St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, which dates back to 1212 is pretty fabulous. We had the opportunity to climb the tower and walk through the attic today, thanks to Pastor Britta. The tower was built in 1537, two years before Luther preached there, then the tower was rebuilt in 1702. It is 668 feet high. Two football fields.
There are four bells in the St. Thomas bell tower. The largest is the Gloriosa, which was cast by Theodericus Reinhard in 1477. It weighs 5200 kg (11,000 pounds/5.5 tons). It is used on days of celebration. The second largest bell was cast by Wolf Hilliger in 1574. The third largest bell is called either the Monks’ or Confessional Bell cast by Jakob König in 1634. It serves as the hourly bell. The fourth bell was cast by Christophorus Gros in 1585
The tower lantern holds separately a bell that is rung each quarter hour. This bell was cast in 1539 by the Schilling bell foundry in Apolda. It was modelled on its predecessor.
One can walk high above the roof. As we were padding around an orchestra from Poland was practicing below us. Pastor Britta showed us where we could see down into the church:
Here is a “No Smoking” sign from 1923:
Old placards showed the names of donors. I guess after they die, their plaques go in the attic. 🙂
We were surprised to find an old apartment, perhaps for a former sexton, way up in the tower. Many stairs!
Once at the top we stepped out in the walkway to a spectacular view.
