All Saints' Church, Wittenberg

All Saints' Church, commonly referred to as Schlosskirche (Castle Church) to distinguish it from the Stadtkirche (Town Church) of St. Mary's, sometimes known as the Reformation Memorial Church, is a Lutheran church in Wittenberg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is the site where, according to Philip Melanchthon, the Ninety-five Theses were posted by Martin Luther in 1517, launching the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Beginning in 1883, the church was restored as a memorial site and re-inaugurated on 31 October 1892, 375 years after Luther's posting. Because of its religious significance and testimony to the lasting global effects of the Reformation, the church was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1996 along with other sites in Wittenberg and Eisleben associated with Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon.

A first chapel dedicated to All Saints was erected at the new residence of the Ascanian duke Rudolf I of Saxe-Wittenberg in about 1340. Consecrated on 6 May 1346, Rudolf subordinated his foundation to the immediate jurisdiction of the Holy See. With further donations made by his successor Duke Rudolf II, it was determined the Wittenberg main church by Pope Boniface IX in 1400.

When in the late 15th century the Wettin prince Frederick III the Wise, elector of Saxony from 1486, had the former Ascanian fortress rebuilt, a new All Saints' Church was designed by the architect Conrad Pflüger (c.1450 – 1506/07) and erected between 1490 and 1511 in the Late Gothic style. Consecrated on 17 January 1503, it became part of Frederick's electoral castle or Residenzschloss, also called Schloss Wittenberg. Extensive furnishings by Tilman Riemenschneider, Jacopo de' Barbari, and Albrecht Dürer contributed to the construction of the castle complex and then the church. After, in 1502, Elector Frederick III founded the University of Wittenberg (Leucorea) and received confirmation by the papal legate Raymond Peraudi 1507, All Saints' was incorporated to serve as a chapel to the university and it quickly evolved into an important academic and worship center. Students were awarded their doctorates there, and the reformer Philipp Melanchthon made his famous inaugural speech at the church. A tradition of burying academic dignitaries of the university at the church developed. Several notable epitaphs are preserved up to today.

The main portal was often used by the university staff to pin up messages and notices; it is generally believed that on 31 October 1517, the eve of All Saints' Day, Martin Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses on the doors of All Saints' Church. This act, meant to promote a disputation on the sale of indulgences, is commonly viewed to be a catalyst for the Protestant Reformation. Whether the event actually took place or not, however, cannot be conclusively established. Nevertheless, Luther sent his objections in a letter to Archbishop Albert of Mainz on the same day. Frederick the Wise died in 1525 and was buried in the Castle Church. In the same year, the Lutheran rite was implemented. The church became the burial site of Martin Luther himself in 1546, and of Philipp Melanchthon in 1560. When during the Seven Years' War the Wittenberg fortress was occupied by the Prussian Army and shelled by Imperial forces in 1760, the Castle Church was destroyed by a fire resulting from the bombardment. The blaze left only half of the foundation standing, and none of the wooden portals survived. All Saints' was soon rebuilt, albeit without many priceless works of art that were lost forever. After Wittenberg was incorporated into the Prussian Province of Saxony, King Frederick William IV, in 1858, ordered commemorative bronze doors to be mounted onto the jambs where the original wooden ones had been located. On the doors the Th

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