St. Anne's Church, Augsburg

St. Anne's Church (St. Anna-Kirche) in Augsburg, Germany, is a medieval church building that was originally part of a monastery built in 1321. It is notable for its elaborate interior decoration.

History
St. Anne's was built in 1321 by Carmelite friars. In 1518 Martin Luther stayed there with the Carmelite friars when he was in Augsburg to meet the papal legate, Cardinal Cajetan, who wanted Luther to submit to the pope. The church converted to Lutheranism in 1545.

On October 31, 1999, representatives of the Catholic and Evangelical Lutheran churches signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification in the Church of St. Anna. This is considered one of the most important events for the ecumenical movement. After a long period of closure, the Lutherstiege museum was reopened in 2012. A comprehensive renovation was completed in 2016/17.

List of preachers from 1545

 * 1545: M. Johann Heinrich Held
 * 1551: Johann Mattsperger(Interim)
 * 1551: Kaspar Huberinus
 * 1552: M. Johann Meckhardt
 * 1559: M. Georg Eckhard
 * 1568: M. Martin Rieger
 * 1579: Dr. Georg Müller(Mylius)
 * 1584: Matthäus Herbst
 * 1586: Stephan Engelbronner
 * 1586: Johannes Baier
 * 1589: Johann Rosslin
 * 1592: M. Georg Riederer
 * 1593: M. Kaspar Sauter

The building
The Goldsmiths' Chapel (Goldschmiedekapelle) was donated in 1420 by Conrad and Afra Hirn.

Together with his brother Ulrich Fugger the Elder and on behalf of his deceased brother Georg Fugger, Jakob Fugger founded the Fugger chapel in the choir of the church in front of the high altar. It became the burial place of the three brothers and their two nephews Raymund Fugger and Hieronymus Fugger (1499–1538). The Fugger chapel is the earliest example of Renaissance architecture in Germany. Among the features are a marble pavement, an organ with painted shutters, stained glass, choir stalls, a sculptural group of the Lamentation of Christ, and memorial relief tablets in the style of Dürer. The spire was added in 1607 by Elias Holl. The church ceiling is decorated with Baroque and Rococo stuccowork, with frescoes by Johann Georg Bergmüller.

In 1518 the chapel was consecrated to the patron saint of Jesus Christ in the altar sacrament, the Holy Virgin Mary and the Evangelist Matthew and has remained a consecrated Catholic place of worship to this day. When St. Anne's Church became Protestant in 1548, the Fugger Chapel remained Catholic because the Fugger Foundation continued to look after it and contributed to the upkeep of the church. This is how the remarkable fact came about that part of the church is denominationally different from the rest, and that the burial place of the Fugger family, who are considered strictly Catholic, is now in a Protestant church. Adding to the oddity is that Jacob Fugger's loans to Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg and the indulgence to repay them were what triggered Martin Luther's Reformation.