Neustädter Kirche, Hanover

The Neustädter Kirche is a main Lutheran parish church in Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany. The official name is Neustädter Hof- und Stadtkirche St. Johannis zu Hannover . The Baroque church was built in 1666–70. It is one of the oldest Protestant Saalkirche in Lower Saxony, conceived for the sermon as the main act of Lutheran church service. Mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and general Carl August von Alten are buried here.The church is known for its church music, performed in service and concert by the Kantorei St. Johannis, and serves as a venue for concerts, for example in the context of the Expo 2000 and the Kirchentag. It houses a "Spanish organ", suitable for early Baroque music, in collaboration with the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover.HistoryThe church is the successor of a castle chapel of St. Gall, founded by the Counts of Lauenrode for their castle, first mentioned in 1241 as "ecclesia Galli". After the destruction of the castle during the Lüneburg War of Succession, a new chapel was built before 1388 by Cord van Alten on the Rosmarinhof within the Hanover town walls, close to the present location of the church. It was dedicated to Mary (beatissime Marie Virginis). In 1396, Bishop Otto of Minden made it the Kollegiat- und Pfarrkirche (collegiate and parish church) of the Calenberger Neustadt, the new part of the town south of the Leine. The church became Lutheran in 1533.