Schutzengelkirche

The English Ladies’ convent in Burghausen stands beside the Salzach river in the old town, its church forming the heart of the walled enclosure. Founded in 1683 by Philippine Baumfelder and five companions, it grew from a private house into a teaching and boarding community for girls. After the 1803 decree that made Burghausen the order’s central house in Bavaria, the sisters ran the local Volksschulen until 1984. The church’s interior is a masterpiece of early Rococo design. Johann Georg Lindt carved the protective angel group above the door around 1770, while Innozenz Anton Warathi painted the ceiling with scenes of the Magi and nine angel choirs. The high altar, designed by Johann Georg Kapfer, carries figures of Saints George, Maximilian, Theresia and Florian, and a painting by Peter Anton Lorenzoni. Side altars hold works by Johann Babtist Rabensteiner and Otto Rückert, and relics of Saint Vincentina rest in a glass shrine. Visitors enter through the vaulted porch and find the nave’s stately stucco and frescoes intact. The 1908 Hechenberger organ still sounds across the wooden stalls, and the two sacristies preserve carved cupboards from 1690 and 1731. The building now houses the Maria-Ward-Realschule, where classrooms occupy former dormitory corridors and the cloister garden remains a quiet rectangle of lime and chestnut.