The old Johanneskirche, Gothic church in Mußbach, Neustadt an der Weinstraße, Germany

The Old Johanneskirche in Mußbach faces east and consists of a choir, a nave and a 36-metre tower with a clock whose four dials point to the cardinal directions. The tower adjoins the left side of the choir and holds the sacristy on its ground floor. The nave was rebuilt lower than the choir after a fire, so their roof ridges differ by almost 2 metres.

The church and its tower were built in the 14th century by the Knights of Saint John and dedicated to John the Baptist; the order had received the whole Herrenhof estate in 1290 from Werner Schenk von Ramberg. In 1621, during the Thirty Years' War, the nave burned out while the choir stayed nearly intact, and the rebuilt nave was lower, leaving a difference of almost 2 m between the two roof ridges. Fire damaged the building again in 1689 during the War of the Palatine Succession. In 1707 a partition wall was inserted between choir and nave, after which Catholics used the choir and Protestants the nave.

The church served as a shared space where Protestants and Catholics worshiped together despite a dividing wall that separated them during services. This divided use shaped community life for generations and reflected the religious tensions of the region.

The building stands in the town center of Neustadt an der Weinstraße on An der Eselshaut street and forms the northern boundary of the historic Herrenhof estate. The restoration work finished in 2017, so visitors will find the interior fully accessible today.

The church owes its survival as a shared building to a 1707 partition wall between choir and nave, erected almost 200 years after the Reformation. The choir, used by Catholics, kept wall paintings and sculptures from the 14th century; it stood empty from 1959 and was sold to the Protestant congregation in 2007. Restoration ran from late 2012 to October 2017.