Stendal - St. Peter

The fortified town of Stendal was founded by the first Brandenburg Margrave Albert the Bear and granted Magdeburg rights about 1160. A deed issued by Emperor Heinrich II in 1022, in which the village appears among the possessions of the Michaeliskloster in Hildesheim, is a 12th-century forgery.

Stendal quickly prospered as a center of commerce and trade. The parish of St. Jacobi was founded in the 12th century. The construction of a Franciscan monastery began in 1230. In the 13th century, the Stendal Seafarers' Guild was formed, which traded its own ships in the Baltic and North Sea areas. The oldest documented mention of the church of St. Marien dates back to 1283. Stendal received city walls around 1300 and in 1338 a Latin school was built. The local merchants joined the Hanseatic League in 1358 and purchased the privilege of minting from the Brandenburg margraves in 1369.

Just like in neighboring Tangermünde, the citizens of Stendal rebelled against the beer tax in 1488.
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The church of St. Peter, a three-nave, four-bay hall church, was probably built in parts after 1285, the choir was completed in 1306. In the first half of the 14th century, the nave and then the lower part of the tower were built in fieldstone masonry. After the completion of the tower (according to dendrochronological dating) by 1371 the chancel was raised and vaulted, the rood screen was installed and the nave was vaulted. The later parts were made of brick masonry. The tower was raised to the height of the bell floor in 1415. Then the nave was vaulted in the first half of the 15th century. The tower was completed in 1583.

Over the still existing rood screen is a large triumphal cross.
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