Church of St. Marien Kemberg
When you enter St. Mary's Church in Kemberg, you feel very close to Martin Luther and the Reformation. The famous reformer is said to have preached a total of 13 sermons from the pulpit in Kemberg.
Built between 1290 and 1340, the Kemberg church is characterized by numerous wall paintings. The gallery with its cycle of paintings is unique in the region. This depicts 35 scenes from the first book of Moses, from the creation of the world and man, to the Flood, Jacob's blessing and Pharaoh's dream.
Modernity can be found in the new choir room windows created in 2000, designed by Günter Grohs from Wernigerode, and the altar cross installed in 2002, designed by the Austrian Arnulf Rainer. Until 1994, a winged altar by Lucas Cranach, which depicted scenes from the Old and New Testaments, adorned the Kemberg church. It was almost completely destroyed by a smouldering fire. Today, the remaining parts are on display in the former sacristy.
The winged altar was commissioned in 1564 by Matthias Wanckel, the son-in-law of Bartholomäus Bernhardi. Berhardi was provost in Kemberg from 1518 and a friend of Martin Luther. Bernhardi married Gertraud Pannier, a burgher's daughter from Kemberg, in 1521 and thus founded the Protestant parish family. He was thus the first clergyman to enter the state of marriage and not be executed for it.
