page_title: St. Kilian's Church, Heilbronn
section_title: The High Altar by Hans Seyffer
hierarchical_section_title: St. Kilian's Church, Heilbronn / Choir / The High Altar by Hans Seyffer
caption_attribution_description: English: Shrine of the Altar by Hans Seyffer in the Church Kilianskirche of Heilbronn - Germany Deutsch: Skulpturen im Schrein des Seyffer-Altars in der Kilianskirche (Heilbronn) von links: Laurentius, Hl. Petrus, Maria mit dem Kind, Hl. Kilian, Stephanus
context_page_description: Kilian's Church on Kaiserstraße in Heilbronn is a Gothic hall church constructed from Heilbronner sandstone, whose origin dates back to the 11th century. Its western tower, constructed by Hans Schweiner, is one of the first major Renaissance buildings to be built north of the Alps. Inside the church there is an altar by Hans Seyffer from 1498, which is regarded as a masterpiece of sculpture from the Late German Gothic period. Some of the stained glass is by Charles Crodel. The Monument Foundation of Baden-Württemberg appointed the church as monument of the month in December 2016.
context_section_description: The high altar contains numerous figures, reliefs and decorative attachments. The altar is 11.64 metres high and 7.68 metres wide and contains three parts (predella, shrine with side panels and a superstructure). During the Second World War, the altar was dismantled. The figures and the relief panels from the sides survived in the Kochberg salt mines at a depth of 200 metres, while the superstructure and the shrines were walled in the western tower of the church. The decision to begin reconstruction came after long deliberations and with the approval of the monument administrator, Count Adelmann. In seven years the parts that had been destroyed were reconstructed by the restorer Walter Hammer and sculptor Josef Wolfsteiner.
  Soon after his death the sculptor responsible for the altar fell into obscurity, and the altar ended up being attributed to the Würzburg sculptor Tilman Riemenschneider until the end of the 19th century.
  Eventually it was determined through research and style comparisons that Hans von Heilbronn had to have been the sculptor. In the year 1909 Moriz von Rauch found the full name of the sculptor: Master Hans Seyffer while looking through documents in the Heilbronner Archive. Any uncertainty that may have remained was cleared in 1963 when the restorer Walter Hammer uncovered the "Hans Syfer" label while doing restoration. In the upper right wing the year 1498 is engraved in the top right, this most likely refers to the year of completion.
caption: Figures in the altar shrine
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