St. Martini Church, Munster

Saint Martin is one of the oldest religious buildings in Münster. Relying on indirect sources, historians presume that the church was established around the year 1187. The original building wasn't preserved till the present day however and the contemporary exterior of the church is the result of multiple reconstructions. One of the most serious restorations took place in 1760 under the leadership of German architect Johann Schlaun, who replaced the pointed roof of the Romanesque tower with a Baroque dome, the one we witness today.

Saint Martini was originally a three-aisled basilica with a western tower. Only the lowest part of the tower, which reveals Romanesque forms, remains of the original building. The basilica nave was replaced in the Middle Ages by a three-aisled hall church with round pillars, to which a long choir was added around 1380.

The Romanesque tower base was raised around 1480 by two floors richly decorated with figures, in which the bells are housed. The pointed roof of the tower was replaced around 1760 by a baroque hood that Johann Conrad Schlaun is said to have designed. In 1906, the Martini church tower on the Gothic upper floor was decorated with 20 statues made of Eifel sandstone. All figures are works by Münster sculptors and are up to 2.50 meters tall.