St. Michael's Church, Hamburg

St. Michael's Church
Hauptkirche St. Michaelis
Michel
St. Michael's Church; Hauptkirche St. Michaelis; Michel
	View of St. Michael's from the Port of Hamburg
Religion
Affiliation	Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany
Ecclesiastical or organizational status	Cathedral
Location
Location	Quarter of Neustadt, Hamburg, Germany
	Shown within Hamburg St. Michael's Church, Hamburg (Germany)
Geographic coordinates	53°32′54″N 9°58′44″E / 53.548333°N 9.978889°E
Architecture
Style	Baroque
Completed	1669/1786/1912
Height (max)	132 m
Website
	http://www.st-michaelis.de/

St. Michael's Church (German: Hauptkirche Sankt Michaelis), colloquially called Michel (German: [ˈmɪçl̩]), is one of Hamburg's five Lutheran main churches (Hauptkirchen) and one of the most famous churches in the city. St. Michaelis is a landmark of the city and it is considered to be one of the finest Hanseatic Protestant baroque churches. The church was purposely built Protestant unlike many other Hamburg churches which were originally built by Roman Catholics and were converted to Protestantism during the Reformation. It is dedicated to the Archangel Michael. A large bronze statue, standing above the portal of the church shows the archangel conquering the devil.

The 132-metre high Baroque spire totally covered with copper is a prominent feature of Hamburg's skyline and has always been a landfall mark for ships sailing up the river Elbe.