St. Johannis, Lutheran church in Malente, Germany

St. Johannis is a church featuring Romanesque architecture located in central Malente-Neukirchen, marked by thick stone walls and rounded arches. The building displays characteristic medieval construction with a solid, enduring framework.

Construction began in the 12th century, probably shortly after the Saxon Holsteins conquered Wagria in 1138/39; the plan came from the Flemish canon Volchart (1090–1154), and the church was dedicated to John the Baptist. A bell was acquired in the 15th century and an organ installed in 1553. The tower was restored in 1956–58 and 1995, the nave in 2011–12; in 2008 the historic bell survived a fall and was rehung in a new wooden frame.

The church is dedicated to John the Baptist, and its parish belongs to the Vicelin church group alongside Bosau, Süsel and Ratekau. The 1626 wooden pulpit was carved by Neukirchen residents themselves, and its gilded Low German inscriptions on a red background can still be read on the cornices.

The church stands in Neukirchen, a village in the municipality of Malente, and is oriented to the east, with the 40-metre round tower at the west end. The ground-floor tower chapel is reached only through the nave. The nave is entered through a stepped brick portal on the south side. The village lies in the Ostholstein lake district, so access is by road through Malente.

The oldest fitting is the Romanesque granite font, moved to the southeast corner of the nave after the 2012 renovation; before that it stood in the ground-floor tower chapel, where the baptismal angel remained. The tower holds three bells in the Gloria motif, the oldest weighing 1.3 tonnes and dating from the 15th century.