Lutherkirche (Cologne-Nippes)

In 1853 only 13 of the 3,864 residents of Nippes were Protestant, but numbers jumped to 145 after the Rhenish Railway Company opened its main workshop in 1861. A Protestant elementary school followed in 1872, and as the community grew further, a parish vicar was appointed and a prayer hall consecrated in 1875. The vicariate became a full parish in 1881 under its first pastor, Theodor Voswinkel, and construction of the church itself began in 1886.

The congregation was largely uncritical of the First World War, reflecting the Protestant church's close ties to the Kaiser. Under the Nazis it split between supporters of the German Christians and the Confessing Church; nine of sixteen presbyters sided with the former, while the pastors backed the latter. The presbytery majority forced the dismissal of organist Julio Goslar (1883–1976), a baptized Jew who had served since 1914. He survived in hiding and resumed his post after the war — the parish hall is now named for him.

Thanks to only minor war damage, the first postwar service was held in 1947. In 1957 the parish was divided into the districts of Nippes, Riehl, Niehl and Weidenpesch, and subsequent decades saw the addition of a kindergarten, a youth centre, a senior citizens' home and a community centre. The building was renovated in the 1970s, and a new organ by the Willi Peter workshop, with mechanical key action and electric stop action, was installed in 1972.

Since 2002 the Lutherkirche has operated as Cologne's Kulturkirche, regularly hosting concerts, readings and cabaret evenings. It is a fixed venue of the international lit.Cologne literature festival held every March, with event proceeds going to support the parish's work.