 St Jakob's Church is dedicated to the Apostle St. James; it was an important church in its early days because it was one of the churches on the pilgrimage route to the grave of St. James in Santiago de Compostela in Spain. St. James (Jakob in German) was the patron saint of the pilgrims and merchants; he carried a pilgrim staff and had the St. James scallop on his hat. Shown in the photo above is the west chancel of St. Jakob's Church, a section that was constructed betweeb 1450 and 1471; Klingenstrasse goes through this part of the building. In the west chancel is the Holy Blood Altar carved by the famous Tilman Riemenschneider. On the opposite side of the church is the east chancel, which is the original part of church that houses the high altar with paintings done by Friedrich Herlin; the original section was built between 1311 and 1322. The nave of the church was built between 1373 and 1436. The Bishop of Würzburg consecrated the church in 1485. Originally built as a Catholic Church, St. Jakob's became a Luthern Church in 1544, after the Prostestant Reformation. It is the largest of the churches in Rothenburg.  The photo below shows one of the two spires of the church and in the foreground, a house nearby that has a statue on the corner. The second photo below shows a similar statue on the outside of the church.    High AltarTilman Riemanschneider's Altar of the Holy BloodAltar of the Virgin MaryHome
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