St.-Andreas-Kirche, Roman Catholic church in Emsbüren, Lower Saxony, Germany

St.-Andreas-Kirche is the Roman Catholic parish church of Emsbüren, built of light brown and grey sandstone blocks. Since the mid-19th century it has been a four-bay, three-aisled hall church with three equal-height naves, five round pillars and an elliptical pillar at the front left. Its 78 m neo-Gothic west tower, topped by a six-sided pyramidal spire, was built in 1867 and carries a clock face with black numerals.

Around 800, St. Liudger, first Bishop of Münster, is said to have stopped at Emsbüren on his way to Frisia; whether he founded a church there is uncertain. The church took Romanesque form in the 12th century, was Gothicised in the 15th with the addition of the south aisle, and gained the north aisle in the mid-19th century. The 78 m neo-Gothic west tower followed in 1867, and a ⅝ choir closure in 1858.

The church is dedicated to Saint Andrew, whose life is shown on the three-winged main portal: the left bronze door depicts the calling of the brothers Andrew and Peter, the centre relief shows Andrew with his cross, the right door the feeding of the five thousand. The parish belongs to the Osnabrück diocese and forms a parish community with Engden, Elbergen and Listrup.

The church is oriented to the east, with the 78 m tower and its three-winged main portal on the west side; the Elisabeth portal is on the northwest, the Ludgeri portal on the southwest. Inside, the baptismal font of Bentheim sandstone stands in the central aisle, and the pews in the side aisles are as wide as those in the nave. Look for the sundial of 1769 on the south aisle wall.

The church is built of sandstone, not fieldstone. Its west tower rises 78 metres, making it far taller than the nave, and was completed in 1867 in Neo-Gothic style with a six-sided pyramidal spire. The three-winged main portal's bronze doors, cast by Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock of Gescher, show scenes from the life of Saint Andrew.