Pfarrkirche St. Andreas (Berchtesgaden): A Historic Roman Catholic Parish Church
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.9
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Germany
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- German, Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Church
On this page8 sections
History
Pfarrkirche St. Andreas is a Roman Catholic church in Berchtesgaden, Germany. Its single-nave Romanesque hall incorporates a building phase from the second half of the thirteenth century, while the church was erected by the citizens of the market town in 1397. Its later form reflects alterations from around 1480 onward and substantial Baroque changes between 1693 and 1701.
Medieval Origins
Medieval and early-modern predecessor buildings occupied the site before the present structure took shape. Their remains survive beneath the church together with a cemetery that was closed in 1811. A tradition recorded by A. Helm attributes a chapel on the site to Provost Jakob I of Vansdorf in 1358, but this identification and date are uncertain. The provost documented for 1358 was Peter I Pfäffinger, and no foundation by Jakob I of Vansdorf before his tenure is known.
The building history also includes major alterations associated with the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. One construction sequence places important work around 1480 and identifies Provost Balthasar Hirschauer with alterations in 1500. His coat of arms appears above the tower portal, and the west-facing tower is considered to have been heightened at that time. A sacristy was added in 1510 under Provost Gregor Rainer, whose coat of arms is displayed above its door.
Baroque Transformation
Between 1693 and 1701, the interior was enlarged and given a Baroque character, a style associated with richer ornament, expanded spaces, and dramatic visual effects in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The tower also received a bell hood. A different description by A. Helm states that the church was demolished in 1698 and that a Baroque building was erected in 1699, presenting an alternative account of this transformation.
The high altar and two smaller side altars were made by local artists between 1703 and 1705, although A. Helm assigns them to 1708. Five altar paintings were created for the church by Johannes Zick between 1740 and 1742. Two older subsidiary altars stand beside the high altar. The left altar is dedicated to Mary, while its reverse was decorated in 1642 by Johann Faistenauer in honor of Saint Andrew. The right altar depicts Saint Anne with the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus, an image known as Anna Selbdritt.
Changes After 1803
St. Andreas lost its effective parish function in 1803, when the Principality-Provostry of Berchtesgaden and its collegiate foundation were dissolved. A provost was the head of a collegiate religious foundation, while a prince-provost combined that ecclesiastical office with territorial rule. The former collegiate church of St. Peter and John the Baptist then became the parish church, and St. Andreas became its filial church, meaning a church dependent on a principal parish church. The parish retained the name St. Andreas and belongs to the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising.
The church faced several demolition threats after 1803. A plan from 1922 proposed converting it into a clubhouse. A fire destroyed the previously wooden tower in 1842, after which it was rebuilt in masonry in 1847. Marble pillars were installed on the exterior of the hall during the same rebuilding phase. St. Andreas is now used chiefly for weekday services, while Saint Andrew continues to provide the name of the Berchtesgaden parish and the church carrying out the principal parish function remains known as the Collegiate Church.
The church is protected as a historic monument, and the medieval and early-modern remains beneath it are separately recorded as archaeological heritage.
Remains
The surviving church is organized as a single-nave hall with a west-oriented tower, a sacristy, and an interior reshaped during the Baroque period. Its Romanesque core belongs to the second half of the thirteenth century, while later alterations, masonry rebuilding, exterior marble pillars, and the Baroque enlargement give the building its layered architectural character. Archaeological remains beneath the structure preserve evidence of earlier medieval and early-modern buildings and the former cemetery.
Church Building and Tower
The hall church has a Romanesque layout, a medieval architectural style characterized by massive construction, rounded arches, and relatively simple hall-based forms. Alterations began around 1480, and the west-facing tower is considered to have been heightened in 1500. Balthasar Hirschauer’s coat of arms is placed above the tower portal. The tower was rebuilt in masonry after the wooden structure was destroyed by fire in 1842, and a bell hood was added during the Baroque transformation. The tower clock bears the date 1700. The sacristy, added in 1510 under Gregor Rainer, retains his coat of arms above its door.
Altars and Paintings
The high altar and two smaller altars facing one another along the walls date from 1703 to 1705, or from 1708 according to the alternative attribution by A. Helm. Two earlier subsidiary altars stand directly beside the high altar. The Marian altar on the left has a reverse decorated by Johann Faistenauer in 1642 in honor of Saint Andrew. The altar on the right shows Anna Selbdritt, Saint Anne with the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus. Johannes Zick’s five paintings, made between 1740 and 1742, form part of the church’s historic furnishings.
Organs and Bells
The present organ was built in 1993 by the Johannes Klais firm of Bonn. It has 21 stops, two manuals, and a pedal, with mechanical key and stop actions. Its second manual has two swell boxes, enclosed chambers whose shutters regulate volume. One opens toward the rear for choir accompaniment, while the other operates toward the front through a second pedal. A former presbytery oratory was removed during the 1950s or 1960s. Its dismantled choir-organ case now stands beside the main organ on the music gallery. The instrument was probably made by Paul Rotenburger in 1660 and had five stops and a tremulant, a device producing a controlled wavering sound. The angled case recalls the former crossing organs of Salzburg Cathedral, whose first two instruments were made in 1628 by Paul Rotenburger’s father, Leopold.
The tower contains a four-part peal cast in Erding by Karl Czudnochowsky between 1959 and 1970. A small bell, no longer in use for some time, is identified as the oldest bell and was cast in Salzburg by Franz Gartner in 1710. Another historical attribution gives 1537 as the casting date of the church’s oldest bell.
