St. Margareta, Catholic church in Neunkirchen-Seelscheid, Germany

St. Margareta is a church combining a Romanesque structure running west to east with a later neo-Gothic addition built in 1913 that extends toward the north. The building houses five bells in its western tower, including one from 1739.

The settlement was first mentioned in writing in 1178 in connection with payments to St. Andreas Abbey in Cologne. A tower fire in 1738 caused damage that led to the casting of a new bell the following year.

The interior holds medieval wall paintings depicting apocalyptic scenes and the Last Judgment, showing how people in the 12th century experienced and understood faith through religious imagery.

The church stands on a walled, disused churchyard with 17th- and 18th-century gravestones, so the exterior is best viewed from the surrounding path. Inside, the Romanesque west-to-east nave and the neo-Gothic north extension of 1913/15 are easy to tell apart. The wall and vault paintings sit in the old Romanesque choir, which is the part to seek out first.

The wall and vault paintings in the old Romanesque part of the church are of supra-regional importance. The vaulted choir bay framed by four pillars gives the impression of a central building, an effect heightened by the paintings. The roof line of the original apse is still visible on the eastern gable wall of the choir bay.