Basilica Gößweinstein

The Dreifaltigkeitsbasilika stands in Gößweinstein, a village in Upper Franconia surrounded by the wooded hills of the Fränkische Schweiz. It is the largest pilgrimage church in Germany dedicated to the Holy Trinity and the second most important pilgrimage site in the Archdiocese of Bamberg. Around 140 organised pilgrimage groups visit every year, drawn by its reputation as the spiritual heart of the region. The first chapel on this spot is said to have been built in 1071, later enlarged by Konrad I of Schlüsselberg and his wife Kunigunde in 1240. The church gained independence in 1461 and began to attract noble patrons such as the von Groß zu Trockau family. The present building replaced an overcrowded medieval church that could no longer cope with the flow of pilgrims. Work began in 1730 after decades of delays, led first by Balthasar Neumann and then by his assistant Johann Jakob Michael Küchel. The interior was only completed in 1769, after a disastrous fire in 1746 had forced costly repairs. In 1948 Pope Pius XII raised the church to the rank of Basilica minor, and between 1999 and 2005 its Baroque interior was carefully restored. Inside, the three-storey High Altar dominates the space, its pyramid form echoing the three persons of the Trinity. Around it stand eight side altars dedicated to Mary, the Holy Cross, Saint Joseph, Saint Anne, Saint Kunigunde, Saint John of Nepomuk, the Virgin Martyrs and Saint Sebastian. The central figure is a carved group of the Coronation of the Virgin, a late Gothic work from about 1510 that legend says miraculously found its way to Gößweinstein. The basilica also contains a modern organ built by Mathis of Switzerland in 1988.