It has been 38 years since I last visited Lesser St. Mary’s Church in Lippstadt, Germany. That is despite have been in the city at least a half- dozen times since. It was so long ago that the only photos I had were taken with a film camera.

I made a point of visiting it again last month. The ruins haven’t changed much in the intervening years, except perhaps to become a little more unstable. Which means you can no longer enter the interior of the church for fear of falling rocks.

I have been known to comment on construction delays (for example, why has Ottawa’s light rail expansion gone more than two years beyond completion date, with no end in sight), but this church took more than 150 years to build. It was the only church in town when they laid the first stone in 1190, but by the time they completed it there was a newer, larger St. Mary’s Church (Marienkirche) that had been started in 1185 and completed by 1222 (though there were some design changes over the next few centuries).

For more than three hundred years the church grounds were home to a nunnery, but that was dissolved in 1550. The church suffered damage from war, thunderstorms and floods, eventually being closed in 1831. Today it is preserved as an historic monument.

If it was up to me, I would use it for open-air concerts in the summer – it would be a great venue. Other than the worry about falling masonry.