Щифтсплац, Кайзерслаутерн

The square takes its name from the church on it. The Stiftskirche began as a Premonstratensian foundation after Frederick Barbarossa brought the order to Kaiserslautern in 1176; rebuilt in Gothic form from about 1250, with the choir complete by 1291, it is reckoned the oldest hall church between the Rhine and the Saar. Its western towers went up early in the sixteenth century, the Reformation made it a Protestant parish church, and after severe war damage it was rebuilt between 1946 and 1950; a carillon of forty-seven bells was inaugurated in 2009. The open ground in front of it serves the city for markets and for performances out of doors, Verdi's Aida among them.