page_title: Michaelsberg Abbey, Bamberg
section_title: Abbey church
hierarchical_section_title: Michaelsberg Abbey, Bamberg / Description / Abbey church
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Bamberg, St. Michael, Heilig-Grab-Kapelle
context_page_description: Michaelsberg Abbey or Michelsberg Abbey, also St. Michael's Abbey, Bamberg is a former Benedictine monastery in Bamberg in Bavaria, Germany. After its dissolution in 1803 the buildings were used for the almshouse Vereinigtes Katharinen- und Elisabethen-Spital, which is still there as a retirement home. The former abbey church remains in use as the Michaelskirche.
  The buildings are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Town of Bamberg". As of 2016 and for the foreseeable future, the church is closed for repairs.
context_section_description: The first church on the site, dedicated to Saint Michael, was built from about 1015 and was consecrated on 2 November 1021 by Eberhard, in the presence of the archbishops Aribo and Pilgrim, Emperor Heinrich and a large share of the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire, both secular and ecclesial. Not much is known about the size and structure of the initial buildings. An earthquake on 3 January 1117 apparently only slightly damaged the church, but Bishop Otto had the whole building (and the monastery) torn down and rebuilt on a larger scale by one Richolf, in accordance with the architectural concepts of the Hirsau Reforms. The new (and current) building, basically a Romanesque church, was consecrated on 1 September 1121.
  After his death Bishop Otto was buried on 3 July 1139 in a tomb in the nave, in front of the altar dedicated to St. Michael. In 1287/8 a polychrome sculpture was created as a tomb figure, showing Otto with pallium, mitre, staff and book. Today it stands against the wall of the crypt. The current tomb was made (also polychrome) around 1435/40.  
  On 27 April 1610, work on the roof resulted in a fire which destroyed all the roofs and the nave, but the tomb of Otto was virtually unaffected. Under abbot Johann V. Müller (died 1627) the rebuilding in Renaissance style started immediately. By October, the choir had a new roof and by 1614 the westworks with the two repaired towers had been finished. Reconstruction of the nave followed, and its ceiling was painted with the Garden of Heaven; bells, organ and choir stalls were bought. The new church was consecrated in 1617. 
  The still-extant organ-loft was also constructed very soon after the fire, in 1610, and is a significant work of German late Renaissance art. From 1696 Leonhard Dientzenhofer, under the instructions of abbot Christoph Ernst von Guttenberg, created a two-storey Baroque exterior façade. It was finished by August 1700. The large exterior stairway followed in 1722/3. Johann Dientzenhofer built the  terrace and the high choir after 1725, under abbot Anselm Geisendorfer. This created the crypt in which the tomb of Saint Otto is situated today. To the left and right of the choir, the Romanesque apses were replaced by two-storied structures. Under Anselm the church interior was mostly replaced: a new high altar, two choir stalls, an altar was added to the crossing and two to the transepts. Six altars were added to the side-aisles and three galleries were built. Under his rule the church largely took on its current appearance. A replica Holy Sepulchre in a side chapel that already reflects early Neoclassical style was also ordered by Anselm. Georg Adam Reuß later made the pulpit in Rococo style, the final important piece of art added to the abbey church. 
  In 1833, the colorful painting of façade and statuary on the stair was removed and in 1837 on the orders of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, ten gravestones and memorials of the bishops of Bamberg from the 16th to the 18th century were removed from Bamberg Cathedral and set up in the Michaelskirche,  as described in a guidebook of 1912:
  "An entirely alien component of the church furnishings consists of those episcopal gravestones which Ludwig I ordered to be removed from the cathedral during its restoration, as stylistically inappropriate, and which were set up in the Michelskirche instead."
  In 1886, Georg Dengler, Domvikar at Regensburg Cathedral developed a plan for "purifying" the interior of the church, but the replacement of the Baroque style elements with Romanesque Revival and the painting over of the botanical ceiling frescoes were prevented by popular protests and the intervention of Friedrich Schneider, Domkapitular at Mainz Cathedral. 
  In 1952, the interior of the church was renovated. Work on the towers followed in 1985-7 and on the Holy Sepulchre 1985-96. In 2002, repair work on all the church roofs was completed.
caption: The Neoclassical Holy Sepulchre
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