St Johy Nepomuk Munich

Often known as the Asam Church, this masterpiece is dedicated to St John Nepomuk the 14th century saint from Prague. He was  the confessor for the Queen of Bohemia and refused to divulge her confession to King Wenceslas (not the one in the carol) and hence was martyred by being thrown into the Vltava. The Czechs must have a thing about throwing people about - think of the defenestration of Prague!! In 1729 John was canonised and became the patron saint of Bavaria. 

Take a look at Waldemat Januszczak's introduction below

This church was the personal work of the Asam brothers, where they lived and hoped to be buried. In fact the site was small, thin and high : terribly difficult. Yet they came up with this incredible building. A similarly difficult site in London was provided for St Mary le Strand in the 18th century. Sacheverell Sitwell, the well-known author and aesthete remarked that only the Asam brothers could have done anything with such a site. The ultimate accolade I think. The Asams bought two houses on Sendlinger Strasse in central Munich in 1729-30 and then extended to another in 1733. There were direct links from the house to the church : an access to the church from the gallery, and a small slit at gallery level allowing a view from EQ Asam's bedroom to the side aisle on the right of the church.

The result is a unique ensemble of church and house. JM Fischer may have been involved in the planning and execution of the church. It is only 28 metres long and maximum 9 metres wide. On the ground floor there is an anteroom, the main nave, and the  choir. Above is the gallery along the side of the nave maximum breadth 1.4 metres widening to cover the anteroom and provide a place for the  organ. There is a crypt below the church containing a "holy sepulchre of Christ" by EQ Asam. This is only open during Holy Week so I have not been down there. The brothers were to have been buried there. I do not know why this did not happen.

The facade has the church entrance in the centre with the Asam house on the left and the priest's house on the right. the corner pilasters appear to grow out of the rocks below and seem to frame the entrance and there are two windows giving light to the interior. A canopy contains St John Nepomuk in prayer on a cloud, eyes upward being pulled upward by two angels.It would be good to see the church early morning with no cars and even hope for a horse drawn carriage to pass by. Not in this life!

St John in prayer on a cloud

Facade  : pity about the cars...

Asam house

Church entrance

Then you dare to enter and whenever I have done this there have been lots of people alas. Still it is not as bad as the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican for crowds! I say dare because the interior is about confession, penitence and mercy. The antechamber brings us into a twilight to prepare us for the four last things : death, judgment, heaven and hell. The statue of St Jerome on the right  with open book reminds us our errors will be revealed at the last Judgment and St Peter on the left with his two keys to bind and loose reminds us that the impenitent go toward hell.  Behind us we can see St Michael angel of judgment with his sword.  Fortunately for us we can also see a votive image of St John Nepomuk and large dark confessionals offering us the church's offer of help.  (Remember St John's attachment to confession). Writing this today I regret not knowing all this  before our visit. Alas one reads up after visiting. No guided tour was given then and would have been hard in such a limited space. This is a church to savour, to visit again and again, preferabaly at quiet times. It is very very special.

St Jerome in the anteroom

Remembering the remedies of penitence we can then look forward into the main area of the nave and are met with an overwhelming space where the wall seems to disintegrate in front of us taking us off into space with nowhere to rest the eye. Eventually perhaps the eye rests on the cross of Christ which projects into the room - its sublimity silencing the noisy drama around. This is Baroque Theatrum Sacrum at its finest. I think it is this restless quality in Baroque which I love  so much : the eye constantly moves from image to image, statue to altar up, down, around and we are never alone - we seek to become part of this panoply of believers.

The original plan was apparently to have low lighting in the nave rising from darkness into the glorious light around the Trinity. Light does come from the facade but also from the sides from seemingly invisible sources and uses reflections for effect. The light in the church changes during the day. Light is meant to remind us of our search for redemption, pointing us toward heaven.  The recent restoration of 1975-82 changed the lighting by the insertion of  a round window at gallery level giving a yellow light.

Vuew of gallery altar witr inserted window. Cross of Jesus above.

The upper choir or gallery altar was set up in 1739 for the Confraternity of the Trinity and behind it was a large silvered stucco relief by EQ Asam of St John Nepomuk kneeling before the Virgin Mary. This was removed in 1820. In the recent restoration a copy of \EQ Asam's work at Osterhofen on the same theme was copied and incorporated.

Four huge red marble twisted columns ascend from the balustrade at the front of the gallery altar and at the top is the throne of grace withe the Trinity. A circle of rays around the Dove for the \Holy Spirit, God the Father with a huge cloak and tiara, bending out with arms stretched toward the Son on the Cross. It is the moment when Jesus said "It is accomplished!".  From a large hidden window behind the throne of grace bright sunlight can fall over this scene. Sin and death, suffering and grief  are overcome and become victory and salvation.

The Trone of Grace  "It is accomplished" 

The lower altar also has four twisted red columns, surely a reference to the mighty baldachin in St Peter's Rome. The sarcophagus of St John Nepomuk is the focal point. White stucco angels impress upon us the glory of the Eucharist - the consequence of confession. Inscriptions tell us Ecce panis angelorum (Behold the bread of angels), Hoc est panis vivus (This is the living bread), Mors et malis vita boris (It brings death to the wicked, life to the good), Miscuit vinum ([the Divine wisdom] mixes the wine.)

The aim was to show a parallel betwen the life of St John Nepomuk and the grace offered to us in the sacrament of penance  and the divine  real presence in the sacrament at the altar. As you see, I  have written at some length of the significance of the imagery in this wonderful church. This is due to help from the superb Verlag  Schnell guidebook., 8th English edition 2015.

Both altars - lower and gallery

Looking back at this church I am only now beginning to understand it. We were able to go to Mass on the Sunday we were there and this was accompanied by a harpist (see above). A beautiful experience.