St. Martin's Church, Bamberg

The Church of St. Martin (Martinskirche) is built on the site of a Carmelite monastery that existed since 1248. In 1589, the diocese of Bamberg decided to move the monks from the dilapidated buildings at that time to the building of the Cistian monastery of St. Mary and Theodore, on the other bank of the Regnitz River, which had been empty since 1548 (the monastery still exists today).

The vacant squares were transferred to the Jesuit order, which pledged to build a new large church. Construction began in 1686 under the direction of the Prague architect Georg Dinzenhofer, after whose death the business was continued by his brother Leonard. The building was built in the Baroque style, it traces the features of Hama Il Gesu in Rome.

The building was completed by 1696 and the church was consecrated in the tradition of the Jesuits in the name of Jesus Christ. Three years later, the bell tower was completed. As a result of the secularization of the early 19th century, in 1806 the church was taken from the order into the ownership of the city, and became a parish church, receiving the name of St. Martin.