Zug der protestantischen General-Synode zu Kaiserslautern aus der dortigen kleinen Stadt-Kirche in die grössere, am 2. August 1818.

Title

Zug der protestantischen General-Synode zu Kaiserslautern aus der dortigen kleinen Stadt-Kirche in die grössere, am 2. August 1818.

View showing the procession of the Protestant General Synod in Kaiserslautern, moving from the local Lutheran church to the Reformed Collegiate Church in Kaiserslautern, on August 2, 1818. — They walk hand in hand, love weaves the bond. — The Protestant Association of the Palatinate to its members and friends. After the original drawing by Carl Friedrich Voltz (1863–1864), published by J. D. Sauerländer in Frankfurt am Main.

ca. 1865

Artist

Sauerländer (1789-1869)

Johann David Sauerländer (1789–1869) came from a family of printers and publishers; his father, Johann Christian Sauerländer (1745–1805), had moved from Erfurt to Frankfurt am Main in 1771. In 1818, Johann David Sauerländer founded his own publishing and bookselling business under the name J. D. Sauerländer’s Verlag in Frankfurt am Main. The publishing house issued a wide range of works, including fiction, scientific writings, political, and religious publications. Between 1848 and 1850, the firm took on major political and historical tasks, such as publishing the stenographic reports of the German National Assembly. In 1864, his son Heinrich Remigius Sauerländer (1821–1896) joined the management of the company.

Historical Description

At the opening, the Synod moved in a solemn procession “from the small Lutheran church to the Reformed Collegiate Church.” The “small Lutheran church” is today’s Union Church (Unionskirche) in Kaiserslautern (formerly known as the “Kleine Kirche”). The procession was a visible symbol of the new unity of the Protestant congregations in the Palatinate — Reformed and Lutheran members walked together through the city to the shared main church. During the closing service of this Synod, the Lord’s Supper was celebrated jointly for the first time, thus making the church union not only formal but also liturgical reality.