Franciscan Church, Solothurn, Gothic church building in Solothurn, Switzerland.

The Franciscan Church in Solothurn is a religious building featuring a classicist interior with stone walls, arched windows, and late medieval elements combined. The space shows a harmonious arrangement of architectural features that invites quiet reflection.

The Franciscans settled in Solothurn in 1280, and their first church was consecrated in 1299. After a fire in 1426 it was rebuilt by 1436 as a late Gothic mendicant church. During the Reformation the monastery stood empty and the Bernese reformer Berchtold Haller preached in the church; from 1546 friars lived there again. As Solothurn housed foreign ambassadors until the end of the Ancien Régime, the church served as court church of the French envoy, whose King Louis XIV donated the high altarpiece showing the Assumption of Mary. The monastery was dissolved during the Kulturkampf; after the first Old Catholic service was held here in 1876 under Joseph Meier, the congregation bought the church in 1896.

The church holds manuscripts from the 15th century, including the Missale festivum OFM with masses for Sundays and feast days following Franciscan practices. These texts show how the community shaped worship here.

The building is located at Franziskanerplatz in central Solothurn and is easily accessible on foot. For more information, you can reach out to the parish office or check their website.

Between 1823 and 1825, the interior underwent a complete redesign in classicist style, fundamentally changing its medieval appearance. This transformation makes the church a rare example of such a radical style shift.