St Agnus Church

It is the Bach Church, where the Lutheran and composer Johann Sebastian Bach found his religious home during his years in Calvinist Köthen. The restored church therefore attracts many visitors from all over the world.
For a long time, Lutherans did not have it easy in Köthen, which had been a Calvinist residence town since 1596. If the father of Bach's later employer Prince Leopold had not taken it into his head to marry the Lutheran landed noblewoman Gisela Agnes against all odds, the musical genius might not have come to Köthen. As a result of the marriage, the Lutherans were allowed to gather for worship and, at the urging of the princess, the present church building in Stiftstraße was constructed by 1699. The Agnuskirche is named after the agnus dei, the Lamb of God. The similarity to the name of the Mother of the Land is no coincidence and Köthen residents still often refer to the church as Agneskirche.