About this place
Standing on the Hanns Lilje Platz beside the Old Town Hall, the Marktkirche is the spiritual heart of Hannover and the southernmost great example of North German brick gothic, the style known as Backsteingotik. Its foundations were laid in 1347 and the hall church was completed around 1366, three aisles gathered beneath a single vast saddleback roof, all raised in warm red brick because natural stone was scarce on the north German plain. The deliberately blunt tower, close to ninety seven meters high and among the tallest in Lower Saxony, was built as a statement of civic pride rather than episcopal ambition. Gutted by an air raid in October 1943, the church was faithfully rebuilt under the architect Dieter Oesterlen and stood whole again by 1952, making almost everything a visitor sees today a quiet act of resurrection.
Key facts
- 97 meters — The height of the blunt brick tower, one of the tallest in Lower Saxony
- 1366 year — The Brick Gothic hall church was completed, nearly two decades after work began
- 11 bells — Hang in the tower, led by the Christ and Peace Bell, the largest in Lower Saxony
📍 Hanns-Lilje-Platz 11, 30159, Hannover