St. Jakobus, church building in Bavaria, Germany
St. Jakobus is a parish church in central Achslach, Bavaria, built of grey fieldstone with a prominent tower that was heightened in the late 1800s. The interior features a baroque high altar from the early 1700s, side altars with saint paintings, baroque reliquaries containing the relic of Saint Hilarius, and a working organ built in the mid-1800s.
A church dedicated to Saint James the Elder is attested in Achslach by around 1527. After the parish was elevated in 1818 and merged with Allersdorf, the small, dilapidated church was largely demolished. The fieldstone replacement, tendered in January 1832, was built in just under six months in 1833 by master builder Jakob Achatz of Viechtach and consecrated on 6 June 1837 by auxiliary bishop Bonifaz Kaspar von Urban. The 15th-century tower was heightened in 1867 and given a slate pyramid roof; the last major renovation ran from 2008 to 2013.
The church is dedicated to Saint Jakobus, reflecting the community's long-standing Christian tradition. Today it remains an active place where villagers gather for Sunday services and local celebrations, with the side altars and saint statues serving as focal points for prayer and devotion.
The church is located in central Achslach at the foot of the Kirchberg hill near the Teisnach river, making it easily accessible on foot. Visitors can also explore the small grotto with a Madonna statue in the yard and walk around the surrounding cemetery.
The organ was built in 1852 by Carl Ludwig Edenhofer of Regen, not 1854; that year he rebuilt it, adding a second manual and a Physharmonika register. It is his earliest documented work and probably his only surviving instrument with a Physharmonika stop. In 1975 a register swap he had made was reversed after an assessment by Eberhard Kraus.
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