St. Elisabeth, Eisenach

The church of St. Elisabeth is the Catholic parish church of Eisenach. It was built in the neo-Gothic style after the approval of the Grand Duke Carl Alexander in the years 1886 to 1888 according to the plans of the Kassel architect Hugo Schneider.

The church's patron saint is St. Elisabeth, Landgravine of Thuringia, whose life is closely connected with Eisenach and Wartburg Castle. The Elizabeth Church in Marburg - especially its tower shape - was the model for the much smaller Eisenach building.

In Eisenach, which belongs to the heartland of the Reformation, there had been no Catholics for over three centuries. It was not until around 1840 that a small congregation was formed through immigration, for which a small prayer hall was built on the site of today's Elisabeth Church and the first Holy Mass was celebrated on St. Elizabeth's Day, November 19, 1844.

Three decades later, the congregation had grown to such an extent that the church building could be planned. Approval was obtained from the Grand Duke Carl Alexander, who was tolerant in matters of faith, and from the state government; to finance this, a fund-raising campaign for the new church of St. Elisabeth in "their" town was initiated from 1882 onwards; it met with a great response, especially in the Catholic Fulda region. On September 8, 1888, the bishop of Fulda, Joseph Weyland, was able to consecrate the finished building.

During the Second World War, the original stained glass windows were destroyed, but the structure of the building remained intact.

After a first remodeling in 1965, an interior renovation was carried out in 1987/1988. An interior and exterior renovation took place from 2000 to 2002.

The Jehmlich organ from 1972 was renewed in 1996 by Bernhard Kutter.

The church of St. Elisabeth is the parish church of the parish of St. Elisabeth Eisenach with four church locations. The parish of Eisenach belongs to the deanery of Meiningen in the diocese of Erfurt.