after the protestants in the town had been given a loghouse church in 1537, the year of the reformation, this was demolished to make way for the new st. mary's church. after its foundation stone had been laid in april 1558, the new church was consecrated in february 1564. construction was initially led by wolf blechschmidt from pirna and, in 1560, taken over by christoph kölbel from plauen. during the town fire on 31 august 1610 the church was burned down apart from its outer walls, the tower and the later vestry. from 1611 to 1616 it was given a roof, posts and rood loft, all made from wood. in 1616, services were held once more in the church and the triumphal cross was set up again. a new altar was installed in 1617. the wooden posts and roof were replaced from 1669 to 1675 by andreas klengel using tuscan stone columns and a groin vault with stuccoed ribs.