Lindau - Peterskirche

Lindau, located near the borders to Austria and Switzerland, was mentioned first time in 882 when a nunnery was founded here. The old town is on an island, which meanwhile is connected with the mainland by a road bridge and a railway dam.

The church of St. Stephan was built around 1180, Franciscans founded a monastery here in 1224. In 1274/75 Lindau became an Imperial Free City under King Rudolf I.

Lindau became Protestant in 1528. The nunnery remained Catholic while the Franciscan monastery, from which the first Reformation preachers came, was closed. During the Thirty Years' War, Lindau was unsuccessfully besieged by Swedish troops in 1646/47. Between 1445 and 1761, 18 people were indicted in witch trials in Lindau. The last victim of the witch hunt was Maria Madlener, who was executed on August 4, 1730.

The construction of the church started around 1000 in the centre of an early fishing settlement hence the Petrus patronage, the saint is the patron saint of fishermen.

St. Peter lost its importance after the completion of St. Stephan, the new parish church on the island in 1180. The building was used by a Beguine-like convent, dedicated to the care of the sick. Already within the 16th century the church got profaned and was used as a storage.
In the beginning of the 20th century wood and coal was stored here. Since 1928 the former church is a war memorial.

The murals were rediscovered in 1849. A first restoraten was undertaken in 1921, when all post-Reformation fixtures and extensions got removed.

Some scholars attribute the Late Gothic "Lindau Passion" to Hans Holbein the Elder, but that is disputed.