Former bishop's court

The historical site where Martin Luther was interrogated before the King and the realm on 17 and 18 April 1521 is now a picturesque park, Heylshof Garden. The former Bishop's palace that once stood here was destroyed by fire in 1689. It was there, during the 1521 Diet of Worms, that Luther refused to recant his writings.

The sentence "Here I stand, I can do no other" was added later on. But subsequent generations considered the words so apposite that they are still gleefully quoted today. Luther's historically verified and distinctly more measured response to the question of whether he would recant the writings recognised as his work, was:

A plaque erected at the site of this exchange features quotations from Luther's speech, while a bronze relief, created in 1971 by the artist Gustav Nonnenmacher, shows a frontal view of the Bishop's palace before 1689, and a bolt of lightning dissecting the city relief points to the ecclesiastical schism. The 2017 walk-in bronze sculpture 'Luther's Large Shoes' offers visitors space for personal contemplation and enactments.

Standing in shoes big enough to climb into, they gaze down across the Nonnenmacher sculpture and into the expanses of the picturesque park, the original venue of historical events hundreds of years ago. For an instant one stands rooted to the ground, trapped within the portentous situation. Donning solid shoes can be perceived as a summons to step into this space of free conscience once marked out by Luther himself.

And simply by slipping into the shoes, the visitors themselves complement the static, earthbound installation, transforming it into an animated, temporary and contemporary sculpture in the round that grasps at and alters the space it occupies.

Luther needed immense courage to testify before the King and his realm. And yet he undertook the journey with steely resolve. His request for a period of reflection before responding to the question of whether he would recant his writings appears to suggest nonetheless that making this decision plagued his soul with fear. But the burden falls from him in the exclamation "I am finished!"

A temporary, artistic installation resembling a stage re-enactment provides the opportunity to make this situation experiential. Visitors to this physically connected space can slip into the role of either Luther or King Charles V.

Until shortly after 1600, the square in front of the bishop's courtyard near St. Stephen's Church was home to the so-called 'Saalstiege' (a flight of steps subsequently extended with balustrades), an important place for the constitution of the city, where central legal acts such as the reading of documents and inaugurations were held. As early as 1200, the most important public meeting place for the citizens of Worms was located here, in front of the north portal of the cathedral with the inscribed charter of freedom of Emperor Frederick I (1184), which the poet of the Song of the Nibelungs also used as a 'venue' for important scenes shortly after 1200.