St. Bartholomew's (german: St. Bartholomä) is a Roman Catholic

pilgrimage church A pilgrimage church (german: Wallfahrtskirche) is a church to which pilgrimages are regularly made, or a church along a pilgrimage route, like the Way of St. James, that is visited by pilgrims. Pilgrimage churches are often located by the grave ...

in the

Berchtesgadener Land Berchtesgadener Land (Central Bavarian: ''Berchtsgoana Land'') is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by the district of Traunstein and by the state of Austria. History Middle ages and early modern era The southern a ...

district of

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It is named after Saint Bartholomew the Apostle (''Bartholomäus'' in German), patron of alpine farmers and dairymen. The church is located at the western shore of the

Königssee The Königssee is a natural lake in the extreme southeast Berchtesgadener Land district of the German state of Bavaria, near the Austrian border. Most of the lake is within the Berchtesgaden National Park. Description Situated within the Berch ...

lake, on the Hirschau peninsula. It can only be reached by ship or after a long hike across the surrounding mountains. A first chapel at the lake was built in 1134 by the Provosts of Berchtesgaden. In 1697 it was rebuilt in a

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

style with a floor plan modeled on

Salzburg Cathedral , native_name_lang = , image = Salzburg Cathedral 1.jpg , imagesize = , imagelink = , imagealt = , landscape = , caption = , pushpin map ...

, two

onion dome An onion dome is a dome whose shape resembles an onion. Such domes are often larger in diameter than the tholobate upon which they sit, and their height usually exceeds their width. These bulbous structures taper smoothly to a point. It is a typ ...

s and a red domed roof. The church features

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

work by the

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

artist Joseph Schmidt and a three-

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

. The altars in the apses are consecrated to Saint Bartholomew, Saint

Catherine Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria. In the early Christ ...

, and Saint

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

respectively. An annual pilgrimage to St. Bartholomew's is held on the Saturday after 24 August, starting from the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n municipality of

Maria Alm Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial *170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, da ...

and crossing the Berchtesgaden Alps. Near the chapel lies the old hunting lodge of the same name. The lodge, which was first erected in the 12th century with the church, has been rebuilt several times. Until 1803, it was a private residence of the Berchtesgaden Prince-provosts; after their territory had been incorporated into the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German E ...

in 1810, the building became a favourite hunting lodge of the ruling

House of Wittelsbach The House of Wittelsbach () is a German dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including Bavaria, the Palatinate, Holland and Zeeland, Sweden (with Finland), Denmark, Norway, Hungary (with Romania), Bohemia, the Electorate ...

; today it is an inn. The church can be seen from a famous

scenic viewpoint A scenic viewpoint – also called an observation point, viewpoint, viewing point, vista point, lookout, scenic overlook,These terms are more commonly used in North America. etc. – is an elevated location where people can view scenery (often w ...

743 meters above, which is called Archenkanzel.

Gallery

File:Koenigssee - St. Bartholomew's Church 01.jpg File:Koenigssee - St. Bartholomew's Church 02.jpg San Bartolomé, Lago del Rey, Alemania, 2019-05-17, DD 22.jpg San Bartolomé, Lago del Rey, Alemania, 2019-05-17, DD 24.jpg San Bartolomé, Lago del Rey, Alemania, 2019-05-17, DD 18.jpg San Bartolomé, Lago del Rey, Alemania, 2019-05-17, DD 105-107 HDR.jpg San Bartolomé, Lago del Rey, Alemania, 2019-05-17, DD 102-104 HDR.jpg

Panoramic view

References

*The information in this article is based on that in its German equivalent.

External links

The Bavarian Palace Department: St. Bartholomew's Church

Sankt Bartholomä
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Bartholomew's Church, Berchtesgaden Roman Catholic churches in Bavaria Berchtesgaden Alps Pilgrimage churches in Germany Registered historic buildings and monuments in Bavaria Berchtesgadener Land