Residential castle with court church (2)

Archduke Ferdinand II of Tyrol (1564-1595) was married to Philippine Welser, a daughter from the well-known Augsburg merchant family. One of their two sons, Karl, took over the rule of the Margraviate of Burgau in 1605. His father had already designated Günzburg as the residence and commissioned the Italian architect Alberto Lucchese in 1577 to build an appropriate castle with an accompanying court church. Travel reports from around 1600 describe a magnificent interior, but the fire of 1703, 19th-century renovations, and bomb damage during World War II significantly altered the appearance of the castle. Today, the town hall and the tax office are located in the expansive complex.

The Court Church was built between 1579 and 1580 and is one of the few remaining church buildings from the late Renaissance in southern Germany. Details of this architectural style, such as Ionic columns and Corinthian capitals, can be seen inside. In 1755, Joseph Dossenberger the Younger added a side chapel in the Rococo style on behalf of the nearby Piarist College, which used the church as a school chapel. The chapel is dedicated to the founder of the order, the Blessed Joseph of Calasanz. The church is now deconsecrated, but a sensitive restoration between 2004 and 2006 has returned much of its former glory.