Petrikirche (Dortmund)

St. Peter’s Church stands in the centre of Dortmund, a tall Gothic hall church built mainly of light sandstone. Its nave and aisles reach the same height, giving the interior an open, airy feel. The church is almost square in plan, with a short chancel and a series of small pointed gables along the side roofs. The high spire, rebuilt after the Second World War, reaches about 105 metres and was once part of a 15th- and 16th-century contest for the city’s tallest tower. The tower’s lower section is 15 metres, topped by a 48-metre spire bearing a globe and cross.

Inside, the church holds the Golden Wonder of Westphalia, a carved late-Gothic winged altar made in Antwerp in 1521. When closed it shows the adoration of the Eucharist; when fully opened it displays 36 detailed scenes and 30 gilded figures. A new organ, completed in 2015, was rebuilt from an 1868 English instrument and now contains 1,049 pipes in a modern cube of birch wood. The parish merged in 2007 with two others to form a single Evangelical congregation of around 9,000 members.

Around the church lie the remains of the old Marienkirche and the medieval Westenhellweg street. The historic chime today uses five cast steel bells after the original bronze set was lost in 1945. A listed fountain stands beside the building, marking the church’s place on Dortmund’s list of monuments.