Nikolauskirche - the oldest church in Bad Kreuznach
The Catholic Nikolauskirche church bordering the Eiermarkt square is the town’s oldest remaining sacred building, and services of worship are still held here today. Initially, a chapel was built in 1266 by the counts of Sponheim. In the following centuries it was built into a church and consecrated to St Nicholas. He was the patron saint of fishermen, merchants and butchers, etc. At first the church was a place of worship for the Carmelite order. The monastery was dissolved in the mid-16th century during the Reformation, and Nikolauskirche has been a parish church since then.
The interior is worth taking a look at with its ornately carved pews, tombstones with effigies of counts and knights, wooden sculptures from the 15th century and the unique 1.40 m high cross reliquary dating back to 1501.
In the Middle Ages, the Carmelite order’s Latin (or grammar) school was the town’s only school. It is here that Master Georg Sabellicus Faust, the historical figure on which Goethe’s Faust was based, is said to have taught in 1507.
