St. Martin

St Martin’s church stands at the edge of Mörslingen, a village in the Danube valley. A low brick nave and a tall plastered tower rise above the rooftops, their rounded windows catching the light. The tower’s stepped gable is edged with battlements, while the walls are strengthened by plain pilasters. An open porch on Tuscan columns marks the north door, and the south door opens directly into the nave. The building has been protected as a monument since the 20th century. The church was rebuilt in the late 17th century and lavishly decorated in the 1780s by Joseph Leitkrath. His ceiling frescoes in the nave show scenes from the life of St Martin, crowned by an image of the saint’s glory. Leitkrath also painted the high altar’s altarpiece, where Martin divides his cloak, and the chancel vault with the Last Supper. Earlier, in the 14th and 15th centuries, anonymous painters covered the tower’s ground floor with frescoes of the Annunciation and the Adoration of the Magi. The church’s furnishings include a late-17th-century pulpit, an 1811 organ on the west gallery, and a carved tabernacle flanked by statues of St Catherine and St Barbara. Inside, the single nave stretches over five bays, its walls lined with pilasters and a flat ceiling. The east end holds a three-sided choir, and a double gallery at the west end carries the organ. The tower room serves as a baptistery, its medieval frescoes still glowing above the font. Outside, the 32-metre tower dominates the skyline, its steep roof rising from rough-hewn stone. The whole ensemble stands as a quiet witness to centuries of faith and art in this small Swabian village.