Kirche, Parish church in Ochsenfurt, Germany

St. Andreas is a late-Gothic hall church with a tall square tower of grey-brown rough stone at its northeast corner, topped by a steep dark spire with corner pinnacles. Two black clock faces with white Roman numerals sit near the top, above pairs of narrow arched openings. A white building with dark-framed windows adjoins the left side, the nave with pointed windows the right; a stone horse-and-rider sculpture stands at the tower base.

The tower in the northeast corner survives from a building consecrated in 1288 and shows Romanesque and early Gothic forms. The nave and choir were built in the second half of the 14th century; the tower received its battlemented parapet and pointed spire in the 17th century. A St. John Nepomuk chapel was added at the southeast corner in 1736, enclosing the former sacristy.

St. Andreas lies on the Fränkisch-Schwäbischer Jakobsweg pilgrimage route from Würzburg to Ulm, and the parish community is shared with the neighbouring Michaelskapelle. Inside, look for the wooden St. Nicholas figure in the south aisle, attributed to Tilman Riemenschneider around 1510, and the stone Three Kings group on the north piers from the early 15th century.

Best to check opening hours before visiting, as the church is an active worship space that may be closed during certain times. The central location in Ochsenfurt makes it easy to reach on foot from the town center.

The tower holds five bells, four forming the main peal. The largest, the roughly 2,700 kg Bürgerglocke, was cast in 1518 by Würzburg master Hans Neuber and is the biggest of his bells still in existence; only 27 Neuber bells survived World War II.