Stiepel village church

The Protestant church, which has been in use since 1610, was built in 1008 as a hall church for the then Countess Imma and is the oldest building in Bochum. Between 1130 and 1170 the church was rebuilt into a Romanesque basilica, and by 1500 the side aisles had been extended and the tower added in the style of a hall church. Since then, the choir has been designed in the Gothic style and the east gable of the nave is characterised by a half-timbered wall.
In the interior, there are wall and ceiling paintings, some of which were created as early as 1150-1200. The murals illustrate, among other things, the biblical stories of the Flight into Egypt, the Rivers of Paradise, Cain and Abel, and St. George's fight with the dragon. Most of the murals are Romanesque and date from between 1180 and 1190, but they had been painted over for a long time and so were not visible from 1689 until their rediscovery in 1952. Between 1963 and 1965 the paintings were restored, and in 2002 they were restored again. Since 2004, the church has been in possession of an organ with 15 stops, which is why organ concerts have been held frequently since then.