Studienkirche Mariä Himmelfahrt, Baroque church in Dillingen an der Donau, Germany.
Studienkirche Mariä Himmelfahrt is a Baroque church in Dillingen an der Donau featuring a single-nave layout with side chapels and an octagonal bell tower. The walls are painted white and decorated with gray-pearl ornamental elements that give the interior a bright appearance.
Prince-Bishop Heinrich V von Knöringen laid the foundation stone in 1611 and consecrated the church on 11 June 1617 to the Assumption of Mary; the bells, cast by Wolfgang Neidhardt in Augsburg, were blessed that January. The design is attributed to Hans Alberthal, architect to the prince-bishops of Eichstätt and Augsburg. It served the Jesuit Collegium St. Hieronymi and its university until the order was suppressed in 1773, and the interior was refashioned in Rococo style between 1750 and 1768.
The ceiling paintings depict Mary in her heavenly glory, surrounded by angels and saints, as rendered by Christoph Thomas Scheffler. These images shape the interior impression and remind visitors of the spiritual purpose of the space.
Entry today is through the south portal, which dates from the church's construction period, while the west portal was made in 1768. The interior is entered from the south side, so visitors approach the nave from there rather than from the west front.
The south facade preserves its original 16th-century construction, while the western entrance was added in 1768. These differences reveal how the building grew and changed across the centuries.
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