St. Mary Magdalene, Lutheran church in Ebersdorf, Germany

St. Mary Magdalene is the Protestant parish church of Ebersdorf, a village in the Ludwigsstadt municipality of Upper Franconia. The nave has plastered walls, a steep slate roof with three dormer windows and a flat ceiling with high coves; the choir occupies the tower's lower storey behind a tall round chancel arch. The tower carries an octagonal slate belfry with a red clock face, a bulbous dome and a slender spire.

The church is thought to have been built between 1214 and 1230 with the village's first houses; parts of the tower's outer walls date from the 14th century, when it served as a fortified church. Ebersdorf belonged to the lordship of Lauenstein and became Protestant by 1527 at the latest. In 1634, during the Thirty Years' War, it burned to the ground; after a provisional repair, work on the tower followed in 1738 and a full renewal of the nave in 1739/1740, when it was rebuilt as a margravial church.

The church is dedicated to Mary Magdalene and also called Magdalenenkirche. Inside, the pulpit altar from the mid-18th century combines altar, pulpit and organ in one structure; its five panels show Christ as Saviour with the four Evangelists, and the pulpit balustrade dates from the early 17th century.

The church stands in the middle of Ebersdorf, surrounded by a slate-covered wall. The choir and organ gallery occupy the tower's lower storey, reached by a stair on the tower's north side; two doors beside the altar lead into the sacristy beneath the gallery. The nave has three window bays, extended westward by one more in 1969.

The organ, installed in 1742 by Johann Heinrich Scherff of Pößneck, was rebuilt in 1988 by Johannes Führer of Munich with 13 stops on two manuals and pedal. Its original three-part case, decorated with fruit garlands and marbled wood, survives; the instrument stands on the gallery behind the pulpit altar.