Postage stamps: Places of interest - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 1996 - 690 Pfennig

The main church of St. Michaelis, affectionately known as "Michel", is the largest baroque church in northern Germany. The tower, with its 132 meters, the viewing platform and the largest clock tower in Germany, was always their reference point for seafarers. The present St. Michaelis Church, dedicated to the Archangel Michael, was rebuilt after two fires in 1750 and 1906 according to the plans of Ernst Georg Sonnin in baroque style. The expansive space in gleaming white and gold is full of movement and momentum. He is trained as a total work of art, a "well-being church" full of harmony, which reflects the otherworldly into the earthly. The cup-shaped, massive pulpit is in the center. It indicates that St. Michaelis is a typical Protestant-Lutheran preaching church. The altar, 20 m high, with the altarpiece, a glass mosaic, shows the resurrected blessing his own. The church has three organs. The music tradition has great names: Georg Philipp Telemann, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Johannes Brahms. Underneath the church extends a vast crypt as large as the church interior. With its 268 burial chambers, it is the largest crypt in Germany. (Text: Hauptkirche St. Michaelis zu Hamburg)