St. Bartholomäus, Catholic church in Nordhalben, Germany

St. Bartholomäus is a Catholic parish church at the eastern end of Nordhalben's former market square. The plastered building has a five-bay nave and a side aisle under a shared saddle roof with a wooden flat ceiling. Its choir-flank tower rises in the northern choir corner, topped by a tall, diagonally set octagonal helm with a tower knob, cross and weather vane. The foundation stone at the southwest corner bears the year 1858.

A priest in Nordhalben is documented from 1421. The church was described as dilapidated in 1690, so a Baroque replacement was built between 1707 and 1715. On 19 March 1856 a town fire destroyed the nave, while the choir vault and the lower tower survived. The church was rebuilt by 1858, as the foundation stone at the southwest corner records.

The church is dedicated to Saint Bartholomew, whose calling is depicted in the 1957 apse mosaic showing Jesus and Nathanael, and whose confession is inscribed on the left choir wall. The four bells include three cast by Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling in 1964 and a smaller 1857 bell inscribed with the date of the 1856 fire, rung alone as the death bell.

The church stands at the eastern end of the former market square, with the tower set in the northern choir corner and the baptismal chapel on the south side. The main portals are round-arched. The interior is entered at the west end beneath the organ gallery, which rests on two round columns.

The smallest of the four bells was cast in 1857 and recalls the town fire: its inscription reads "Am 19. März 1856 totaler Abbrand des Marktes Nordhalben" and names the judge, priest, mayor and church council members. Its note (h) no longer matches the other bells (f, as, b), so it is rung alone as the death bell.