Help us preserve

Your support for a very special church

Background information on the MarienTaler

We would like to explain in a few lines the circumstances that led to the decision to introduce a maintenance contribution for St Marien Church.

St Marien Church, known as the "mother church of Brick Gothic", is one of the most important churches in Northern Europe. Created over many generations by almost all the citizens of this city, the preservation of this cultural treasure is now entrusted to a few people and their modest resources. The parish and community of St Marien is aware of the great cultural responsibility it has taken on from previous generations. For decades, it has therefore been making great financial and personal efforts to restore and preserve the church and its unique inventory. In doing so, it has found reliable partners, particularly in the form of renowned foundations in the Hanseatic city of Lübeck. However, each grant usually requires the parish to contribute a considerable amount of its own funds.

Added to this are the costs of opening the church. During the summer months, the church is open continuously for eight hours a day, while in winter there are sensible restrictions in place. The frequency of visitors and tourist interest (450,000 visitors per year) require the presence of church staff throughout the year, increased cleaning efforts and material expenses, for example in the area of energy. Finally, the numerous events – in addition to church services, above all the wide range of high-quality church music offerings – require considerable expenditure on personnel and materials. There is virtually no support for the parish in this regard, even though the parish makes a considerable and very high-quality contribution to the cultural life of our city and the region with these offerings.

For many years, the parish has asked visitors to our church to make a voluntary contribution at their own discretion. This contribution averaged 24 cents per visitor. These revenues are nowhere near enough to finance the parish's own funds for restoration and maintenance, opening the church and events. However, it cannot be the main task of a parish to maintain its church building. Preaching and pastoral care, working with children, families and the elderly, and offering a wide range of church music and cultural activities are also considered essential in our parish. This is not affordable if considerable funds have to be spent on maintaining the church building. Nevertheless, we want to fulfil our responsibility for St Marien.

Against this backdrop, the parish council has decided to charge guests who wish to visit St. Mary's a modest maintenance fee. Adult guests contribute €5.00 towards the maintenance and opening of the church. Children and young people are deliberately exempt from this fee so as not to discourage young people from visiting such a special church.

Those who wish to enter the church for spiritual reasons may do so without paying a maintenance fee. The same applies to people who are unable to pay the fee due to their financial situation. There is no photography fee. Naturally, no maintenance fee is charged for attending church services, devotions and other events. We regularly invite visitors to lunchtime devotions with organ music, free organ concerts and free guided tours of the church. Please feel free to find out about the latest offers.

We hope that this has given you some insight into our cause and we look forward to welcoming you in person to St Marien one day.