St. James Church

As I've already mentioned, when we were walking in Rothenburg, one thing caught our attention. We didn't know what it was, but we surely wanted to give it a closer look. All we could assume (from its shape, obviously) was that it must be some kind of a church. A church as if overlooking the whole town.

St. James' Church (St. Jakob in German) is its name. It took over 170 years to build it (14-15th c.). It's really big. I mean, BIG! And impressive. And beautiful. And bright in colour, which was a kind of a shock for me. I'd rather expect a church as old as this one to be darker in colour. Don't ask me why, that's just the way it is for me.

The building was both simple and ornamented. It two different senses, probably, but I hope you know what I mean. It has many stained glass windows. Big, pretty and so colourful (do I even have to mention that?). The most impressive are, of course, right behind the altar, visible to all the prayers (and visitors, for that matter). But it's hard to spot the details (because they're so big and so full of details. Not because they're so poorly done). And most of the stained glasses are as old as the church itself. (where was this town during the world wars?)

This church (Lutheran it is) serves as a church on a pilgrimage route to St. James Church in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. I always thought that Caminho de Santiago de Compostela starts somewhere closer to Spain, that is it's a bit shorter. Maybe that's a different pilgrimage route? Or maybe it's just that people tend to choose the shorter version of the route, which makes it more commonly known? It doesn't mean it's short, though. Just shorter.

Oh, and there's the great organ of St. James inside! When we were there, an organ concert was about to start.

 See how each window is differently ornamented in the upper part?

 The huge stained glass windows behind the altar

 I loved that "drive through" under the church ;)