St. Peter's Church in Rostock is the oldest of the city's three town churches. A church on the site is first mentioned in 1252, and it was built in the mid-thirteenth century in the Brick Gothic style, as a basilica with three naves. After the Reformation a Lutheran congregation used it. Lightning struck the tower in 1543, and it was rebuilt as a polygonal spire in 1578.
The original tower was 127 meters tall, and the rebuilt copper spire is 117 meters, with an observation platform at 45 meters. The church itself is 24 meters high and has a flat timber ceiling.
Bombing in 1942 destroyed the Baroque interior and caused the spire to collapse. The southern nave was too damaged to restore. The rebuilt spire and a new choir window by Lothar Mannewitz, with scenes from the life of St. Peter, were completed in 1994.
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