Munich Churches: Asamkirche

The church St. Johann Nepomuk (usually referred to as Asamkirche) in the Sendlingerstrasse in Munich in Germany was designed by the famous Asam brothers, Cosmas Damian and Egid Quirin Asam, between 1733 and 1746.


As it was originally built by them as private church for the honour of god and their own souls next to the dwelling house of Egid Quirin Asam, the church is quite small: The foundation area of the church only 22 x 8 meters.

Thanks to the fact that the Asam brothers - the most important representatives of the south German baroque style - were not obliged to meet the ideas of a sponsor or an employer, the Asam Church shows some extraordinary features.

The altar is positioned in such a way that Egid Quirin Asam could look on it from his living room. The light in the church increases from the bottom to the top: The bottom area with hardly any light represents the suffering in the world, the top area God and eternity. The medium section is dedicated to the Emperor.

Although St. Johann Nepomuk was constructed to be a private church, it was opened to the public.

During the Second World War, it was seriously damaged and carefully reconstructed.