Friedenskirche / "Church of peace"

The Friedenskirche (“church of peace”) in Kehl was established in 1817 on the western side of the town square on Rheinstraße. Its initial function was as a so-called emergency church for Catholics and Protestants whose churches were destroyed in 1793 during the siege of the Kehl Fortress. As the emergency church fell into a state of dilapidation, both denominations asserted claims to having their own churches built; however, the state government only approved the construction of a dual church - a single church housing two confessions. Friedrich Theodor Fischer, another Weinbrenner scholar, was responsible for the design. On 27 July 1851, after four years of construction, the first worship service took place in this neo-Gothic dual church, known today as the ‚Friedenskirche‘. It was used by both congregations until the Catholic congregation consecrated its own house of God on 28 June 1914 - Pfarrkirche St. Nepomuk.