The interior of the Church of the Redeemer

The Lutheran Church of the Redeemer is the only Protestant church in the Old City of Jerusalem. Built in the late 19th century by the architect Paul Ferdinand Groth (*1859-1955*), the Church of the Redeemer currently houses Lutheran congregations that worship in Arabic, German, Danish, and English. The church also serves as the headquarters of Bishop Munib A. Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.

Built on land given to King William I of Prussia (after 1870 Kaiser Wilhelm I) in 1869 by Sultan Abdülaziz of the Ottoman Empire, the church was constructed from 1892-1898. The location had been the site of the old church of St. Mary Minor.^[1] In 1898, Kaiser Wilhelm II made a trip to Jerusalem to personally dedicate the new church.^[2] For the dedication of the church, the Kaiser entered the city on horse back through to specially made ceremonial arches, one a gift of the Ottoman Empire and one a gift from the local Jewish commnity.^[3]. The church was dedicated on Reformation Day, 1898. At the dedication, Wilhelm said:

From Jerusalem came the light in splendor from which the German nation became great and glorious; and what the Germanic peoples have become, they became under the banner of the cross, the emblem of self-sacrificing charity.

^[4]

In the garden next to the church is a memorial marking the location of the crusader headquarters of the Order of the Knights of St. John.^[5]

The Church of the Redeemer around 1900.

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