Herzogspitalkirche, Baroque filial church in Münchner Altstadt, Germany.
Herzogspitalkirche is a Catholic convent church on Herzogspitalstrasse in Munich's Hackenviertel. The baroque tower survives, while the nave was rebuilt in 1956–57 by Alexander von Branca and Herbert Groethuysen with a brick interior. Inside, a light nave with a dark floor leads to a stone altar table, seven candles and a circular window in gold, white and dark glass.
Duke Albert V founded the Herzogspital hospital for his court staff in 1555, and its St. Elisabeth church was consecrated in 1572. A Baroque rebuilding of the church to plans by Johann Baptist Gunetzrhainer was inaugurated in 1727, and the tower was added in 1727/28. The convent was dissolved in 1803; after severe World War II damage the nave was replaced in 1956/57 by a brick interior designed by Alexander von Branca and Herbert Groethuysen, while the Baroque tower was kept.
The church is dedicated to St. Elisabeth, patron of the ducal hospital founded in 1555. Since 1671 pilgrims came to the Gnadenbild of the Sorrowful Mother; in the 19th century Lena Christ laid flowers before it after her engagement. Today the Servite convent church serves as an independent convent church.
The building sits centrally in the old town and is easy to reach on foot or by public transportation. Since it is an active church space, visitors should dress modestly and behave respectfully.
The miraculous image of the Sorrowful Mother, a wooden figure by Tobias Bader from around 1680, was carried to the deathbed of Elector Maximilian III Joseph in the Residenz in December 1777. The writer Lena Christ describes in her memoir laying flowers before it in gratitude for her engagement.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 94,001 contributors worldwide.