St. Jacobi Werther

St Jacobi stands in the small town of Werther in North Rhine-Westphalia. The present church began in the 14th century on the site of an earlier building from the 9th century. Archeologists found remains of a simple stone church without a tower surrounded by graves. Around 1200 a cross-shaped church of rough stone was built. The nave was added in Gothic style with ribbed vaults and semicircular wall niches. The church was dedicated to James the Elder, as a document from 1748 confirms.

The church became Lutheran in 1570 when Werther joined the Reformation. In 1876 the building was enlarged with a transept and choir designed by A. Hartmann in Gothic Revival style. The south transept shows a decorative front with galleries above. Stained-glass windows in the choir were made in 1878 by the Royal Institute for Stained Glass in Berlin, with the central window donated by the Prussian king. The west tower dates partly from the 13th century, but its upper part was added in 1876–77 and remains the tallest structure in Werther.

Inside, visitors see the restored late 19th-century interior with its galleries and vaulted ceilings. The transepts contain the display facade and the stained-glass windows. The tower’s upper section rises above the rooftops, marking the church as the town’s landmark. The parish belongs to the Halle district of the Evangelical Church of Westphalia. Confirmation of the original dedication to James the Elder came only in 2009 after archival research.