Carmelite Monastery Church of the Annunciation, Gothic monastery church in Hirschhorn, Germany.

The Carmelite Monastery Church of the Annunciation stands directly below Hirschhorn Castle on the bank of the Neckar. It is a single-nave late Gothic church with pale pink plastered walls, dark red sandstone trim and a steep roof of reddish-brown tiles. A slender tower with a pointed spire rises at the front left; the facade has two large pointed-arch windows with stone tracery, a small statue niche under a gabled canopy and a narrow round window higher up. St Anne's Chapel, with its own gable and two tracery windows, adjoins the south side.

Hans V von Hirschhorn established the monastery in 1406 to express his devotion and enhance his family's social standing. The complex faced dissolution in 1803, then underwent decline before being rebuilt and reconsecrated in 1910 for renewed religious use.

The church keeps the tombs of the Lords of Hirschhorn, including life-size effigies of Melchior (d. 1476) and Kunigunde (d. 1457), and of Hans VIII (d. 1513) and Irmgard (d. 1496). Around 1590 the family replaced the altar in St Anne's Chapel with a burial vault. The keystone of the chancel vault bears their coat of arms.

The church sits on the hillside below the castle and is accessible on foot from the village, though the descent is fairly steep. Wear sturdy shoes for the walk, and check opening times ahead of your visit since the building serves mainly as an active place of worship.

The keystone of the chancel vault carries the coat of arms of the Lords of Hirschhorn, the family that founded the monastery. In St Anne's Chapel, the ceiling vaults show the arms of Hirschhorn and Handschuhsheim together with a portrait of Eucharius von Hirschhorn.