St. Stephan, Parish church in Munich, Germany.
St. Stephan is a late Gothic wall-pillar church with a three-sided choir, built in 1511 at Baumkirchner Platz in Berg am Laim. Its tall tower has a steep pointed spire and a clock face, and a lower wing with a red-tiled roof adjoins it. The interior has five bays with wall pillars and was baroquified between 1713 and 1727.
A wooden church existed here around 800 and was first documented in 813 as a foundation of the Diocese of Freising. In 1052 the church passed to the Benedictine abbey of Sankt Veit in Freising. The present late Gothic building was erected in 1511, and the interior was baroque-ized between 1713 and 1727. In 1806 a royal decree ended its status as an independent parish church, making it a branch of St. Michael.
The name comes from a medieval wooden church, a "Baumkirche", which gave the district Baumkirchen its name. The high altar, made in 1713, shows the stoning of Saint Stephen, flanked by figures of the martyrs Sebastian and Lawrence; above are the Holy Trinity and Saints George and Florian. The two historic bells are still rung by hand from the tower vestibule, one of the few churches in Munich where this is done.
St. Stephan stands at Baumkirchner Platz in Berg am Laim, surrounded by its old cemetery, which is no longer used for burials. The two bells are still rung by hand from the tower vestibule using a rope, one of the few churches in Munich where this is done. The tower and both bells were restored in 2006.
St. Stephan is one of the few churches in Munich where the bells are still rung by hand, using a rope pull from the tower porch. The two historic bells were renovated in 2006 along with the tower. The organ, built by Wilhelm Stöberl in the 1980s, has five registers and a single manual.
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