Parish Church Assumption of the Holy Virgin

in Kelheim in the national park Altmuehl valley

The parish church which is dedicated to the Virgin Mary is very old and has had an eventful history. The historian G. Lang believes that the first parish church of Kelheim was built round about A. D. 1000 when Kelheim was granted the right of holding a market. But there are no documents to prove this.
In the 15th century the first church was so delapidated that a new construction was necessary. However, there was a chronic lack of money. There were collections and there were donations, but there was never enough money, and so it took more than a hundred years to finish the building. That is why we read the year 1466 on the triumphal arch, and 1513 in the southern aisle. As there were no means to build a tower, a turret of the townwall was made belfry by connecting choir and turret through an archway. The spire was covered with glazed tiles.
The river Danube often floods Kelheim, and it was by floods that the belfry was seriously damaged. A new belfry had to be built in 1689. But after a century and a half it was again dilapidated and had to be pulled down. The present belfry was built between 1877 and 1886, when the interior of the church was restored.
The high altar is carved from marble; this masterpiece of the Kelheim sculptor Obermeier is strongly admired by visitors. There are two old paintings in the presbytery, Birth of Christ and Death of the Virgin; both originate from the 15th century and are very precious pieces of art.

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Zuletzt aktualisiert am 10.02.2017