St. Michael, Catholic church in Seeshaupt, Germany.
St. Michael is the Roman Catholic parish church of Seeshaupt, built from 1909 to 1911 by Josef Eisner senior and junior around the older Annakapelle. The white church has a tall tower with a clock face, narrow arched windows and a green onion dome, and a four-bay nave with pilasters and a barrel vault of iron and Rabitz.
A Romanesque choir tower church existed in Seeshaupt from about 1346, and the lower tower with its chancel arch may date to the 12th century. In 1352 Count Walram von Seefeld sold it to Polling Abbey, which transferred it to Bernried Abbey on 14 April 1479. A Gothic nave was consecrated on 22 August 1487, keeping the old nave as a side chapel. Around 1688 the tower gained an octagonal storey and onion dome, likely by Caspar Feichtmayr of Wessobrunn.
The neo-baroque high altar, designed by Josef Eisner and donated in 1910 by Heinrich Ritter von dall'Armi and his wife Antonia, centres on a Christ the King figure; to his left the Archangel Michael threatens sinners with a flaming sword while Mary intercedes. The left side altar shows the Coronation of Mary, flanked by Saints Elisabeth of Thuringia and Teresa of Ávila, with Saint Barbara in the round upper painting.
The church stands in the centre of Seeshaupt, its tower with the clock face and green onion dome visible from the surrounding streets. The nave was extended westward from 1909 to 1911, so the main entrance and the four-bay addition lie on the side facing away from the old Annakapelle. The former nave, now the Anna chapel, is reached through the interior and is used as the choir space since the liturgy reform.
The 1815 fire that destroyed 29 Seeshaupt properties also burned the tower and melted its bells, but the nave survived largely undamaged. The tower and roof were then rebuilt in the Classicist taste, with a flatter roof and a pointed spire. The 1909–1911 extension, which raised the tower a storey and replaced the spire with the curved onion dome, was partly funded by a donation from industrialist Heinrich von dall'Armi.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,678 contributors worldwide.