Marienkirche Gelnhausen

Very nice old church originally built as a Catholic church.

Very nice building. Pure magic at night, with incredibly great lighting. Visible from very far away, it rises out of the city.

The oldest written mention of the church dates from 1223 and can be found in a document from Pope Honorius III. In the second surviving mention from 1238 it is referred to as ecclesia sancte Marie in Geylenhusen. At that time, the church had already been largely completed and since then the parish rights of the Selbold canons, who were Premonstratensian, had been secured. In 1543, the city of Gelnhausen bought these rights after the Selbold monastery, located in the area of today's city of Langenselbold, was devastated and the order was impoverished as a result of the Peasants' Wars of 1525. Around this time, Gelnhausen joined the Lutheran faith as part of the Reformation. Due to the comparatively gentle transition to the new denomination, and because the city, unlike most of the surrounding area, did not later switch to Calvinism but instead remained with the Lutheran confession, numerous altars and other works of medieval art have been preserved in St. Mary's Church to this day.