Merseburg - Neumarktkirche St. Thomae Cantuariensis

Merseburg was first mentioned in 850. King König Heinrich I. (Henry the Fowler) built a royal palace at Merseburg after having married the daughter of Count Erwin of Merseburg, so that the place came under the rule of the Saxon dynasty. In 955, after finally defeating the Hungarians at the Battle of Lechfeld, King Otto I vowed to found a diocese. Otto I founded the archbishopric of Magdeburg in 968 with the suffragan bishopric Merseburg, but the diocese was dissolved in 981 and only re-established in 1004 by King Heinrich II.

Until the Protestant Reformation, Merseburg was the seat of the Bishop of Merseburg, in addition to being for a time the residence of the margraves of Meissen. It was a favorite residence of the German kings during the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries. Fifteen diets were held here during the Middle Ages, during which time its fairs enjoyed the importance which was afterward transferred to those of Leipzig. In the years 1218/19, the area on the left bank of the Saale was protected by a city wall that adjoined the already fortified "Domfreiheit". Civil self-government of the city was first mentioned in 1289.

In 1428, Merseburg, together with other towns and against the resistance of the bishops, joined the Hanseatic League, to which it was to belong until at least 1604. The town suffered severely during the German Peasants' War and also during the Thirty Years' War.

The construction of the church began between 1173 (the year Thomas Becket = St. Thomae Cantuariensis was canonized) and 1188 (the year the church was first mentioned in a deed of Frederick I Barbarossa). After that, the church was built in two construction phases from east to west. At least the eastern parts were already being used in 1188.

Originally the church was a flat-roofed basilica with a choir square with apse and two side apses in the continuous transept and two towers at the western ends of the side aisles. During a restoration in 1825/26, the northern aisle, the southern side apse and a medieval sacristy on the south side of the chancel square were demolished. The southern aisle, the southern tower and the northern side apse were no longer preserved at that time. Due to the rise in the groundwater level, the site was raised by 1.5 to 2 meters, giving the building the appearance of having sunk.

Further restorations and restorations took place in 1912/13 and after 1945. The church was given up as a place of worship in 1973 and used as an antique store for the area of commercial coordination for foreign exchange procurement in the GDR, with numerous works of art, especially from churches, being sold.