3-074-730 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Luther Celebration in Germany: Luther's tomb in the Schloss-Kirche at Wittenberg, 1883. 'The four-hundredth anniversary of the birth of [German priest, theologian and author Martin Luther (1483-1546)], at Eisleben, in Prussian Saxony, was celebrated last Saturday, not only in that little town, where our Special Artist, Mr. W. Simpson, attended for this Journal, but in almost every city of Germany...One of [his sketches] represents...Luther's tomb in the Schloss-Kirche at Wittenberg. Mr. Simpson says: "I expected to see a monument in a prominent position in the church, and on entering looked round, expecting to find it. The young lady who had the key of the church brought a second key, and opened a wooden trap-door in the stone floor. A few inches below the surface there is a bronze tablet, with an inscription in Latin. There is a portrait of Luther on the wall of the church close to the tomb. At the opposite side of the church is another trapdoor, where Melancthon is buried; his portrait is also placed close to the tomb. The two tombs are about the middle of the church, and almost on a line with the door on which the celebrated Theses were nailed by Luther's hand".' From "Illustrated London News", 1883.