St Stephen's Church, Tangermünde

St Stephen's Church, Tangermünde, is a Lutheran church in Tangermünde, Saxony-Anhalt, constructed in the Brick Gothic style typical of North Germany.

The predecessor of the present church was a Romanesque brick basilica with side aisles, a central nave, choir, main apse and side apses. It was in existence by 1188. Parts of this original building were reused in the construction of the present church. The transept of the former building gave the width of the new nave, on the north side of which two Romanesque windows are to be found together with part of the original stone walls of the previous building.

The construction of the existing building has been credited to Emperor Charles IV, who lived in Tangermünde between 1373 and 1378. Charles actually founded a house of Augustinian Canons, to which he gave the church as a source of income. The canons conducted the choral services and attended to the side altars. It is not now generally held that the Emperor commissioned the rebuilding of the church.

During the late Middle Ages the construction took place in several phases of today's tripe-aisled Gothic hall church. Firstly, after 1350, the northern wall of the nave and the southern wall with alcoves were built, and in about 1405, the roof and the rib vaults. The prominent octagonal pillars are unusual. The south tower remains uncompleted to this day. In 1450 work began on the construction of the new choir, followed by the outside walls of the new ambulatory and also the arms of the transept. Only then was the old choir removed. The inside of the choir and the ambulatory are divided by compound piers consisting of massive circular columns each with four ancillary shafts, which support the prominent vaulting. The choir was roofed in 1475.

In 1617, a city-wide fire damaged the church building and the top part of the north tower collapsed. It was not restored until after 1714, when the tower received its present Baroque roof, the wooden structure of which was completely refurbished at the end of the 20th century. The fire of 1617 also caused destruction to the interior of the church: the galleries, pulpit, choir stalls and the organ had all to be restored, and the damaged altar was not replaced until 1705.

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