Pilgrimage Church of the Ascension, Catholic pilgrimage church in Ludwigshafen, Germany

Mariä Himmelfahrt is a Catholic hall church in the Oggersheim district of Ludwigshafen, built in an early Neoclassical style with late Baroque elements. Its cream-colored stone facade has a tall, narrow front and a tower with two tiers of arched louvered openings, topped by a dark rounded dome. The long side wall has two rows of tall arched windows with dark glass and a circular window on the lower left. The church was erected in 1775 over a Loreto chapel from 1729, which remains inside.

In 1729 Prince Joseph Karl of Pfalz-Sulzbach had a baroque Loreto chapel built in his Oggersheim pleasure-garden, a copy of the Holy House of Loreto with a Black Madonna touched to the original. After his death that year, Jesuits took charge in 1733 and the chapel became a pilgrimage site. From 1774 to 1777 Electress Elisabeth Auguste had Peter Anton von Verschaffelt build the present church over the chapel, which was kept intact and clad in coloured marble.

The pilgrimage began in 1733, when the Wittelsbach miraculous image was carried into the Loreto chapel on the Feast of the Annunciation and the Madonna of Oggersheim was declared patroness of the Electoral Palatinate; a silver medal was struck for the occasion. The chapel's copy of the Black Madonna had been kept overnight against the original image in Loreto. Elector Carl Theodor exempted pilgrims travelling to the chapel on Marian feasts from the Mannheim bridge toll.

The church sits in central Ludwigshafen and can be reached easily on foot or by public transport from the city center. It is worth checking opening times before visiting, as they may vary depending on services and the time of year.

The Loreto chapel inside the church is a small replica of the famous Holy House of Loreto in Italy, which tradition holds to be the home of the Holy Family. These replicas were built so that pilgrims who could not travel to Italy could pray at a comparable shrine closer to home.