The Wörlitz Bible Tower turns 30 – Celebration weekend on 14/15 September – Historic printing press to try out
The Wörlitz Bible Tower is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a weekend of festivities on 14 and 15 September. An ecumenical service will be held on Sunday, 15 September at 2 pm. The sermon will be preached by Pastor Burkhard Krebber from the Lippische Bibelgesellschaft, led by Pastor Christine Reizig and Pastor Torsten Neumann, who also manages the Bible Tower. At 4 p.m., former Anhalt church president Joachim Liebig will give a talk on Goethe’s relationship to the Bible. On Saturday (11 a.m. – 5 p.m.) and on Sunday from 11 a.m., guests can try out a historical printing press from the Bibelhaus Dresden. Children’s and youth groups are particularly welcome.
The Bible Tower is the 66 metre high tower of St Peter’s Church in Wörlitz. Since 1994, exhibitions on biblical themes have been shown on three floors in the rooms of the former tower keeper’s flat. Currently, the exhibition “Celebrating festivals” can be seen on church feast days and the church year. In the church, a new roll-up exhibition provides information on the history of the Bible tower. From 1994 to 2023, 344,695 visitors visited the Bible Tower. Around 8,000 visitors are currently counted each year. St Peter’s Church is a stop on the Luther Trail(www.lutherweg.de).
Wörlitz Bible Tower and St Peter’s Church – volunteer tower guides wanted
St Peter’s Church was consecrated as early as 1201 – and Martin Luther preached here to the Anhalt princes. The church was given its present neo-Gothic appearance on the initiative of Prince Leopold III Friedrich Franz in 1804-1809. The viewing platform offers the best view of the grounds of the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Kingdom. The biblical missionary project is supported by the Evangelical Church of Anhalt. An ecumenical advisory board, in which the Dessau Protestant parishes, the Catholic Church, the Methodist Church, the Saxony-Anhalt Community Association and the Dessau-Wörlitz Cultural Foundation are represented, is responsible for the content of the work. Volunteers keep the church and tower open and provide guests with information. Anyone who would like to take part is very welcome. Contact: Torsten Neumann, bibel@kircheanhalt.de.
Imme Brune was the last doorkeeper of the Bible Tower until 1985. After the upheavals of the Second World War, she worked to deepen the spiritual life and promote the renewal and unity of the church. The Türmerstuben stood empty until the early 1990s, when the Evangelische Hauptbibelgesellschaft Berlin and the Ökumenische Initiative Bibelturm Wörlitz developed the idea of a biblical missionary centre in an atheist environment. It became a reality with the opening of the first exhibition on 3 September 1994.
The Bible Tower and St Petri Wörlitz Church are open from Palmarum (Sunday before Easter) to mid-October, Tuesdays to Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the last ascent at 4.40 p.m. Mondays are closed.
Further information: www.bibelturm.de
Johannes Killyen (Evangelical Church of Anhalt)
Pictures:
- Historic printing press (source: Bibelhaus Dresden)
- Wörlitz Bible Tower (Heiko Rebsch/Ev. Landeskirche Anhalts)
