St. Gallus, Gothic parish church in Kirchzarten, Germany

St. Gallus is a parish church in Kirchzarten built in the Gothic style with pointed arches, vaulted stone ceilings, and tall windows. Colored glass panels filter light into the central nave, creating the interior's distinctive character.

St. Gallus is named after Gallus, founding saint of the Benedictine abbey of St. Gallen, which held patronage rights over the church for over 500 years. In 1297 Abbot Wilhelm von Montfort sold the Kirchzarten estate to the Knights Hospitaller of Freiburg, beginning a second long patronage era. The Hospitaller commandery of Heitersheim passed to Baden in 1806, and the patronage right ended with the abdication of the Grand Duke in 1918.

The church is named after Gallus, founding saint of the Benedictine abbey of St. Gallen, which held patronage rights over the Zarten and Kirchzarten churches for over 500 years until Abbot Wilhelm von Montfort sold the estate to the Knights Hospitaller of Freiburg on 18 April 1297. A stork's nest on the tower is regularly occupied.

The church stands inside the walled churchyard, which has stayed an open space even where it was abandoned; the parish house and chaplain's house stand beside it. Visitors enter the churchyard through this enclosure, and the tower carries a stork's nest that is regularly occupied, so the tower top is best viewed from the surrounding open ground rather than from directly below.

A stork nest sits on the church tower and is regularly occupied, a detail visible from much of Kirchzarten. The churchyard around St. Gallus is walled, and its former sections are kept open as free space even where burials have ceased.