Pilgrimage Church Birnau Part 1

If you are interested in baroque churches you should take a look at the north shore of Lake Constance. There you should visit the Pilgrimage Church Birnau (built 1747 to 1750) which is dedicated to the Holy Virgin Mary. The Church lies on the Oberschwäbische Barockstraße. (Upper Swabian Baroque Route) a touristic theme route through South Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

In case you are not familiar with Roman-Catholicism European style, I would like to provide you with a few things about the purpose of these baroque churches which you may appreciate knowing.

They were built to overwhelm the worshippers by sheer magnificent. During the counter-reformation these churches were designed as weapons against the reformed churches. They celebrate the greatness of God.
Architecture, interior design, painting, all sorts of arts had to serve this one purpose. In the Birnau Pilgrimage Church the different artistic elements merge into each other in such a way that you can't say where one ends and another starts. Only the ceiling painting in the sanctuary is clearly separated from the other elements*excellent word choice* (?).

The sanctuary and the space around the altar are designed as a big stage. Before the reformation the Eucharist was often celebrated behind a grid or a partitioning. As another strategy to obstruct the reformed churches, the Roman Catholic Church began to celebrate the Eucharist like a magnificent stage play. In Jesuit churches real stage plays were given about Jesus and other Christian themes.