Margrave Gero and his son Siegfried, who died in 959, founded the Stiftskirche St. Cyriakus in Gernrode and a female convent beside it. Construction began around 959 or 960, the church was dedicated to Saint Cyriacus in 963, and the first building stage ended in 1014. Its style is Ottonian, with Carolingian elements such as the westwork, transept and towers, and early Romanesque features such as alternating pillars and columns.
The church was the collegiate church of Gernrode Abbey until 1614. The Reformation arrived in 1521, and by the mid-sixteenth century the church was Protestant. Ferdinand von Quast led a restoration from 1859 to 1873.
Gero's tomb has a sandstone effigy of him in armor. A copy of the Holy Sepulchre in the southern aisle is reputedly the oldest of its kind in Germany.
Comments