Andreaskirche

Just above the Markt in Eisleben's old town is the towering Andreaskirche (St. Andreas Church, sometimes called St. Andrew's), where Martin Luther preached his last four sermons in 1546.

Luther was in Eisleben on family business in 1546 when he fell ill. While in town — and even while sick — he preached at Andreaskirche what would be his last four sermons.

Luther's last sermon was on Matthew 11:28: "Come to me, all of you who weary, and I will give you rest:" He finished with the words: "I am able to say many more things about this text, but I feel very weak and sick today. I hope I can do it later." But the following Thursday he died.

On the outside, Andreaskirche is a stern-looking Gothic hall church with two octagonal towers on one end and a massive single tower at the other.

Inside, the main attraction is the very pulpitfrom which Luther preached. Dating fromthe early 16th century, the pulpit used to be draped with a fine work of embroidery (now displayed in a glass case on the south wall).

In 1817, to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Reformation, busts of Luther and Melanchthon were commissioned from the great Berlin sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow, who used portraits painted from life by Lucas Cranach as his models.

Although relatively small, the altarpiece on the high altar is a distinguished example of late Gothic art. Its reverse side was delicately painted in a Nürnberg workshop.

Andreaskirche was the mausoleum of the House of Mansfeld and as such contains several notable aristocratic funerary monuments. The most impressive is that of Count Hoyer VI in the north apse, carved in full Renaissance splendor by Hans Schlegel of Halle.