St. Mary's Church, Ramersdorf, Catholic pilgrimage church in Ramersdorf district, Munich, Germany.
St. Mary's Church, Ramersdorf, is a late Gothic church whose core was built around 1400, with a 58-metre tower topped by an onion dome added in 1792. Its interior was refitted in Baroque style around 1675, preserving the Gothic spatial structure. The high altar, altered in 1860, holds the venerated image of Mary attributed to Erasmus Grasser, with paintings by Jan Polack from about 1480.
St. Maria Ramersdorf is first documented in the Konradinische Matrikel of 1315 as a filial church of St. Michael in Perlach. A Marian devotion is attested by 1381, and around 1400 a late Gothic new building was erected, comparable in size to Munich's city parish churches. In 1675 the interior was baroquified while keeping the Gothic structure; after lightning destroyed the Gothic spire in 1791, the tower received its onion dome in 1792.
The church's name comes from the Rumolte family, who gave Ramersdorf its name and likely built a private church on the hill. The Marian dedication is first documented in 1381, suggesting pilgrims came to a Marian image by the early 14th century. In 1635 the 42 hostages of King Gustav Adolf of Sweden donated a votive image in thanks for their safe return.
The church stands at Aribonenstraße 9 in the old village core north of the Mittlerer Ring/Innsbrucker Ring, near the start of the A8 toward Salzburg, so it sits somewhat in the shadow of both roads. The site is a hill, and the climb from the surrounding streets is noticeable. The interior was reopened on 15 August 2018 after renovation begun in September 2014.
The church owes its pilgrimage to a cross relic that Emperor Louis IV received from Antipope Nicholas V in Rome and had set in a precious pectoral cross; a son of the emperor, probably Duke Otto V, gave it to Ramersdorf. A 1761 inventory names Otto V, who donated it in 1379 while still Duke of Upper Bavaria.
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