Asamkirche

Asamkirche is one of the narrated stops on the self-guided Munich audio walking tour in Gingerguide. Plan about ~20 min here. Press play at the spot for its two to three minute story, or ask the AI guide anything about it.

  • Type religious
  • Suggested visit ~20 min
  • Munich Munich guide
Asamkirche, Munich
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

About Asamkirche

An eighteenth-century explosion of gold and stucco squeezed onto a plot eight metres wide, the private church two Baroque master-brothers built beside their own house, to please nobody but themselves.

The Asamkirche, officially the Church of St. John of Nepomuk, is a late-Baroque church on Sendlinger Straße, built between 1733 and 1746 by the brothers Cosmas Damian and Egid Quirin Asam. Leading Bavarian decorators, Cosmas Damian a painter, Egid Quirin a sculptor and stuccoist, they built it beside their own home as a private church, on their own initiative and at their own expense, answerable to no patron. The result is one of Europe's most concentrated Baroque interiors, packed onto a plot barely eight metres wide, its every surface worked in gold, marble, fresco and swirling stucco. It is dedicated to St. John of Nepomuk, canonised only in 1729. Egid Quirin set a window between his adjoining house and the church so he could see the high altar from home. The church adjoins the Asamhaus, whose facade the brothers redesigned in 1734.

Did you know? For all its splendour the church is tiny, yet the Asam brothers still fitted seven confessionals inside, it was built as a place to confess, not merely to be admired.

How long should you spend at Asamkirche?

Plan about ~20 min at Asamkirche. That is enough to take it in and hear its narrated story; stay longer if it grabs you. The tour is self-guided, so there is no rush.

Is Asamkirche worth visiting?

Asamkirche is one of the 26 sights the Gingerguide team researched and narrated in Munich, so it earns a place on a self-guided walk. Its story explains why it matters, and you can ask the AI guide anything the story leaves open.

Nearby stops in Munich

Hear the story of Asamkirche

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