Franziskuskirche, Protestant church building in Ersingen, Germany.
The Franziskuskirche is a Protestant church building in Ersingen featuring baroque architecture with a three-sided choir supported by buttresses. The bell tower displays multiple octagonal levels that define the structure's distinctive silhouette.
The late Gothic church of 1460 was baroquised in 1766/67, when a new nave was added to the medieval choir. The tower's lower storeys survive from the fortified church, as the arrow slits show; two octagonal storeys were added above, the lower holding the bell frame and the upper the clock.
The church keeps three Gothic carved altars; the high altar is a winged altarpiece made around 1485, with a crucifixion group in its crest and a predella showing the Last Supper. In the choir, remains of late Gothic wall paintings include a depiction of Saint Francis, from whom the church takes its name. The nave ceiling painting dates from the 18th century.
The church stands in Ersingen, a district of Erbach in the Alb-Donau-Kreis, with the tower offset south of the nave axis and a stone wall and metal gate in front. The parish belongs to the Biberach church district of the Evangelical Church in Württemberg. The building is listed as a monument by the Baden-Württemberg heritage office.
The high altar is a winged altarpiece built around 1485, not 1500. Its central panel shows Mary with Saints Catherine, Agnes, Barbara and Dorothea; the wings carry Erasmus, Nicholas, Martin and George, and the predella depicts the Last Supper. A crucifixion group sits in the carved top.
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