Sankt Gangolf (Bamberg, Germany)

St Gangolf stands in Bamberg’s Gärtnerviertel, a quiet quarter of gardens and narrow lanes. It began as a collegiate church in the mid-11th century and is the city’s oldest surviving church. The building mixes Romanesque walls with Gothic vaults, a Baroque pulpit and modern restorations from 2016–19. Two towers were added early in the 12th century, first the north then the south. A fire in 1185 left traces still visible in the roof timbers, some of the oldest in Germany. The church holds a relic of Saint Gangolf, whose skull fragment came from Eichstätt with pilgrims on the Way of St James. Among its clergy was Hugo of Trimberg, a 13th-century writer of moral verse. The organ dates from 1972 and has 24 stops on two manuals and pedal. Four of the six bells were cast in 1985, yet two 14th-century bells remain prized for their sound. Inside, the aisles are lined with plain rectangular chapels built in the 14th century. A new choir with ribbed vaulting was added in the 15th century. The Baroque furnishings of 1753 include a richly decorated interior and side chapels that replaced part of the cloister. The west front received a neo-Gothic porch in 1901.