Lutheran Church of the Redeemer dedicated in Jerusalem

Background. The Lutheran Church of the Redeemer is a Lutheran-Protestant church located in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is property of the Protestant Jerusalem Foundation and serves as the seat of the Provost of German Protestant Ministries in the Holy Land. The church was built between 1893 and 1898, following designs by Friedrich Adler and construction by architect Paul Ferdinand Groth.

Construction and Land Grant. The church was constructed on land given to King William I of Prussia by Sultan Abdülhamid of the Ottoman Empire. This land grant occurred after William I's participation in the inauguration of the Suez Canal in 1869. Sources report the construction period inconsistently: one passage states the church was built between 1893 and 1898, while another states it was constructed from 1892 to 1898. The building currently houses Lutheran congregations that worship in Arabic, German, Danish, and English.

Dedication Ceremony. In 1898, Kaiser Wilhelm II traveled to Jerusalem to personally dedicate the new church. The dedication took place on Reformation Day. For the ceremony, the Kaiser entered the city on horseback through two specially made ceremonial arches, one of which was a gift from the Ottoman Empire.