On 09 March 1522, one of Martin Luther's pupils announced the start of religious reformation in Frankfurt. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Germany's most famous poet and author, was also confirmed here. On 17 January 1777, the 23-year-old child murderer, Johanna Margaretha Brand, was beheaded in front of the church. This act, witnessed by the 22-year-old Goethe, made such an impression on him that he was moved to reenact this experience in the original version of his most famous work, Faust. Like so many historical Frankfurt buildings, the church was completely destroyed in 1944. Reconstruction thereof began in 1950, to be completed in 1954.
