Johanniskirche

Johanniskirche is a late Romanesque basilica in Germany, built between 1220 and 1250. Its portals and façades show lions, dragons, birds, plants, human faces, and fantastical hybrid creatures. Side friezes pair pig heads with dragon tails, bird heads with fish tails, owls, monkeys, and winged animals.

Inside, rows of pillars divide three naves, with small windows leaving the side aisles comparatively dark. Carl Dehner’s nineteenth-century paintings fill the central nave with apostles, prophets, and saints in vivid colours. The apse presents Christ with John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, while gold and yellow accents brighten the choir. Nineteenth-century historicism removed many Gothic and Baroque changes, restoring lowered aisles, a Romanesque rose window, and a Neo-Romanesque choir.

The original Staufer Madonna with Child stands in the choir, while a replica marks the exterior southwest corner since 1972. A lapidarium in the side aisles places removed stones and sculptures at eye level for close inspection. The tower’s square, almost windowless base becomes octagonal above, and 165 steps lead towards views across the historic centre. Carl Gottlob Weigle’s 1880 organ retains almost all its historic form after restoration in 2012.