Jakobikirche

Met zijn massieve torens van de westelijke bar torent de Jakobikirche uit in de buurt van het Neuwerk-klooster. De voormalige basiliek uit 1073 onderging rond 1500 niet alleen ingrijpende bouwkundige veranderingen, maar ook de religieuze onrust van de Reformatie. In 1529 overhandigde Luther een delegatie uit Goslar een brief aan de Jakobikirche, die een jaar eerder de invoering van de Reformatie had geëist van het concilie in de Articuli Jacobitarum. Luther moedigt in zijn brief de burgers aan bij hun hervormingsactiviteiten, maar verzet zich resoluut tegen gewelddadige uitspattingen. De Articuli Jacobifarum zijn nu in het bezit van het stadsarchief, de Lutherbrief ligt in de marktkerk. In 1803 werd de kerk weer katholiek en ontving delen van het waardevolle interieur van het klooster Riechenberg, dat later werd verwoest. Een kunsthistorische specialiteit is de Marienklage (Pieta) uit 1510 van Hans Witten. Tegenwoordig is de Jakobikirche de oudste nog in gebruik zijnde kerk in Goslar.

St. Jakobus der Ältere, usually called St. Jakobi or Jakobikirche, is a historic church building in the old town of Goslar and the parish church of the eponymous Catholic parish of the deanery Goslar-Salzgitter.
St. Jakobi is after the collegiate church of St. Simon and Judas the second oldest church foundation Goslar. While the collegiate church was a symbol of imperial power, the Jakobikirche was built on the initiative of Bishop Hezilos of Hildesheim (reigned 1054-1079) to show episcopal presence on the eastern edge of the diocese near the imperial palace. A certificate of Hezilos documents the presence of the church for the year 1073. At the same time St. Jakobi may have been from the beginning also a civil parish. The patron saint of St. James points to wealthy Jacob pilgrims as donors.
In the High Middle Ages St. Jakobi stepped behind the younger and larger Marktkirche St. Cosmas and Damian. Jakobi was now the church of craft guilds.
In the 16th century, St. Jakobi was given a decisive impetus to adopt the Lutheran faith. In 1528, the Articuli Jacobitarum ("Articles of the Jacobites") called for rapid steps by the city council to introduce the Reformation, including: a. a public debate between the city clergy and the reformer Nikolaus von Amsdorf. In 1529 a delegation from Goslar traveled to Martin Luther and received a letter of support from him, together with a reminder of moderation and non-violence. With Amsdorf's church ordinance of 1531, all the churches in the city became Lutheran.
In the following years St. Jakobi was assigned to the market church community and was temporarily used only for funeral services.
Catholics settled again in the 18th century in Goslar. Catholic worship was only available outside the city in the Augustiner-Stift Riechenberg and Grauhof. Secularization in 1803 brought the end of these monasteries. In the same year the Prussian government awarded the Jakobikirche to the Catholics. The church received pieces of equipment from the abolished monasteries. In 1805 the first fair could be celebrated.
The industrialization of the 19th century allowed the city and with it the Catholic community to grow. Leaping growth brought the east expulsion after the Second World War. Now more Catholic churches were built in the city. On 1 July 2007, the deanery Goslar was dissolved, since then the parish belongs to the then newly established deanery Goslar-Salzgitter.
Today, the parish of St. James the Elder with its three branch churches in Grauhof, Jürgenohl and Oker has almost 6,000 members. Another branch church in Sudmerberg was profaned in 2006. Since 2013, the community has located opposite the church community center.

Sculptuur gemaakt door Walter Kaune in 1992