To see a series of large photos of St James´ just click here! |
www.greifswald-infoweb.de |
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places of interest
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| St.
James´ was built in the second half of the 13th century as a
double-naved hall church. About 1400 it was rebuilt into a
triple-naved church without widening the hall. To manage this narrow
side aisles had to be constructed. Apart from that a polygonal choir was
added. Despite this extension St James´ continued to be the the town´s
smallest gothic church. Like St Nicholas´ and St Mary´s it is made of
bricks because there are not any stone pits in this region.
Some people are amazed at how many of the churches on the Baltic Sea bear the name of St. James. This is not pure accident: St. James who went by ship from Jerusalem to far away Spain to do missionary work there is the patron saint of the travellers and the fishermen. These people, which were very common in the Baltic area and in Greifswald as well, built of course a lot of churches consecrated to their patron saint.
In 1955 the tower of St. James´ Church caught fire: The spire and the organ were completely destroyed. A new spire was put onto the tower in 1965, in 1968 a new organ manufactured by the Schuke Company was inaugurated. The most important features of interest inside the church are the pulpit, the altarpieces and the choir windows. The pulpit dating from 1855 shows the four evangelists. On the central altarpiece you can see Jesus nailed to the cross, on the other ones Paul, James, Peter and Andrew. © Andreas Reuter |
