Through My Lens: Jesuitenkirche

For the past two Sundays, I posted photos of the Protestant Church that stands over the Old Town of Heidelberg. For today, Palm Sunday, I’m posting a photo of the Catholic Church that stands in the centre of Heidelberg’s Old Town. That would be the Jesuitenkirche (Jesuit Church).

This church, built in the Baroque style, was constructed in fits and starts throughout the eighteenth century. The Jesuits began the process in 1712, with the Elector Palatine at the time, Johann Wilhelm II, donating the land. The stone came from the Heidelberg Castle and the lumber from nearby forests. A bell tower (not seen in this photo) was added at the end of the nineteenth century.

After the Jesuit order was abolished in 1773, the church was taken over by the Lazarists. It later served as a hospital before eventually becoming the parish church of the local Catholic community in 1809.