The Wiesenkirche is often described at the most beautiful completion of a hall church in gothic style north of the Alps. This construction here in Soest in the middle ages cannot be thought of without the activity of the mason’s lodge of the Cologne cathedral, where the right expertise was available; there was also the corresponding hierarchy in relation to the construction activity and/or builders’ hut organisation. Today, St. Maria zur Wiese is part of a city with 50,000 inhabitants, located geographically in the centre of the protestant church of Westphalia which has around 2,500 members. The capital needed for financing, which is mainly provided by the state of NRW, comes largely from the Westphalian Cathedral Builder’s Association St. Maria zur Wiese, Soest, e.V. The Association is open to all support and it all also the legal entity of our mason’s lodge which was and continues to be established and financed at state and federal levels. With the board of trustees, the intergenerational restoration process is accompanied in a grateful way and with all necessary material requirement by a caring group of people which, since the beginning, has been led by the Prime Minister of the state. In this way, the intergenerational restoration measures of the Wiesenkirche were commenced in 1987 with the laying of the laying of the cornerstone of the southern tower by Prime Minister Dr. Johannes Rau and Federal Minister Dr. Norbert Blüm.
There is always a regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Wiesenkirche at the beginning of a new year. As a rule, the members of the Board of Trustees meet in the meeting room of the masons’ lodge.
The trustees accompany the duties and restoration work of the cathedral workshop, obtain information about the progress of construction and discuss possibilities of support and further development. In principle, it is possible to visit the workshop and the Wiesenkirche with a ride on the construction site elevator to the tower construction sites.
The Board of Trustees was established in 1985, and included the non-partisan commitment of the prime minster at the time, Dr. Johannes Rau, who remained a member for life with the reconstitution in the year 2000. A memorial is dedicated to him at the southern tower of the Wiesenkirche.
