The Asam Church (German: Asamkirche), is actually one of the interesting places in Munich and not just another `church`! It is considered an important building for Late Baroque style in Germany so there is that, but I think what makes it special is it’s oddities which you are about to find out with me and hopefully will enjoy as much as I did!
So the Asam Church was built 1733-1746 and initially it was intended as a private church for brothers Asam. And this is what makes it interesting because since it was meant to be a private chapel, the Asam brothers were able to design it as they please with independent contractors bypassing strict design rules of the Baroque church . (Spoiler alert citizens demanded the Asam Church to become public and the Asam brothers are forced to open it to everyone!)
How different did the Asam brothers managed to design it differently, you ask? Well, for example the church altar (hence the general orientation) is normally situated in the east but in the Asam Church it is in the West. Another important difference is the crucifix opposite the pulpit was hung lower than Baraque standards. Again, normally it was meant to be hanged above the pulpit, so that it enforces higher power as the preacher had to look up to Jesus Christ! And another favorite story is that Egid Quirin Asam wanted to have a window from his private house to watch the altar. And yes the brothers were living in the building next door, which is now surprisingly and very creatively called Asam House (German: Asamhaus) 🙂
I think it is also worthy to mention Asam brothers were artsy in nature to understand their work and intentions of building a private chapel. Egid Quirin Asam was a sculptor and Cosmos Damian Asam was a painter. The brothers Asam had studied in Italy, under Lorenzo Bernini! (at the Accademia di San Luca). So the Asam Church was also a place for the brothers to use their own skills.
Here are some more interesting facts about the details of design for the Asam Church so you can impress other visitors with cool info! (Warning it can be very cool, or well, very nerdy 😀 Choose your timing wisely folks!)
So time for architecture nerdiness!
The Asam Church is, from lightning perspective, considered to be divided in 3 parts. Short version it gets brighter from bottom to upwards. Good version, the Lowest range where visitors sits has darker colors and lightning as it symbolizes the “suffering of the world”. The second section located above is the seating area of the Emperor and loyally decorated in blue and white colors. And the most upper part has elaborate ceiling paintings symbolizing and dedicated to God and eternity. The ceiling fresco “Life of Saint Nepomuk” is considered one of the masterpieces by Cosmas Damian Asam.
The indirect lightning of the choir area deserves a praise as well since cornice window can swing up and down for its curved construction and hidden behind the cornice the Trinity figures are illuminated.
Yet another interesting architecture note is that the high altar of the Asam Church has four columns and they are a reference to the four-Bernini columns over the grave of St. Peter in St. Peter’s in Rome. (Well if I were a student of his I would have also made a reference 🙂 )
The two angels at the gallery altar were added later and sculpted by Ignaz Günther.
And for measurement lovers among you, the interior of the Asam Church is 22 X 8 m.
By the way the Asam Church has another less known name which is St. Johann Nepomuk.
And another knowledge worthy note is that the Asam Church took a hit in 1944 from a bomb attack and the choir was heavily damaged. Later an interior restoration is made (1975-1983) based on a hypothetical original.
So was I successful to convince you to give the Asam Church a short visit 🙂 If not, one more thing there is no entrance fee for the Asam Church ! And it is conveniently located in Sendlingerstraße which is one of the most popular shopping streets of Munich. A street I pass all the time when I want to walk from Sendlinger Tor to Marienplatz.
I know to the untrained/unknowing (and uncaring!) eye these details I mentioned are obviously not apparent and since church is very small you may think yeah, fancy, by bye after not even 1 minute passed! Which is exactly what I was doing before I made this research 😀 But now you know about what makes the Asam Church special on your visit, you can actually spot some of the info covered in this article yourself 🙂
And my dear Munichers same goes for you too, so next time when you are there, instead of having couple of minutes visit and saying wow yeah it looks gorgeous and moving on, try to see it with a new perspective by checking out how much of these details you can spot now!
Hope you enjoyed learning about the Asam Church as much as I did! As usual please let me know if you have questions or additional info to share in the comments!
Also if you are interested in looking for other things to do in Munich like visiting English Garden or BMW Welt and BMW Museum don’t forget to check their relative pages and head to Munich Guide for a general overview!