St. Jakobus, Filial church in Schondorf am Ammersee, Germany

St. Jakobus is a Romanesque filial church built of rough tuff blocks on a high base above the beach promenade of Lake Ammersee. Its exterior is largely unchanged apart from enlarged nave windows and a baroque roof turret with an onion dome. The east apse is narrower than the nave and divided by pilasters and a round-arch frieze. A simple two-step round-arch portal on the south side gives access.

Konrad, a Dießen ministerialis from the Schondorf family, is documented as builder of the church at the lakeshore in Unterschondorf; the foundation stone was probably laid around 1150. The Romanesque church was renovated in 1607, as an inscription on the chancel arch records. In the 18th century the windows were enlarged and the roof turret added; the gallery was built out in 1892, and the interior was restored in 1986–88.

The interior displays a baroque altar arrangement centered on Saint James, with companion figures of Saints Mark and Catherine that define the visual character of the church space. These religious images reflect the devotion of the local community throughout the centuries.

The church is located on St.-Jakob-Bergerl Street in Schondorf am Ammersee and can be reached on foot from the lake shore. The exterior can be viewed easily and offers a good vantage point over the water.

Two wall staircases survive inside: one beside the middle pillar of the north wall led to the former gallery, another in the west wall ends in the roof space, and today they are linked so you pass straight into the attic. Narrow light openings lit that upper room, which in the High Middle Ages served as a retreat or pilgrims' lodging; comparable examples stand in Piesenkofen and Thal.