The Church of Our Lady (11)

Anyone visiting Günzburg must see this church.

One of the most beautiful Rococo churches in Southern Germany is the Frauenkirche in Günzburg. It is one of the most important church buildings by Dominikus Zimmermann and the direct precursor to the Wieskirche.

During the great city fire of 1735, the Gothic church was destroyed except for the lower part of the tower. Despite the city’s strained financial situation, the magistrate decided to commission the already highly regarded architect Dominikus Zimmermann to rebuild the church. By 1741, the nave and choir were completed; however, the interior work was delayed due to a lack of funds, and the final consecration took place in 1780.

The floor plan features a rectangle with slightly outward-curving long sides and inward-rounded building corners. This gives the viewer inside the church the impression of an oval. The relatively flat vaulted ceiling is a wooden shell, suspended from a complex roof structure. The main painting (The Coronation of Mary) was created in fresco technique in 1741 by the painter Anton Enderle, who hailed from Söflingen (near Ulm). The groups of figures to the left and right of the two fountain basins (Grace Sources) represent the four known continents of the time:

• Europe (woman with imperial crown, soldier with Mary’s monogram on the shield, white horse),
• Asia (woman offering incense, man in oriental clothing, camel),
• America (woman with feather crown, companion with umbrella, crocodile),
• Africa (dark-skinned woman with turban, elephant).

A historical event is depicted in a painting at the south end of the transept, which connects to the main image: The naval battle of Lepanto, where a Venetian-Spanish fleet under Juan d’Austria defeated the Turks on October 7, 1571. The glass shrine at the left side altar contains the relic body of the martyr Isidora. The gallery on the west side served as a chapel for the English ladies and is connected to the neighboring former monastery building via an upper-floor passage (visible from the outside).

The Günzburg Frauenkirche was built by Dominikus Zimmermann between the pilgrimage church of Steinhausen (near Biberach) and the Wieskirche (near Steingaden). When comparing architectural solutions and design details, parallels as well as developments can be observed. For instance, the double altar of the Frauenkirche is a precursor to the altar in the Wieskirche.

The church was renovated between 1993 and 2002 at a cost of approximately 5.5 million euros, and today it presents a light, airy impression that is unparalleled.