Germany Guide
Central Bavaria
St Ulrich und Afra
Address: Maximilianstrasse
Maximilianstrasse is brought to a visual stop by the impressive onion-domed bulk of St Ulrich und Afra, in size only the second largest church in Augsburg but in terms of its place in the townscape of massively more importance than the Dom. The interior is a really splendid work of late Gothic architecture; begun in 1474, construction continued until 1603, completion of the choir and tower being delayed by the turmoil of the Reformation. The church contains the tombs of St Ulrich – the prince-bishop who defended the city against the Magyars – and of St Afra, while beautiful painted vaulting dating from 1492 to 1496 crowns the chapel of St Simpert, burial place of the eponymous saint, who is said to have been a nephew of Charlemagne. In front of St Ulrich und Afra, the pretty little Protestant church of St Ulrich represents in built form the workable coexistence Augsburg's Protestants and Catholics reached after the religious turmoil of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.