St. Peter's Church, Mainz

St. Peter's Church (Peterskirche)
St. Peter's Church from the southwest
General information
Architectural style	Rococo
Town or city	Mainz
Country	Germany
Construction started	1749

St. Peter's Church (in German Peterskirche) is located beneath Deutschhaus Mainz in the northwest of the historical center of Mainz, Germany. It is the one of the most important rococo buildings in Mainz. Originally it was a collegiate church monastery of ″St. Peter before the walls″, which had existed since the 10th century and is dedicated to the apostle Peter as patron. Today it serves as a parish church for the parish of St. Peter / St. Emmeran.

The collegiate was founded 944 by archbishop Frederick north of the city wall. Collegiates were key administrative units, on which the archbishop relied. The provosts, the head of the collegiate, each led an archdeacon.

Due to its location before the gates, the collegiate was completely destroyed by Swedish attacks 1631 in the Thirty Years' War. , and is to be seen on the north side portal of Saint Peter as paintings, 1631 at the Swedish attacks completely destroyed. At the behest of Archbishop Johann Philipp von Schönborn a reconstruction was not considered. For over a century the collegiate community had no own building. It was only in 1749 Archbishop Johann Friedrich Karl von Ostein decided for a new building. The collegiate was moved to its present location near the palace church St. Gangolph, later vanished in the Napoleonic era. At this location there was previously a romanesque church, the so-called ″Odenmünster″ or ″St. Mari underm Münster″. This has not been used since 1724 and was left to decay.

The construction of the new St. Peter's Church lasted from 1749 to 1756/57, and was carried out in the context of the valorisation of the bleaching district (Bleichenviertel). The church was consecrated 2 May 1756 by Archbishop Johann Friedrich Karl von Ostein. With the beginning of secularization, the collegiate was repealed on 4 July 1802. Due to the fact that Mainz Cathedral lay partially in ruins St. Peter's was chosen for the inauguration of bishop Joseph Ludwig Colmar in 1803.