Marienkirche
(St Mary's) of Danzig
Marienkirche (St
Mary's) of Danzig is the largest brick church in the world. It is also the
central church for the entire area and the site of much turmoil following the
Protestant reformation. And our Martin Remus played a part in these events.
Martin Remus was
born in Meissen, Saxony in 1556 and sent as a pastor to Reichenberg Church near Danzig in 1584.
In 1595 he became a Pastor along with Thomas
Fabricius at Marienkirche. Here is a picture of the interior of the church.
Click here to see a
1687 list of pastors including Martin in Acrobat.
His days were not
peaceful. The religious conflict of the time involved not only Catholics but
various Protestant groups including the Lutherans, Calvinists, and followers of
Zwingli. This was not a simple secular question but a question that was intimately
involved in the politics of the city.
Eventually in 1605
the fate of Martin Remus and Thomas Fabricius was decided in the city council
meeting room below and they were reassigned to parish church. Click here for more on Martin's reassignment by noted
scholar Michael Mueller.
Martin went on the
finish his pastoral career at St
Peter and St Paul's just outside the city wall.
When Martin died
in 1623, he was buried in crypt 111 in Marienkirche. His body would have been
under a slab like this with other pastors including Thomas Fabricius.
When the Russian
troops took over Danzig at the end of the Second World War, they blew up most
of the crypts in search of graves goods (including Martin's). Prior to
rebuilding the church, the bones found in the wreckage were put into a common
grave in the room shown below.
Click here for pictures of things inside the church from Martin's era.
Click here for a site map for the Danzig area.
Please
send any information and queries to Bill Remus at
August
9, 2004