Long Description:The earliest sacred building to have stood on this spot was a
small, Romanesque village church built in 1175 and dedicated to the
Holy Cross. Around 1240 it was extended to a Late Romanesque
basilica, to which an Early Gothic chancel was added in 1325.
Following the collapse of the nave, the master builders Hänslin and
Aberlin Jörg from the school of Peter Parler created the Late
Gothic nave which was completed in 1531 with the characteristic
west tower. The most important burial vault of the House of
Württemberg lies under the chancel, and in the choir the counts'
statues by Sem Schlör from the second half of the 16th century
commemorate Württemberg's former rulers.
The Collegiate Church is the most important Protestant church in
Württemberg. The first Protestant sermon was preached here on 16th
May 1534, ringing in the Reformation in the state. The most
prominent reformer was Johannes Brenz, an impassioned preacher who
was later buried in accordance with his wish under his pulpit,
marked today by the commemorative plaque. It is said that he wanted
to continue hearing the sermons preached here in all eternity.
After World War II the golden pulpit from which he preached went
missing for years and was replaced by a modern one created by the
sculptor Fritz von Graevenitz. After the original was rediscovered
quite by chance in 1973, it was placed at the end of the choir as a
chancel pulpit, lit by the flaming red of the choir windows
designed by the artists Rudolf Yelin, Adolf Saile and Wolf-Dieter
Kohler.
The church was largely destroyed during WWII and restored in the
1950's.
From 1999 to 2003 the Collegiate Church was extensively further
restored and modernised from a liturgical and acoustic point of
view in accordance with plans of the architect Helmut Hirche. The
acoustic glass ceiling panels, for example, recall the earlier
three-aisle form of the church.
