St. Lamberti Church Coesfeld

Coesfeld's church square also marks the city center. Cafés and restaurants, as well as the retail trade, are located here and invite you to linger. The train station and the bus platform are within walking distance. From here you can get to Dortmund, Münster or Enschede / NL as well as all places in the Münsterland.

Wonderful church ⛪️

The church named after St. Lambert is like the little younger Jakobikirche one of the two old inner city parish churches of Coesfeld. It was built as a wooden church by Ludgerus, the first bishop of Münster. The oldest preserved parts are the central nave pillars of the Staufer hall church in the bound system from the 13th century. In front of it was a double tower facade including a vestibule. Two previous stone buildings have been archaeologically proven. The builder Henric de Suer, based in Coesfeld, expanded the building in two building phases in quick succession. In 1473 he had the two-bay choir with side apses built, then he renewed the side aisles and the vault of the central nave, losing the bound order. The hall church that still exists is therefore largely to be regarded as his work. As early as 1635, the southern tower fell victim to a November storm due to the impoverishment of Coesfeld through acts of war. The northern one collapsed - also caused by a November storm - in 1681. It was not until the following spring that the bells, whose wooden framework had withstood the storm inside the ruin, could be recovered and the rubble removed. Thus, the Lambertikirche today has the oldest connected bells in Westphalia. The construction of the new tower, the work of Gottfried Laurenz Pictorius, began in 1686 and continued until 1703. It is similar to the tower of the Jesuit church built at the same time. It was not until the bombing war in World War II, which the Lambertikirche survived comparatively less destroyed than the city of Coesfeld, did the building nevertheless cause some serious damage. The sacristy was hit by a bomb and the south aisle vault collapsed. The tracery of the windows had broken out. This damage had been repaired by 1953. [1]

The Lamberti Church has undergone several renovations over the centuries. The former Romanesque church has developed into a Gothic hall church. The baroque tower, which is impressive in terms of urban planning and was built by Gottfried Laurenz Pictorius (1686-1703), shows influences of Dutch classicism. Inside, behind the high altar, is the Coesfeld Cross, which is well worth seeing. The forked cross from the 14th century, which houses a relic of the Holy Cross, is particularly venerated during the cross processions at Pentecost and on the Exaltation of the Cross in September.
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