About St. Michael’s Church (Michaelskirche) in Munich, Germany:
Saint Michael’s is a Jesuit church in Munich and is the largest Renaissance church north of the Alps.
In 1556, Albert V, Duke of Bavaria, granted the Jesuits permission to establish a gymnasium (Wilhelmsgymnasium) in Munich, which gave the Jesuits a presence in the city. The collegiate church itself was later established during the reign of his son William V, Duke of Bavaria, also known as “the Pious”, who was a supporter of the Jesuits’ Counter Reformation tenets. Construction lasted from1583 to 1597.
The church was erected in two stages. In the first stage (1583–88), the church was built by the model of Il Gesù (the Jesuit Church) in Rome and had a barrel-vaulted dome. When the church was built, there were concern about the stability of the vaulting; but, in 1590, it was the tower that collapsed rather than the dome.
Duke William V took it as a bad omen and so planned to build a much larger church. The second phase of construction continued until the consecration of the church in 1597. The facade is impressive and contains standing statues of Duke Wilhelm and earlier rulers of the Bavarian Wittelsbach dynasty, cast in bronze, in the form of a family tree. Hubert Gerhard’s large bronze statue between the two entrances shows the Archangel Michael fighting for the Faith and killing the Evil in the shape of a humanoid demon.
The interior was designed to represent the triumph of Roman Catholicism in Bavaria during the Counter-Reformation. The heavily indented chancel arch as well as the short side aisles and even the side chapels are designed as triumphal arches in the ancient model. A very deep choir room adjoins the mighty nave. The stucco decoration of the nave represents the life of Jesus Christ. The altarpiece “Annunciation” was created by Peter Candid (1587).
The sculpture of the holy angel in the nave from Hubert Gerhard (1595) was originally intended for the tomb of William V, which was not completed.
Holy Cross Chapel is considered the most sacred space of St. Michael’s; among other precious relics, it used to preserve a piece of wood from the True Cross. The entire room is centered around the veneration of the cross, an idea that the altarpiece by Hans von Aachen (1552–1615) conveys particularly well. The sculptures under the arch that confines the chancel represent Jesus as VIR DOLORUM, the Man of Sorrows, and his mother Mary as MATER DOLOROSA, the Sorrowful Mother. The wall niches contain sculptures of St. Catherine and St. Barbara.
The church was restored in 1946–48, having been damaged during World War II. Finally, between 1980 and 1983, the stucco-work was restored. The spire which lost its steeple top in World War II is situated further north next to the former convent.
The church crypt contains the tombs of the Wittelsbach family: the Fairytale King Ludwig II was laid to rest here on 19 June 1886, and his tomb is one of the most often visited member of the family. The palaces of this reclusive monarch – Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee – are world famous.
When the Jesuits were suppressed and banned from most Catholic territories in Europe, the church came into possession of the Bavarian Royal Family and, eventually, when Germany became a republic, it was owned by the State of Bavaria.
Traveling to Saint Michael’s Church (Michaelskirche) in Munich, Germany:
Address: Neuhauser Straße 6, 80333 München, Germany
Tel: +49 89 2317060
Click here for the official website of Saint Michael’s Church (Michaelskirche) in Munich, Germany