Tourist Attraction in Hamburg:
Hauptkirche Sankt Michaelis

St. Michael's Church, one of the five major Lutheran churches in Hamburg, St. Michael is a landmark of the city, and is considered one of the most beautiful Protestant baroque churches in Europe. The building was built directly by the Protestants, so architecturally designed according to their own thoughts. It is dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel, who shows a great bronze statue in the act of crushing the devil above the church portal. It has a tall baroque spire that with its 132 meters is the ninth highest bell tower in Europe. Completely covered with copper slabs strongly reflects the city's landscape, it has always been a landmark for ships sailing along the Elbe River. The present church is the third building erected on this site. The first was built between 1647 and 1669 as the church of the "New City" in turn founded in 1625 within the new walls of the city. In 1687, Michel became the fifth Arc Church, or capitol church (Hauptkirche) in Hamburg, and parish of Neustadt. The church was replicated and built in 9 different cities in the world, but this building was destroyed by a lightning strike on March 10, 1750. In 1786 a new construction was started, the present-day church, designed by Johann Leonhard Prey and Ernst Georg Sonnin. However, this building also suffered serious damage and related remodeling: during the fire of 1906 and after the bombings of 1944 1945. Composer and pianist Johannes Brahms was baptized on May 26, 1833 in this church and confirmed, at the age of fifteen, by pastor von Ahlsen, who had already married her parents. Michel is the largest church in Hamburg. It features a central plant inscribed on a Latin cross 44 meters wide, 52 meters long and 27 meters high, capable of 2,500 seats. Its tower of 132 meters high, characterizes the skyline of the city and is the ninth highest in Europe. The clock in the church tower is the largest of its kind in Germany. The interior, majestic, features a baroque decoration with white stucco and gilding; and is surrounded by magnificent wooden tribunes supporting rows of benches laid out in steps. The church holds five organs, including a Marcussen organ and a large Steinmeyer organ, with 85 registers, 5 manuals, and 6674 tubes. To the left of the apse is the magnificent marble pulpit of baroque style by the sculptor Otto Lessing from Dresden of 1910. It is crowned by the Angel of the Annunciation. The tall altar, 20 meters high, was built in baroque style marble in 1910. It features three sections depicting Scenes of Life of Jesus: the bottom is the relief with The Last Supper, the Resurrection center, and above , a great crucifix. At the top of the altar there is a crown that takes the form of a dove as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. The baptismal font, shaped as a shell supported by three angels, was made marble in Livorno in 1763 and donated to Hamburg by the Italian merchants who lived at that time in the city.

Attractions in Hamburg