Germany’s Federal Court of Justice Tuesday ruled that an anti-Semitic sculpture can remain on a church in Wittenberg.

The 13th century sculpture shows a rabbi lifting the tail of a sow while two children suck at its teat. Pigs are considered unclean in Judaism, leading the sculpture to become a caricature of Judaism. The sculpture reflects the rampant anti-Semitism common at the time. Martin Luther, who posted his 95 theses on a church in Wittenberg in 1517, had written a piece ridiculing the Jewish faith by referencing the sculpture. A plaque was added to the sculpture in 1988 to mark the 50th anniversary of Kristallnacht—the night when German Nazi soldiers destroyed Jewish property. The plaque commemorates the six million Jewish individuals who perished during the Holocaust.

Michael Dietrich Düllmann brought the case, having campaigned against the sculpture for years. However, Germany’s top court dismissed the case Tuesday, claiming there was no legal infringement. The court acknowledged that “Judensau” (or “Jew Pig,” as the sculpture is known), “derides and denigrates Judaism as a whole.” However, the court added that the plaque fixed the issue and changed the church’s anti-Semitic history.

The President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Dr. Josef Schuster, called the decision “understandable,” but said, “Both the Wittenberg parish and the churches as a whole must find a clear and appropriate solution for dealing with anti-Jewish sculptures. Church defamation of Jews must be a thing of the past once and for all.”

Düllmann plans to appeal the decision to Germany’s Constitutional Court.