Dorfkirche Bretsch, Romanesque church in Bretsch, Germany

The Dorfkirche Bretsch is a field stone church built in the late 12th century with a massive western cross tower and a recessed rectangular chancel. The structure features a nave matching the tower's width and sits within a stone wall enclosure that runs along the village street.

Built in the second half of the 12th century as a Romanesque fieldstone church, it was later altered: the tower's sound openings and the nave windows were enlarged, a neo-Gothic roof turret was added, and the north portal was bricked up around 1900, replaced by a south portal. The lower storey served as the burial crypt of the von Eimbeck and von der Schulenburg families until it was sealed in 1875.

Four figure gravestones stand on either side of the triumphal arch: Christofer von Eimbeck (d. 1601), son of Lefin von Eimbeck (d. 1599), Dorothea von Barsewisch (d. 1600), and a fourth whose inscription is illegible (d. 1601). A local legend recorded by pastor Hofmeister in 1837 holds that the women of Brietzke helped build the tower so vigorously that they were given precedence over the men at communion.

The churchyard is enclosed by a fieldstone wall. The village street, Dorfstraße, runs past the church; the manor complex at Dorfstraße 39/39b, with buildings from 1797, 1861–1863 and the early 20th century, stands nearby. The interior is flat-ceilinged and lit only by windows enlarged after the original construction.

The basement beneath the church originally served as a burial vault for two local noble families and was closed only in 1875. This underground burial chamber shows how central the church was to the region's ruling families.