Feldkirchen - Maria im Dorn

A church may have been here already in 888, when the place was mentioned as "Veldchiricha" by Arnulf of Carinthia. Arnulf, after having overthrown his uncle Charles III (aka "Charles the Fat"), became the Carolingian king of East Francia, later King of Italy and for two years Holy Roman Emperor.

It in known, that the "House of Eppenstein", had a proprietary church here around 1065. The erection of the church seen today started in 1166, after the place got integrated into the diocese of Bamberg.

The Romanesque basilica and the tower got then altered in Gothic times, when an additonal nave was added - and the basilica got a new roof, now covering nave and side aisles. After the incursion of the Turkish troops in 1478, the church got fortified, what did not help much, when Hungaria troops ("Schwarze Armee") raided the area only 4 years later.

The Romanesque basilica with the high nave and the two lower side aisles is "hidden" under the roof, but clearly visible inside the church The rib vaulting was completed around 1500.