The story of St. James's Church

In 1525, the peasant leader Florian Geyer stood in this church's west chancel and read aloud the articles of the rebelling peasants. That chancel is remarkable in itself: built between 1453 and 1471, it bridges the street below. The whole church took from 1311 to 1484 to build, and in 1485 the Bishop of Würzburg consecrated it to St James the Greater.

It lies on a medieval pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, and in the 16th century it became Lutheran. In the western gallery stands the famous Holy Blood altarpiece by Tilman Riemenschneider, made around 1500–1505. Notice that in its Last Supper, Judas is the central figure, and that the altar holds a rock crystal reliquary cross from around 1270. In the east choir, the High Altar of 1466 by Friedrich Herlin shows on its back the oldest depiction of the city of Rothenburg.

The two towers rise to 55.2 and 57.7 metres, and the great organ of 1968 has about 5,500 pipes.