Translated to Saint Nicholas Church in English, St. Nikolaikirche in Bautzen, Germany, is a mesmerizing sight. Untouched by modern trashery, the beautiful ruins of this medieval 15th century church have remained unchanged since 1620… nearly 410 years ago. St. Nikolaikirche is the notable resting place of many prominent Lusatian Sorbs, the smallest Slavic ethnic group, and today serves as a Roman Catholic cemetery for the citizens of Bautzen.
Free to enter, St. Nicholas Church is in the heart of historic Bautzen, just a short walk from other notable landmarks, including St. Peter’s Cathedral, Ortenberg Castle, and the Leaning Tower of Bautzen. While no longer an active place of worship, a small chapel built on the grounds in 1848 has been used for funerals since 1852.
The church was built in the early to mid-1400s on property gifted by Hermann von Unaw to St. Peter’s Church in 1407. Per historical sources, two years earlier, in 1405, the city’s craftsmen and other town council members violently expelled Hermann from Bautzen. Two years later, in 1407, he was allowed to return. Standing before the newly elected council, accompanied by cathedral canon Heinrich Freiberg and cleric Johann Reichenbach, he donated his garden as a gesture of thanks, with the intention that a cemetery and church would be established on the property.
Unfortunately, the church burned down in 1441 before construction could be completed. Thanks to the generosity of the town’s citizens, it was largely rebuilt on a grander scale just three years later, in 1444. It took another 32 years before Master Maaz was commissioned by the town council to vault the choir and create two windows, finally completing the church’s interior. The church tower was not added for another 138 years, in 1614. Sadly, just 6 years after that, it was destroyed. St. Nicholas Church stood for 176 years before meeting its permanent fate during the Thirty Years’ War.
During the Thirty Years’ War, it was specifically destroyed during the siege of Bautzen in 1620 by Elector John George. Nearly all parts of the church were destroyed, including the pews, altars, paintings, galleries, and the church tower. The roof had already been removed by Governor Dick, commander of the Jägerndorf troops stationed in Bautzen, so that a battery of cannons could be placed atop the vaulted ceiling to aid in the city’s defense.
There were plans to rebuild St. Nicholas Church after the great city fire of 1634, and the town council arranged for timber to be delivered for the reconstruction. However, before work could even begin, the Swedes stole the timber during their siege of the city in 1639. Although efforts to rebuild the church persisted, due to financial reasons, it was ultimately decided to restore the Church of Our Lady instead, which had also been destroyed in 1634. As a result, St. Nicholas Church remains in ruins to this day.
Today, the site serves as an important cemetery for Bautzen, particularly for Roman Catholics. It is the final resting place of numerous notable Sorbian figures. These include Michał Hórnik, a 19th century Sorbian Catholic priest, writer, and cultural activist known for preserving and promoting the Upper Sorbian language and culture; Georg Wuschanski, a priest, linguist, and cultural activist who played a key role in the Sorbian national revival in the 19th and early 20th centuries; Filip Rězak, a priest and author who contributed significantly to the development of Upper Sorbian language and culture; and Jan Bulank, a 19th century Sorbian priest and poet whose works in the Sorbian language helped preserve and promote Sorbian Romanticism and cultural heritage.
An interesting historical fact about St. Nicholas Church is that in 1552, the town council approved using two small houses on the rocky edge of the churchyard, originally homes for priests and altarists, to shelter victims of the Bubonic Plague.
Overall, if you ever find yourself in the historic town of Bautzen in eastern Germany, you would be remiss to skip a visit to St. Nicholas Church. Though it stands in ruins, the church remains strikingly beautiful and is a sight to behold. You can almost feel the history radiating from the stone walls and arches, surrounded by the graves of those who walked these same paths over 400 years ago. Few cemeteries in the United States rival the medieval grounds of European sites, and St. Nicholas Church stands proudly among the top contenders.
