961 Best Sights in Germany

St. Jakob, Dachau's parish church, was built in 1624–25 in late-Renaissance style on the foundations of a 13th-century Gothic structure. Baroque features and a characteristic onion dome were added in 1676–78. On the south wall you can admire a very fine sundial from 1699, which displays the month, the zodiac, and the time.

This Lutheran parish church, constructed from 1311 to 1485, showcases 700 years of stained-glass windows and has notable Riemenschneider sculptures, including the famous Heiliges Blut (Holy Blood of Christ) altar. Above the altar is a crystal capsule said to contain drops of Christ's blood. The Twelve Apostles Altar, by Friedrich Herlin, has the oldest depiction of the town of Rothenburg.

It was in this sturdy Romanesque basilica, consecrated in 836, that plans were drawn for the Treaty of Verdun a few years later, formalizing the division of Charlemagne's great empire and leading to the creation of Germany and France as separate states. Inside Koblenz's oldest church, compare the squat Romanesque columns in the nave with the intricate fan vaulting of the Gothic sections. The St. Kastor Fountain outside the church is an intriguing piece of historical one-upmanship. It was built by the occupying French to mark the beginning of Napoléon's ultimately disastrous Russian campaign of 1812.

Founded in 1250 and completed in 1660, this house of worship was severely damaged during World War II, but has since been carefully reconstructed. The interior was once dotted with plaques honoring different people, but only two of the epitaphs remain.

This Gothic church is near the palace tower on Carlsplatz. Its spire became distorted because unseasoned wood was used in its construction. The Vatican elevated the 14th-century brick church to a basilica minor (small cathedral) in 1974 in recognition of its role in church history. Built in the 13th century, with additions from 1394, St. Lambertus contains the tomb of William the Rich and a graceful late-Gothic tabernacle.

In a city with several striking churches, St. Lorenz is considered by many to be the most beautiful. Construction began around 1250 and was completed in about 1477; it later became a Lutheran church. Two towers flank the main entrance, which is covered with a forest of carvings. In the lofty interior, note the works by sculptors Adam Kraft and Veit Stoss: Kraft's great stone tabernacle, to the left of the altar, and Stoss's Annunciation, at the east end of the nave, are their finest works. There are many other carvings throughout the building, testimony to the artistic wealth of late-medieval Nuremberg.

In 1225 the Thuringian count Ludwig IV erected the St. Marien Kirche as a triple-naved basilica and the only church within the city walls. The coquina limestone building, which resembles the cathedral in Naumburg, was renovated in the 15th century into its current form as a single-hall structure. The great carved altarpiece also dates from the 15th century and the baptistery from 1592.

This enormous church is the largest of Stralsund's three redbrick Gothic churches. With 4,000 pipes and intricate decorative figures, the magnificent 17th-century Stellwagen organ (played only during Sunday services) is a delight to see and hear. The view from the church tower of Stralsund's old city center is well worth climbing the 349 steps.

This medieval church, one of the finest in Berlin, is best known for its late-Gothic, macabre fresco Der Totentanz (Dance of Death), which is in need of restoration. Tours on Tuesday at 2 pm highlight the fresco.

Beautiful examples of Upper Bavarian houses line Frühlingstrasse. A pedestrian zone begins at Richard-Strauss-Platz and at another end, just off Marienplatz, is this unassuming 18th-century parish church that contains significant stuccowork by the Wessobrunn artist Jospeh Schmutzer and Rococo work by Matthäus Günther, restored to its original vibrancy.

The treasures of the 13th-century Gothic church include a 15-foot-high crucifix from the 14th century, an astronomical clock from 1394, and a famous baroque altar.

Built in 1736, this church is regarded as the finest work of rococo architect Josef Schmutzer, whose son, Franz Xaver Schmutzer, did a lot of the stuccowork. Striking frescoes by Matthäus Günther and Franz Seraph Zwinck depict Mary as the answerer of prayers as well as a scene from the crucifixion. The latter is said to date back to the 1633 promise by the elders of Oberammergau to hold the passion play every decade if the town were to be saved from the plague.

On the back of the altar in this 18th-century church (as in Oberammergau, built by Josef Schmutzer and decorated by Matthäus Günther) you'll find Matthias Klotz's name, carved there by the violin maker himself. Note that on some of the ceiling frescoes, the angels are playing violins, violas da gamba, and lutes. In front of the church, Klotz is memorialized as an artist at work in vivid bronze sculpted by Ferdinand von Miller (1813–79), creator of the mighty Bavaria Monument in Munich. The church, with its elaborate and joyful stuccowork coiling and curling its way around the interior, is one of the most important rococo structures in Bavaria. The Gothic choir loft was added in the 18th century. The bold frescoes on its exterior are characteristic of Lüftlmalerei, where images, usually religious motifs, were painted on the wet stucco exteriors of houses and churches. On nearby streets you can see other fine examples on the facades of three famous houses: the Goethehaus, the Pilgerhaus, and the Pichlerhaus. Among the artists working here was the great Franz Seraph Zwinck.

