St. Maria Church

The church was built between 1838 and 1844 according to plans by building inspector Carl Christian Nieffer (*1787). Nieffer, a pupil of the Stuttgart architect and court architect Nikolaus Friedrich Thouret (1767-1845), designed the sacred building on the model of the late antique basilica.

In contrast to early classicist churches in southern Germany, e.g. St. Blasien (cathedral) or Hechingen (St. Jakob), however, he oriented the design of the church to the requirements of cameral architecture. This results in the solemn austerity of the church interior, which is axially symmetrical and whose main dimensions are laid out in a 2:1 ratio. Even the stylistic elements kept in the Jonic order, such as capitals, rosettes, cornices and architraves, are only present in the choir loft.

The three-nave church with its large barrel vault, together with the chancel design created in 1994 by Professor Erich Hauser (*1930), represents a successful combination of late classicist architecture and contemporary art. The baroque onion tower comes from the former St. Nicholas Church and is today considered a landmark of Schramberg. Also worthy of mention is the expressive Stations of the Cross by Sepp Biehler (1907-1973) and the Nativity triptych by Gämmerler-Hauser-Scheller.

The Walcker organIn addition to the architecture, the Walcker organ is also impressive.Eberhard Friedrich Walcker from Ludwigsburg built this organ in 1844 as his Opus 46. The stops of the pedal are on slider chests, those of the first and second manuals on the cone chests further developed by Walcker. The third manual was specially equipped for the physharmonica, a harmonium stop that can be modulated by means of a wind sill from the softest breath to very noticeable strength.