Wallfahrtskirche St. Johannes Baptist, Gothic Revival pilgrimage church in Hirschberg an der Bergstraße, Germany.
Wallfahrtskirche St. Johannes Baptist is a church building in Gothic Revival style with three naves and a large hexafoil window above the main portal. The interior space is shaped by these architectural elements, which direct the visitor's gaze toward the altar.
The first church at this location was documented in 877 when a count donated it to Lorsch monastery. The current building in Gothic Revival style was constructed later to replace this early structure and accommodate growing pilgrimage traffic.
The patron is John the Baptist, first recorded in the Wormser Synodale of 1494. The Black Madonna, carved in 1742 for the Loreto chapel of Count Ferdinand Andreas von Wiser, now stands in the right-hand Marian altar. The pilgrimage held on the Assumption of Mary has continued to the present day.
The church stands northeast of the historic village centre on the former site of the counts of Wiser's water garden, where the Hirschberger Hof once stood. The red sandstone Nepomuk statue from the first half of the 18th century is left of the entrance; opposite it is a stone field cross from the second half of the 13th century, moved here from the B 3. A replica of the Lourdes grotto is on the northeast side.
The church stands on the former site of the Wassergarten of the Counts of Wiser, where the Hirschberger Hof once stood. The organ, built by Eugen Pfaff in 1970, has 20 stops on two manuals and pedal. The four bronze bells were cast in 1950 by Heidelberg bell founder Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling.
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