominent westwork in the German Sondergotik style. Based on the architectural works by Peter Parler (1330–1399), the construction later served as a model for numerous church buildings in Upper Saxony such as St. Anne's Church, Annaberg-Buchholz or St. Wolfgang's Church, Schneeberg. Finished about 1447/49, the church burned down in 1491, the first of five blazes over the next centuries. The Wettin electors of Saxony, residing at Dresden since 1464, had the Gothic hall church rebuilt, from 1499 under the architectural direction of Conrad Pflüger. From 1579 until 1584 the westwork was restored in a Renaissance style.