Marienkirche, Dortmund

The church was built on the Hellweg, a main Medieval road connecting the free imperial town Dortmund with others. It was erected between 1170 and 1200 in Romanesque style The Marienaltar now contains only fragments of von Soest's original masterpiece. In 1720 a new reredos was installed, and workmen took hammers and saws to the paintings to make them fit into the new frames, losing over half of the large central panel and a quarter of each of the two side panels. Since the Reformation, it has been a Lutheran parish church of St. Marien. The church was almost completely destroyed by bombs in World War II. The church was rebuilt, beginning right after the war and completed in 1959. The swallow's nest organ high above the nave, was reconstructed in the same position by Steinmann Orgelbau. The glass windows were restored in subdued colours after designs of Johannes Schreiter, completed in 1972. The church serves as a concert venue for sacred music. == Literature ==

• Klaus Lange: Capella Regis. Zum Bauprogramm der Dortmunder Marienkirche. in: Beiträge zur Geschichte Dortmunds und der Grafschaft Mark. 83/84, 1992/1993 • Konrad Lorenz: Die Ev. St. Marienkirche zu Dortmund. Mariengemeinde, Dortmund 1981 • Albert Ludorff: Die Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler des Kreises Dortmund-Stadt. Münster 1894. • Gustav Luntowski: Günther Högl, Thomas Schilp, Norbert Reimann, Geschichte der Stadt Dortmund., Stadtarchiv Dortmund, Dortmund (Harenberg) 1994, • Götz J. Pfeiffer: Die Malerei am Niederrhein und in Westfalen um 1400. Der Meister des Berswordt-Retabels und der Stilwandel der Zeit, Petersberg, 2009, Dissertation. Berlin, 2005 • Götz J. Pfeiffer: "... noch vorzüglicher wie die zwei weiblichen Heiligen ...". Werke vom Meister des Berswordt-Retabels mit dem Wildunger Retabel im Vergleich. In: Geschichtsblätter für Waldeck, 96, 2008, p. 10–31 • Wolfgang Rinke: Dortmunder Kirchen des Mittelalters, St. Reinoldi, St. Marien, St. Johannes Bapt. Propstei, St. Petri. Dortmund 1991, • Thomas Schilp und Barbara Welzel (Hg.): Die Marienkirche in Dortmund. Bielefeld (Verlag für Regionalgeschichte) 2012, == References ==