The Luther Memorial—The World’s Largest Reformation Memorial

Rietschel’s Memorial Restored

On 26 January 1858, the Luther Memorial was commissioned to Ernst Rietschel. On 26 January 2008, exactly 150 years on, it was re-opened after a thorough restoration.

Construction of the Luther Memorial

First plans of a Reformation memorial date back to the 18th century. In 1856, the Luther-Denkmal-Verein (Luther memorial society) put them into practice and the memorial was built. Donations from all over Europe, North and South America helped to construct the monument that had been designed by Ernst Rietschel in 1859 and carried out by him and—he died in 1861—by his pupils Donndorf, Kietz, Schilling and the architect Nicolai.

On 25 June 1868 it was unveiled in a ceremony proclaimed as a ‘celebration of the Protestant Christians’. Many rulers and leading Protestant clergy were among the 20,000 people who were in attendance. The memorial was handed over to the city. The chairmen of the memorial society, Dean E F Keim and teacher Dr F J Eich were given the freedom of the city.

Layout and Design

The new theological concepts and aspirations to reform that arose in the 15th and 16th centuries closely correlated with science and secular powers.

Rietschel shows this in a historical manner. For him, the Reformation was a phenomenon that started in Germany and ended the efforts of centuries to find the truth of the Gospels. However, his description of the Reformation process is confined to Lutheranism in Germany. This was rather his intention than showing the impact the Reformation had in other European countries and the world.

The basis of Rietschel’s design is Luther’s famous hymn ‘A Mighty Fortress is Our God’. Its square base is girded on three sides with embattlements. The merlons bear the coats of arms of the cities that supported the Reformation. Noted personalities from the 16th-century world of politics and humanism who played a role in Martin Luther’s life stand on raised pedestals. Three allegoric figures, symbolising events and impacts of the Reformation, are seated among them. Luther himself, wearing his pulpit robe and holding a Bible in his hands, stands on the stepped main pedestal, which rises like a tower in the centre of the memorial. He looks towards the former location of the Bishop’s palace, which once adjoined the Cathedral. The palace was the place where in 1521 Luther stood before the Emperor and the notables of the state. At his feet are seated the forerunners of the Reformation, the Englishman John Wyclif; the Czech Jan Hus; Peter Waldo, the founder of the Waldenses; and the monk Girolamo Savonarola. The sides of the pedestals are decorated with coats of arms, medallions and reliefs illustrating scenes of the Reformation history.

Description of the Luther Memorial

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