Asam Church

The Asamkirche on Sendlinger Straße is one of Munich's most unusual churches: small, squeezed between residential buildings and easy to overlook from the outside - yet inside an overwhelming total work of art of South German Baroque that draws numerous visitors every year.

History of the Asamkirche

The church was built between 1733 and 1746 by brothers Cosmas Damian Asam, a painter, and Egid Quirin Asam, a sculptor and stucco artist, as their own private church - officially dedicated to St. John of Nepomuk. Egid Quirin Asam lived in the directly adjoining house and had a window specially installed so he could follow Mass in the chancel without having to enter the church. Since the brothers initially intended the church exclusively for private use, the local parish protested and demanded access as well; concessions were eventually made and the church was opened to the public.

Architecture: A Baroque Total Work of Art

The church's narrow, elaborately crafted sandstone façade fits tightly between the neighboring buildings on Sendlinger Straße, giving little hint from the outside of the wealth of artistry waiting inside. Within an extremely confined space, ceiling frescoes, gilded stucco and illusionistic painting techniques combine into a dense, theatrical spatial experience that merges architecture, sculpture and painting into an inseparable whole. The Asamkirche is considered one of the finest examples of how the Asam brothers, as an artistic duo, fused their respective disciplines into a unified body of work, and it influenced numerous later Baroque buildings across southern Germany.

Visitor Tips & Getting There

The church sits on the busy Sendlinger Straße, just a few minutes' walk south of Marienplatz, and is easily reached via the Sendlinger Tor U-Bahn station or on foot. Because the church is very small, the entrance area can get crowded at peak times; visiting outside the main tourist season offers a quieter experience. Viewing may be restricted during church services.

Nearby Attractions

Close by are the Sendlinger Tor, one of three surviving medieval city gates of Munich, as well as Marienplatz and the Viktualienmarkt, both reachable within a few minutes' walk.

The Asam Brothers as Bavaria's Artist Duo

Cosmas Damian and Egid Quirin Asam were among the most sought-after artists of the South German Baroque and together created numerous other masterpieces, such as the monastery church of Weltenburg on the Danube with its famous staged depiction of St. George on horseback, and extensive stucco work in Freising Cathedral. The Munich Asamkirche, however, is considered their most personal work, since here - unlike in commissioned church projects - they could design completely freely without external constraints. This explains the unusual density and intensity of the artistic execution, which art historians still describe today as the high point of the two brothers' life's work.

St. John of Nepomuk

The church is dedicated to St. John of Nepomuk, a Bohemian priest who, according to legend, was thrown from Prague's Charles Bridge into the Vltava river in 1393 on the orders of King Wenceslaus IV for refusing to break the queen's confessional seal. He has since been venerated as the patron saint against slander and, above all, against flooding, and is still honored throughout Bavaria today with small statues along numerous bridges and riverbanks. This dedication was no coincidence: in choosing him, the Asam brothers drew on a saint's cult that was especially popular in 18th-century Catholic Bavaria.

Postwar Reconstruction

The Asamkirche, too, did not emerge entirely unscathed from the heavy air raids on Munich during the Second World War, although the damage was lighter than at many other Munich churches. Even so, the elaborate stucco work and ceiling frescoes required careful, years-long restoration to restore the original splendor of the Rococo decoration. Today the church is considered one of the best-preserved examples of 18th-century South German sacred art and is correspondingly carefully maintained by heritage conservation authorities.

Tight Spaces, Large Crowds

Since the Asamkirche was originally conceived by the brothers as a small private chapel, its interior space is very limited - a fact that, given today's visitor numbers, occasionally leads to crowding near the entrance. Church management therefore explicitly asks visitors for consideration, particularly during ongoing services or devotions. Yet this intimate, almost cramped character also contributes to the church's special atmosphere: nowhere else in Munich can Baroque splendor be experienced from quite such close range.