St. Kilian's Church, Gothic church in Heilbronn, Germany

St. Kilian's Church is a Gothic-style church in Heilbronn featuring a prominent western tower built from local Heilbronner sandstone. The structure blends earlier Romanesque foundations with later Gothic additions, creating the layered appearance visible both outside and within.

A church existed here by 741, when a St. Michael's basilica in Heilbronn was recorded in the founding documents of the Diocese of Würzburg. Excavations in 1880 found a Romanesque church of about 10 by 11 metres on the site around 1100. A larger early Gothic church stood by 1280, and a 1297 indulgence letter first names it Kilianskirche after Saint Kilian. Hans Schweiner's west tower followed from 1508 to 1529.

The church is named after Saint Kilian, a missionary bishop from Würzburg; the name appears in a 1297 indulgence letter. The tower's "Steinerne Mann" holds the banner of the free imperial city, and the tower carvings include an ape in a monk's habit and birds with the heads of a monk and a nun.

The church stands on Kaiserstraße, with the main body set behind a broad paved square. The west tower rises between the nave and the transept, and the entrance is through the west portal. The interior is entered from the square; the high altar by Hans Seyffer is at the far end of the choir.

The western tower was built between 1508 and 1529 and ranks among the earliest Renaissance structures built north of the Alps. This tower shows a transition between Gothic and Renaissance styles that appears rarely in this region.