Sankt Johann Nepomuk, Munich

Sankt Johann Nepomuk is the compact church commonly called the Asam Church, built by the brothers Cosmas Damian and Egid Quirin Asam. Its theatrical façade rises directly within the row of neighbouring houses, swelling outward in a curved movement rather than presenting a flat wall. The entrance and window are framed by columns, while the sculpted Saint Nepomuk appears above the portal.

The church was created as a private chapel, not commissioned by a patron, and that freedom allowed Egid Quirin Asam to watch the high altar from a window of his adjoining home. Public pressure later brought the church into open use. Inside, the narrow building combines architecture, painting, and sculpture in a tightly composed vertical space.

Hidden windows behind the main cornice send light from behind onto the Trinity figures, making the brightness seem to rise through the interior. The high altar includes a reliquary containing a relic of Saint John Nepomuk and is framed by spiral columns inspired by Bernini’s altar over Saint Peter’s tomb in Rome. Look at the façade’s sculpted figures and the deep folds of its plasterwork: this is a private vision turned into one of southern Germany’s major late Baroque buildings.