Court Church of Our Lady Neumarkt

The Hofkirche stands in Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz’s eastern old town on Residenzplatz, facing the Reitstadel. It forms part of the Schlossviertel together with the Pfalzgrafenschloss and the Reitstadel. The building stretches 41.3 metres from west to east and is 22.8 metres wide. Its rear wall meets the town wall, while the front opens onto the square and Klostergasse. The church began as a small 10th-century Marienkapelle near the town wall. The church grew from a chapel into a late-Gothic court church after 1418. Johann of the Wittelsbach line started the expansion when Neumarkt became a residence in 1410. Only one tower foundation was completed, yet the broad front and two planned towers remain visible. Inside, the Fürstenempore later housed the organ, and a marble tomb of Otto II of Neumarkt sits in the right aisle. After slow progress, Friedrich II finished the tower early in the 16th century and completed the church before moving his court back to Heidelberg in 1544. Visitors enter a long nave topped by a painted coffered ceiling of 77 panels by Erhard Wirsching. The high altar by Egino Weinert shows a bronze relief of salvation history on its edge. A crowned Madonna of 1480, once dragged through the streets, now stands in the left aisle. The right aisle holds Otto II’s marble tomb. Along both aisles runs an enamel Way of the Cross. The Rieger organ of 1956 fills the Fürstenempore with 29 stops.