Baroque Churches
There are many exceptional Baroque Churches in Munich. To name but a few: the Theatine Church, the Asam Church, the Parish Church of the Holy Spirit and the Abbey Church St. Anna.
Devout piety combined with an emphasis on the emotions became a characteristic feature of the Baroque. It transformed religion into an emotional experience. The grandiose and theatrical effect of late Baroque sacred structures was not achieved by purely architectural means; sculpture, stucco and painting also played their part. The illusion of reality merging with a transcendental world, a transition from life on earth to the supernatural spectacle of heaven, was achieved by the continuous flow from wall to wall, from the painted ceiling to flat relief and from stucco to sculpture.
Devout piety combined with an emphasis on the emotions became a characteristic feature of the Baroque. It transformed religion into an emotional experience. The grandiose and theatrical effect of late Baroque sacred structures was not achieved by purely architectural means; sculpture, stucco and painting also played their part. The illusion of reality merging with a transcendental world, a transition from life on earth to the supernatural spectacle of heaven, was achieved by the continuous flow from wall to wall, from the painted ceiling to flat relief and from stucco to sculpture.
The Asam Church was originally built as a private chapel by the sculptor and stuccoist, Egid Quirin Asam. His house, on the left side of the chapel, was connected by a corridor so that the artist could see the high altar from one of his bedrooms.
Here in the vestibule of the Asam Church the gold ornament, the putti, the momento mori and the angels all combine to create a theatrical effect. The tension in the dramatic pose of the sculpture is achieved by the typical Baroque "contrapposto" where hips and shoulders are turned in opposite directions.
The ceiling frescoes in the Church of the Holy spirit create the illusion of an additional dimension; the height of the church has been extended and the ceiling opened. Steep stairs lead upwards to heaven. Delicate stucco work integrates the elaborate ceiling with the walls and pillars.
Each detail of the fresco tells a story. The Church of the Holy Spirit was a hospice church, dedicated to caring for the ill, the needy and travelers. Here we see a pilgrim, a monk donating money and a man holding his horse's reins in one hand and a big pretzel in the other. According to a legend, in earlier times in Munich a "pretzel rider" distributed pretzels to the poor. The pilgrim is receiving remission of his sins for his 2,000-kilometer trek to Santiago de Compostela. The story of the pilgrim is told by his walking staff, the scallop shells on his cloak, symbols of the Camino de Santiago and the fact that he is receiving papers.
Churches as well as secular buildings abounded in putti. In Baroque art they came to represent the omnipresence of God.