Deutsch-reformierte Kirche

The former German Reformed Church in Erlangen stands as a sandstone Baroque hall church on Bohlenplatz in the city’s Neustadt. Built between 1728 and 1734 to designs by Wenzel Perner, it replaced an earlier shared arrangement with the French Reformed congregation. The tower was planned to rise higher but was left at two storeys for lack of funds. In 1922 the Lutheran Neustädter Gemeinde bought the building, renamed it Christuskirche, and later converted it into a community hall in 1953–54.

The church’s plain exterior hides a single large room of about 300 square metres inside. A steel-and-concrete floor was inserted in the 1950s, splitting the space into upper and lower levels. A sweeping spiral staircase leads up to the upper hall, still fitted with modern chandeliers. After further renovations in the 1990s and 2010s the building reopened in 2016 as Kreuz + Quer – Haus der Kirche Erlangen, a venue for events and Sunday services by the Ecclesia Church.

Visitors enter past a ginkgo planted in 2010 as a symbol of interfaith peace. The upper hall remains largely unchanged since the 1950s, with its high windows and simple furnishings. The lower level contains smaller rooms for meetings and exhibitions. Outside, the unrendered sandstone walls show rich detailing of pilasters and arched windows, giving the modest square a quiet dignity.