In 1607, however, King Charles IX transferred the premises exclusively to the Germans. Hans Jakob Kristler enlarged the chapel in 1638-1642 to the present two-nave church. During the 17th century, while the choir of the school participated at the royal concerts, the church became an important centre for church music in Sweden. A crypt, construction on which was started in 1716 but was interrupted 1860-1992, is still in use by the parish. By 1800, the German congregation had dwindled to a mere 113 people, and in 1878 a fire destroyed the tower. Today the German parish sorts under the Church of Sweden but as a so-called non-territorial parish, the approximately 2,000 members of which are found all around Stockholm. Services in German are still held every Sunday at 11 am, and the church is open daily during summers and at weekends during winter. The brick steeple and the copper covered spire, together 96 metres tall, were completed in 1878 to the design of Julius Carl Raschdorff (1823–1914), an architect based in Berlin. For the commission he chose Neogothic gargoyles featuring grotesque animals, indeed unusual in Swedish architectural history but today recognized as 'natural features' of the old town. The elaborate carillon is heard over the old city four times daily: 8 am and 4 pm psalm "Nun danket alle Gott" is played, and at noon and 8 pm the psalm "Praise the Lord". Over the northern gate facing Tyska Brinken is a gilded images of the patron saint and the exhortation "Fürchtet Gott! Ehret den König!" — "Fear God! Honour the King!". Flanking the eastern gate facing Svartmangatan are two tables carrying gilded inscriptions. The southern sandstone portal is flanked by statues of Jesus and Moses, in the context symbolizing the New and the Old Testaments, accompanied by Love, Hope, and Faith. The statues were cut by Jost Henne from Westphalia in the 1640s; he later became the alderman of the city's masons guild. The interior is Baroque in style, the large windows of which make it overflowed by light, highlighting the white vaults and their many angels heads. The wine cellars of the original guild building are still found under the current marble floor. In the atrium is a window featuring St. Gertrude herself holding a chalice in one hand and a model of the church in the other.