My master can be very proud of what he has created here! The pulpit, the baptismal font, the organ front - and this wonderful altar! My master Ludwig Münstermann has already worked in many towns around Oldenburg and at the lower length of the Weser river. But this heaven-striving altar in the church of Varel is really the most magnificent work my master has ever created. He has truly set the Gospel into a picture, because salvation and redemption in Jesus Christ, our Lord, is found here from the manger to the cross and resurrection in the most well-ordered, perfectly designed manner! My master runs his large workshop in Hamburg, but the Counts of Oldenburg are among his favorite customers. And I can understand the noble gentlemen. Because my master's figures are of the most impressive liveliness and the highest expressiveness. The concepts of his works are always well thought out and firmly rooted in the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther. Of course, he can't design every ornament and every figurine by his own hand, but he has an eye on everything. Proven craftsmen and his sons constantly lend him a hand so that we can handle as many inquiries as possible at the master's workshop. Count Anton II. of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst commissioned us for the church in Varel. He is a somewhat foppish gentleman, but the heck with it! He surely does own a well filled purse. He resides in the beautiful palace of Delmenhorst with a blessed crowd of 11 children. So he has every reason to thank God, I suppose!

The “Schlosskirche” has been the main church of one quarter of the old Frisian region of Rüstringen since the 12th century. In the 14th century, the chiefs who resided here built a stone house in the immediate vicinity of the old fortified church, which after 1481 became the property of Count Gerd of Oldenburg. By the way, a trace of this legendary count can be found in a fresco in the choir room. There Gerd, known as the fierce robber baron, kneels and prays in an unusually humble posture: O Lord, have mercy. In the period that followed, the counts of Oldenburg built a castle around the church, although it remained open for regular services by the people of Varel. The beautiful inventory from the workshop of the sculptor Ludwig Münstermann was created between 1613 and 1618 and is definitely worth a visit. The stately castle, or later the palace, has now long since disappeared, the only remnant can still be found in the name of the “palace” church, in German: “Schlosskirche”, which, as in its early days, now has the area to itself again.