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Events Calendar
Sunday 02 July | 5 p.m. | Castle Church Wittenberg
Staged liturgical performance in cooperation with the Wittenberg Center for Worship and Sermon Culture
The Castle Church Community, together with the Center for Worship and Sermon Culture Wittenberg, invite you to the scenic-liturgical performance of the St. Mark Passion for choir, organ and soloists by Jan Bender (1909-1994) on Sunday, July 2nd at 5 p.m., in the Castle Church. In the approximately one-hour work, the biblical text of the Passion story according to Mark is reproduced. The soloists take on specific roles such as the evangelist (tenor: Christoph Burmester), Jesus (baritone: Maik Gruchenberg) or the high priest (baritone: Markus Schicketanz). The choir gives its voice to "the people" in partly sensitive or also excited choral movements.
As part of the scenic-liturgical arrangement, the choir and soloists do not act in one place as in a concert, but also scenically in the room. At the upcoming performance, visitors are also invited to become part of the scenic setup and to sing along to selected songs with the accompaniment of the choir and the large organ.
The church musician and composer Jan Bender worked for a long time in the USA, including in Wittenberg's sister city of Springfield, Ohio, at Wittenberg University. Bender's music is characterized as harmoniously modern, expressive close to the text, but not too emotional.
The performers are the Schola Cantorum Adam Rener with soloists. Thomas Herzer and Christoph Hagemann play the two organs in the Castle Church. Dietrich Sagert, consultant at the Center for Worship and Preaching Culture, is responsible for the scenic and liturgical implementation. The overall musical direction is in the hands of the castle church cantor Sarah Herzer.
Admission is free, but a donation is requested at the exit.
On Ash Wednesday, February 18, 2026, the Protestant Lenten campaign "7 Weeks Without" begins. Until April 6, under the motto "Feeling! Seven Weeks Without Harshness," it invites participants to consciously experience Lent. The focus is on compassionate interaction: perceiving the pain of others, offering support, and discovering new ways of being together. Harshness can manifest itself in many ways in everyday life: in harsh words, in situations that hurt us or leave us speechless. Often, we put on our own armor to protect ourselves—and yet realize how much this distances us from one another. The "7 Weeks Without" Lenten campaign invites us to take a different path in 2026. Further information is available at https://7wochenohne.evangelisch.de/ [Photo: Jodie Griggs / Getty Images]
30 Years of World Heritage
In 1996, the castle church was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as an almost completely preserved prime example of 19th-century monument preservation. From 2012 to 2016, it was renovated and restored with funding from the State of Saxony-Anhalt, the Federal Republic of Germany, the European Union, and private donors.
My volunteer service in Japan
Dear members of the Schlosskirche congregation, I have been in Japan since September, where I am doing voluntary service with the Berlin Mission Society.
History
Around 1340, the Ascanian dukes had an "All Saints' Chapel" built at their castle and founded a collegiate monastery in it for liturgical service. Elector Friedrich the Wise had the palace with the chapel demolished and his new residential palace with a more spacious palace church built on the site. You can find out more about the story here.
Church for children
Every Sunday there is a children's service in the Wittenberg Castle Church, parallel to the adult service. Ms. Felicia Grauel is one of the volunteers for the children's service.