Wallfahrtskirche, Catholic pilgrimage church in Hessenthal, Germany.

The Wallfahrtskirche in Hessenthal is a three-part pilgrimage complex: a late-Gothic chapel dated 1439 by its choir keystone, a smaller 1454 Gnadenkapelle joined to its north side, and a 1954 hall church by Würzburg cathedral architect Hans Schädel. The old chapel has lancet tracery windows, a flat ceiling and a choir with a five-eighth close under a late-Gothic net vault. The photograph shows the red sandstone tower with grey-slate spire, the white nave with red quoins and tracery, and the smaller clock spire.

A church in Hesilndal is documented in 1293, though nothing survives from that building. The late-Gothic pilgrimage chapel was built in 1439, dated by a keystone in the choir vault, and the smaller Gnadenkapelle was added on its north side in 1454, linked by a defensive wall. Both chapels gained their naves in the 17th century. After the Second World War, returning pilgrims overcrowded the site, so Würzburg cathedral architect Hans Schädel added a new hall church in 1954, demolishing part of the old nave and the hillside Hochkreuz chapel. Renovations followed in 1968/70, 1978/79 and for the 700th anniversary in 1993.

Pilgrimages are held five times a year: at Easter, Pentecost, the Assumption (15 August), the Nativity of Mary (8 September) and the Presentation of Mary (21 November), each preceded by a candlelit procession the evening before. The Marian statue venerated here is a late-Gothic Pietà of around 1480, integrated in 1718 into a Baroque altar from Aschaffenburg.

The church stands on a terraced hillside above cemetery walls, so the approach involves steps or a slope. The old pilgrimage chapel is now entered only from inside Hans Schädel's 1954 hall church. Pilgrimages with candlelit processions on the eve are held five times a year: Easter, Pentecost, Assumption (15 August), Nativity of Mary (8 September) and Presentation of Mary (21 November).

The 1954 hall church by Würzburg cathedral architect Hans Schädel has a flat prestressed-concrete ceiling from which glass pendant lights hang on long cords, supplementing daylight from broad glazing bands on dull days. Along the right inner wall runs a neo-expressionist Stations of the Cross in grey, white and brown, made in 1967 by Aschaffenburg artist Siegfried Rischar.