St. Martin, Cemetery church in Greding, Germany

St. Martin is a three-aisled Romanesque hall church with three apses at the east choir, built in the mid-12th century. Its square west tower, whose lower five storeys date from the 11th century, has two pairs of arched belfry windows and a steep pyramidal spire. The plastered facade is pale beige, and the church stands on a hill northwest of Greding among gravestones.

This church began as a parish church serving the Greding community and remained its spiritual center for many centuries. Over time, its function shifted, eventually becoming the cemetery church that stands there today.

The patron saint Martin points to a Frankish foundation, while the neighbouring Michaelskapelle carries a Bavarian patronage. The church kept its role as the original parish church of Greding into the 18th century, when St. Jakobus gradually replaced it. Look for the late Gothic Marian figure of 1510 beside the main altar, moved here from St. Jakobus.

St. Martin stands on a hill in the northwest of Greding, at the foot of the Kalvarienberg, not in the town center. The cemetery is enclosed by a wall that partly forms part of the town fortification. The ground floor of the west tower serves as the sacristy, as the church has none of its own.

The tower's lowest five storeys date from the 11th century, and its resemblance to the tower of Eichstätt Cathedral is plain to see. The church also carries the blue-shield emblem of the Hague Convention for the protection of cultural property in armed conflict.