Ludwigkirsche

Located in Saarbrücken

Ludwigkirsche is a Protestant Church done in the Baroque style. Friedrich Stengel made the church, along with the plaza it resides in, Ludwigsplatz, and the buildings on either side. Originally Ludwigkirsche was commissioned by Prince William Henry, but was not completed until under his son’s reign, Prince Ludwig. The church itself has the form of a Greek cross, with each side equally as long, vs. the longitudinal plans typical of Roman Catholic Churches, a typical plan used for Protestant churches in order to distance themselves from the Catholic church.  Originally the building was painted white, matching the houses on both sides, but since the building was bombed and had to be reconstructed, and since paying for a paint job and to keep renewing it would be too expensive, the church was left with its natural sandstone color showing. The white colors were originally to help convey the idea of the “white city”, an important theme since white is often associated with light, and since light was a valued element in both the Enlightenment and Baroque periods. The inside however still retains its coat of white paint. 

Stengel also incorporated light by having long windows, as typical in the Gothic period, without any stain glass, also typical of the time. Part of the interesting features of the church is that the organ is placed above the altar instead of above the entrance, for two reasons. One is because where the organ would have been instead resides the prince’s VIP room. That room also served as a way to signal when the sermon became boring by shutting the windows, acting as a signal to tell the preacher to hurry it up. The second reason for the organ placement is that the organ helped to convey the idea of the heavenly and earthly kingdoms. Another interesting element of the church is the figures holding up the three balconies within the church. The figures are Caryatids, that is Spartan women who symbolized holding great burdens because of Spartan men dying in battle. Each woman also holds something in addition, in conveyance of different elements from justice to peace. The caryatids holding up the organ’s balcony are special, because they symbolize Jesus’ coming and Judgment Day, the beginning to the end. I found it quite interesting how though the church was Protestant it had many elements paying homage to the earthly power and wealth of the prince when Martin Luther originally broke from the Catholic church due to indulgences and a focus on greed, among other things.