Johanniterkommende Zum Heiligen Grab

The Johanniterkommende Zum Heiligen Grab stands in Goslar, a town in the Goslar district. It was a commandery of the Knights of St John from the 13th to the 16th century. Only small remains survive today along Am Heiligen Grabe, after the buildings were largely destroyed in 1527. The site was first mentioned in 1214 and lay northwest of the town wall near the Vititor gate. Its church featured a central rotunda modelled on the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The complex also included a hospital, as required by the order’s mission. By the early 16th century the buildings were in poor repair and plans for relocation were discussed. Visitors can see scant foundations and remnants of the former commandery. A notable discovery was the tomb slab of Johannes Engel, the last prior who died in 1515; it is now kept in the Kaiserpfalz. The exposed remains were stabilised during 19th-century urban expansion. The surviving traces offer a quiet reminder of the site’s medieval past.