Germany · Baden-Württemberg - Basilika Birnau

The church traces its origins to the pilgrimage to the Mother of God, which initially took place at an older chapel in Birnau. In the 18th century, this site became too small for the Cistercian monastery of Salem and no longer met the liturgical and representational requirements of the time. The monastery therefore commissioned the construction of a new pilgrimage church, intended to stand prominently above Lake Constance.

The Vorarlberg master builder Peter Thumb was commissioned to plan it; he had also been involved in several other church buildings in southern Germany. The building was constructed between 1746 and 1750. Artists from the Lake Constance region and southern Germany contributed to its furnishings. The ceiling frescoes were created by Joseph Ignaz Appiani, while the stucco work and numerous sculptures are attributed to Johann Georg Dirr and Josef Anton Feuchtmayer, respectively. One of the best-known figures is the so-called “Honigschlecker”: a boy reaching for a honeycomb. The figure is connected with the veneration of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux and is also an example of the highly figurative furnishings of Baroque churches.

The history of the church is closely connected with the political changes at the end of the Holy Roman Empire. In the course of secularisation, the monastery of Salem was dissolved, and Birnau consequently lost its original institutional patronage. The church nevertheless remained a place of worship and pilgrimage. Later, Cistercians once again took over pastoral care. In the 20th century, Birnau was also elevated to a papal basilica minor.

The occasion thus combines several aspects: the history of the Cistercian Order, the religious tradition of the Lake Constance region, and the development of southern German Baroque architecture. The choice of the coin can be explained in particular by the fact that Birnau is a building in which regional history, ecclesiastical culture, and the political consequences of secularisation are vividly brought together.