Stadtkirche St. Peter und Paul (Herderkirche)

Weimar's town church as a concert hall: organ recitals, oratorios and guest concerts under a late Gothic hall roof.

Herderplatz, 99423 Weimar

The Herderkirche (St Peter and Paul) in Weimar: white façade with green doors, steep slate roof with dormers, the spire, and the bronze Herder monument in front — The town church of St Peter and Paul with the Herder monument in front of it.(Weimar Web)

About Stadtkirche St. Peter und Paul (Herderkirche)

The town church is a working parish and one of the larger concert rooms in Weimar at the same time, and the two uses share one diary.

A hall church that works as an instrument

The late Gothic hall church was built between 1498 and 1500, and its three aisles do to sound what they do to light. That acoustic is the reason choirs and organists want the room, and the reason a parish church ends up on concert posters beside the purpose-built halls.

What the parish puts on

The church's own account of what happens here names organ concerts, exhibitions, oratorio performances and guest concerts by well-known musicians. The organ itself has been rebuilt more than once and is today a reconstruction of its predecessor by W. Sauer Orgelbau of Frankfurt (Oder).

The quieter timetable

Between the concerts the building keeps a rhythm anyone can walk into without a ticket: midday prayers from Monday to Thursday, the Friday peace prayer at the Coventry Cross of Nails, and vespers on Saturday. For a visitor with an hour to spare it is the easier way into the room.