The massive tower in the center of town belongs to the parish church of St. Peter. A good example of the transition from Romanesque to Gothic styles, it has an impressive four-story nave.

Construction of the cathedral began in the mid-11th century. Its two prominent towers, one of which can be climbed, are Gothic, but in the late 1800s the cathedral was restored in the Romanesque style. It served as the seat of an archbishop until the Reformation turned the cathedral Protestant. It has a small museum and five functioning organs.

This church was created in 1195 and has been in continuous use since then. St. Petri is the only one of the five main churches in Hamburg that came out of World War II relatively undamaged. The current building was built in 1849, after the previous building burned down in the Great Fire of 1842. Every Wednesday at 5:15 pm is the Stunde der Kirchenmusik, an hour of liturgical organ music.

The 800-year-old church was built on the highest elevation in the region. Its tower once served the island's fishermen as a beacon. Strangely enough, the tower also served as a prison until 1806. Now a Lutheran church, it is a popular site for weddings.

This Gothic church has an extraordinary font, a masterpiece of intricately carved sandstone that reaches practically to the ceiling. It's linked to the cathedral by a 70-step open staircase.

The parish church of St. Wenceslas dominates the southern end of the Markt. A church has stood on this spot since 1218, but the current incarnation dates from 1426, with interior renovations in 1726. The church is most famous for its huge Hildebrandt Organ, which was tested and tuned by J. S. Bach in 1746. Fans of Lucas Cranach the Elder get their due with two of his paintings, Suffer the Little Children Come Unto Me and the Adoration of the Three Magi. The 240-foot-tall tower belongs to the city, not the church, and was used as a watchtower for the city guards, who lived there until 1994.

The Renaissance philosopher and theologian Nikolaus Cusanus (1401–64) was born in Kues. The St.-Nikolaus-Hospital is a charitable Stiftung (foundation) he established in 1458, famous for his library that contains more than 300 handwritten manuscripts from the 9th through 15th centuries, and it still operates today as a home for the elderly and a wine estate.

More than 300,000 coins, banknotes, medals, and precious stones, some 5,000 years old, are among the treasures of the Bavarian State Coin Collection.

Outgrowing its castle workshop in the mid-19th century, today's porcelain factory is on the southern outskirts of town. One of its buildings has a demonstration workshop and a museum whose Meissen collection rivals that of Dresden's Porzellansammlung.

Various Bavarian rulers were fascinated with the ancient world and in the 19th century accumulated huge quantities of significant Egyptian treasures, part of which make up the Staatliche Sammlung Ägyptischer Kunst. The collection is housed in an impressive modern building in Munich's superb Kunstareal.

The Kulturforum's Staatsbibliothek is one of the largest libraries in Europe, and was one of the Berlin settings in Wim Wenders's 1987 film Wings of Desire.

In a city dotted with lakes, pools, and thermal baths, this is one of the most attractive public bathing spots, a neoclassical beauty built in 1914 and renovated in 2009. Even if you don’t plan on taking a dip, it’s worth a peek: the unremarkable, gray concrete exterior, which seems designed to ward off tourists, conceals two stunning swimming halls, their pristine pools lined with columns and decorated with elaborate mosaics and gargoyles spouting water. To make the most of it, get a day pass for the pools and multiple saunas. Monday is women-only day in the sauna and Sunday evenings are nude-only (FKK).

Inside the Altes Rathaus, this museum documents Leipzig's past. The entrance is behind the Rathaus. The museum's extended collection continues behind the Museum for Applied Arts.

This museum is housed in the Reichlin-von-Meldegg house, built in 1462, one of the earliest Renaissance dwellings in Germany. It displays exhibits tracing Bodensee history and is home to Germany's largest collection of antique dollhouses.

Don't miss Freudenstadt's Protestant Stadtkirche, a Gothic-influenced Renaissance church just off the Market Square. Its lofty L-shape nave is a rare architectural feature built in 1608, constructed this way so that male and female worshippers would be separated and unable to see each other during services.

The 13th-century stained glass, wall paintings, medieval altars, and the stone pietà in the Gothic Stadtkirche are worth seeing, as are the Crucifixion sculptures (1515) by Rhenish master Hans Backoffen on Kirchplatz, behind the church.