St. Aldegundis

St. Aldegundis stands in Emmerich, a town in the Kleve district of North Rhine-Westphalia. The church occupies a site first used for a building in about 700. A collegiate foundation was attached to it from 914, and the dedication changed to St Aldegundis when the Martin foundation moved out in the 15th century. The present brick and tufa structure, a long three-aisled pseudobasilica, was begun in 1449 after a fire destroyed the earlier church. The building’s history is marked by fires, restorations and changes of plan. Johann von Wintern directed the early work, and the choir was consecrated in 1474 while the west end was still being altered. The tower, completed in 1651, was rebuilt after 1719 and again after the Second World War. In 1959 a new tower was started, reaching 58 metres instead of the original 91. Sculptors Waldemar Kuhn added the pinnacles in 1967. Inside, the church holds medieval and later works of art. A 1350 panel of Christ in the tomb, attributed to Duccio di Buoninsegna, hangs on a stele. A 19th-century mural by Friedrich Stummel shows the Virgin being honoured by Dominicans. A silver-gilt monstrance from the early 16th century is a key example of Cleves late-Gothic goldsmiths’ work. The tower chapel serves as a baptistery, and the organ, built in 1973 and enlarged in 1997, has 47 stops. The carillon, installed in stages from 1995, plays concerts on the third Saturday of each month.