Hauptkirche St. Nikolai

The Hauptkirche St. Nikolai stands in Harvestehude, a district of Hamburg, and was consecrated in 1962. It replaced the original St. Nikolai, whose wartime ruin serves as a memorial in the city centre. The architects Dieter and Gerhard Langmaack gave the new building a chalice-shaped floor plan that draws the congregation around the altar. The structure is round, the nave curves asymmetrically, and the bell tower counts among the seven tallest in Hamburg.

The church is wheelchair accessible, and you come in through the baptistery. Its Coester window shows scenes from the Book of Revelation. Elisabeth Coester finished it in 1939 for the old church, and the war meant it was never installed there. The stones of the baptismal altar, a torso of a Christ figure and a statue of Archbishop Ansgar come from the ruins. Step inside and a bright, structured wooden ceiling opens above a simple altar and an altar painting. More than five hundred seats face the altar.

Sergio Cicognani executed the Ecce Homines mosaic in 1974 after a design by Oskar Kokoschka. It stands as a counterpart to a black-and-white mosaic in the choir of the ruined church. Fritz Fleer made a crucifix and three bronze reliefs. The Nikolaus door on the west facade shows scenes from the legend of Saint Nicholas. Willi Peter built the organ in 1966, and Johannes Klais Orgelbau refurbished it. It has 101 registers, including percussion, and 7,279 pipes. Its design takes the motif of a ship's bow, a popular theme in Hamburg. The bells, cast in 1962, carry material from the old church's bells.