Marktkirche

With a proud history, the Marktkirche is a good example of brick gothic, an architectural style that developed in the absence of abundant stone.

It’s quite a shock on entry for those who are used to the more ornate Duomos (in English we call them all Cathedrals, but only the ones where Bishops resided were actually called this) because everything is brick: a basketweave-patterned floor, Flemish-bond walls and pillars, and vaulted brick ceilings.

Like most European churches, this one started out as a modest building almost a millenium ago. The structure at this site was originally built in 1125. Over the centuries it was remodelled, rebuilt, and expanded – its bricks cataloging the history of the city and world. The tall tower is a testament to the wealth of the city early on, but the reduced height of it’s spire to the plague-induced poverty of the late 1300s. The foundations for the original church are all that remains of that building after the current structure was built on top of it, hidden for hundreds of years until 1943 when British bombers brought them to the surface once again.

This is one of the few churches visible in the Hannover skyline and occupies its place a few blocks away from Kröpke, a shopping district that forms the real center of the city.