Asamkirche – Munich, Germany - Atlas Obscura
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Asamkirche

Munich, Germany

Among the ostentatious rococo ornamentation of this church, an image of death cuts the life-thread. 

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Death cutting the life-thread theqspeaks/Flickr (Creative Commons)
Death cutting the life-thread theqspeaks/Flickr (Creative Commons)
Detail of death cutting the life-thread sushiesque/Flickr (Creative Commons)
View of the church, with the death sculpture on the lower left txmx-2/Flickr (Creative Commons)
Outside of Asamkirche digital cat/Flickr (Creative Commons)
Decor on the ceiling digital cat/Flickr (Creative Commons)
Center of the church vike/Flickr (Creative Commons)
Gate to the church snigl3t/Flickr (Creative Commons)
Detail of church Darren Foreman/Flickr (Creative Commons)
Inside the church CoolCrab (Atlas Obscura User)
Asamkirche - Munich, Germany C Stork (Atlas Obscura User)
Cherubs at Asamkirche - Jon Lander jonlinolathe (Atlas Obscura User)
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The Asam brothers, Egid Quirin Asam and Cosmas Damian Asam, were Baroque masters, but nowhere were their rococo tastes so lavish as in their own private chapel.

Officially called the Church of Saint Johann Nepomuk, the church is better known as Asamkirche (or Asam Church) in their honor. It was built between 1733 and 1746 and was intended to be their own gilded spiritual retreat, but the public wanted in. Eventually, it opened to all and due to the popular demand within the lifetime of the brothers.

Lurking among the gold, grinning cherubs, mosaics, and frescoes is one particularly ominous sight. A gilded sculpture near the entrance portal shows a skeletal image of death with scissors about to cut through the life-thread of a poor soul. It’s an incredibly detailed memento mori among the ornamentation. 

skeletons memento mori death churches sacred spaces
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