The devastating air raid carried out by the British Air Force on 16 November 1944 almost completely destroyed the Gothic St. Anne’s Church, including its steeple that measured in at just under 100 metres tall. Between 1954 and 1956, architect Rudolf Schwarz created what was then the seventh church building on the original remains, having incorporated old debris into the new church building. The reincarnation of St. Anne’s Church has come to be one of the most striking examples of post-war modernism in the whole of Germany.

St. Anne’s Church in Düren was originally dedicated to St. Martin and only to St. Anne later on. Scholars referred to a chapel in Düren as far back as 748 AD and this chapel evolved to become St. Martin’s Church. Mason Leonard from the Kornelimünster district of Aachen bestowed a rather special story on the town of Düren when he stole the St. Anne relic and went to great lengths to bring the remains from the Collegiate Church of St. Stephan in Mainz to our town in 1501.

The four bronze bells in the tower are dedicated to the following saints: Mary, Joseph, Anne and Martin.

Guided tours of St. Anne’s Church take place regularly.