The city church of St. Kilian, which is structurally connected to the town hall, is noteworthy.
As in other former imperial cities, the main church has a cathedral-like character. The building complex architecturally represents the political and religious center of the Free Imperial City of Windsheim.
The sheer capacity of 2,000 people demonstrates the magnitude of the building.
As early as the 8th century there was a church where St. Kilian stands today. Martin was dedicated and stood on the highest elevation in the area. The finds under the market square in the summer of 2000 indicate that it was the church of the adjacent royal palace.
Only towards the end of the 12th century did a market settlement appear on the hill around the Martinskirche. The old church was demolished and the Romanesque Kilianskirche was built in its place. The existing building, which is essentially late medieval, was probably started around 1400 and completed in the mid-15th century. According to old chronicles, it was 100 steps long and 40 steps wide and high. The narrow, pointed windows in the altar room still refer to this Gothic building.
St. Kilian was gradually equipped with a total of nine altars. Tilman Riemenschneider also left his mark here. From 1494 he worked on the choir equipment, consisting of the high altar, the altar of the twelve messengers and the cross of the choir arch. All the works were considered to have been burned, but around 1950 the signature of the great Würzburg carver was discovered on the altar of the Twelve Messengers in the Palatinate Museum in Heidelberg. Apparently, the wooden figures were saved from the burning church (see below) and made their way to Heidelberg on a winding path. Today you can admire a copy in the Seekapelle.
As early as 1522, only five years after the beginning of the Reformation, the position of preacher in St. Kilian was occupied by a "Protestant" pastor for the first time. Thomas Appel had studied in Wittenberg and was an ardent supporter of Martin Luther's Reformation. With the signing of the Augsburg Confession (Confessio Augustana) at the Reichstag in 1530, the free imperial city of Windsheim finally became Protestant. In 1717, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Reformation, a comprehensive restoration took place - but this was not to be admired for long: St. Kilian, along with most of the furnishings, fell victim to the great city fire of 1730. Only the enclosing walls remained standing, as well as the stucco curtain with the putti over the chancel arch.
Reconstruction began a year later under the direction of the Ansbach master builder Johann David Steingruber. An evangelical baroque church with an almost "Catholic" high altar was built. Two galleries were added to each side aisle, so that there is room for around 2,000 people. Beneath the galleries, behind the carved wickerwork, were places for the magistrates' families. The church was rededicated in November 1733, but work on the interior decoration and painting continued until 1756.