Jesuit Church, Heidelberg

Jesuit Church, Heidelberg tickets: which one to buy

The Jesuit church stands on a quiet square just behind the university buildings in the old town of Heidelberg, a few minutes from the Church of the Holy Spirit and the market square, and entry to the church is free. The Museum of Sacred Art and Liturgy, housed in the church's galleries and treasury, charges a small fee and opens mainly in the afternoons in the warmer months; it is worth it for anyone interested in liturgical silver, vestments and religious sculpture.

Walking tours of the old town tend to concentrate on the castle, the old bridge and the university, and the Jesuit church is often passed rather than visited, which leaves it pleasantly quiet. The castle funicular station is about ten minutes' walk away. Concerts are held in the church from time to time and are announced on posters at the door. It makes a calm stop on a busy day in one of Germany's most visited towns. The church and museum have separate entrances, with the museum reached from inside the church.

Visiting Jesuit Church, Heidelberg: what to see

The Jesuits came to Heidelberg when the Palatinate returned to Catholic rule, and the church was built between 1712 and 1759 to designs by Johann Adam Breunig, the architect of several university buildings. The red sandstone facade, facing the square, is a restrained baroque composition with pilasters and statues; the tower was added much later, in the 1870s. Inside, the church is a light, spacious hall with three aisles of equal height, its white walls and pale vaults giving it an airy feeling quite different from the heavily gilded baroque churches further south.

The high altar and side altars, the pulpit and the organ gallery all belong to the eighteenth-century fitting. The museum in the galleries displays chalices, monstrances, reliquaries, vestments and sculptures collected from churches in the region, with explanations of their use in the liturgy. The square outside is lined with old college buildings. The organ in the west gallery was rebuilt in the twentieth century inside a baroque-style case.

Jesuit Church, Heidelberg opening hours and the best time to go

The church is open daily, and the museum keeps limited seasonal hours, often closing in winter and on Mondays, so check before planning a visit around it. Heidelberg is busiest from spring to autumn, especially at weekends and when river cruise passengers arrive, but the square by the Jesuit church stays calm. The Christmas market spreads across several squares of the old town in December.

University terms bring students back in October and April, and the old town is lively in the evenings. Summer evenings are ideal for walking along the river and across the old bridge. The castle illuminations with fireworks, held a few times each summer, draw big crowds. Allow twenty minutes for the church and another half hour for the museum. The student prison, a few streets away, is covered in graffiti left by students locked up for misbehaviour.