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Reinhardtsdorf village church
High above the Elbe valley, in Reinhardtsdorf near Schöna, stands one of the most beautiful village churches in Saxon Switzerland – the “Bauernbarockkirche” (peasant Baroque church). Plain on the outside, inside it is painted all over: two galleries full of biblical pictures, a painted wooden ceiling from 1711 and pews bearing the name plates of their donors. Above all, though, there are two altars here: a late Gothic winged altarpiece from 1521 and a large Baroque altar.
Building history
A Romanesque fortified church is said to have stood here as early as the 11th or 12th century; a chapel is mentioned in 1368, and its Romanesque door to the sacristy survives. In 1523 the enlarged church was consecrated by the Bishop of Meissen with three altars. It acquired its present appearance in the Baroque period: from 1675 it was extended and raised, the west portal was created in 1675 by Heinrich Weingarten from Pirna, and on the west gable sits a ridge turret with a cap, lantern and onion dome.
Two altars
The winged altarpiece of 1521 is a late Gothic carving with Saint Anne and the Child in the centre and saints on the wings; it was last restored in 2008. Next to it stands the four-tiered Baroque high altar from around 1681 to 1684, with paintings of the Last Supper, Christ carrying the Cross and the Crucifixion. It is a stroke of luck that both altars have survived – usually the old one had to make way for the new.
The picture Bible of the galleries
On the two galleries, around 50 pictures tell the story of the Bible: above, some 30 scenes from the Old Testament, from Adam and Eve to the vision of the valley of dry bones, and below, some 20 from the New Testament. Many of the pictures bear the name, home village and trade of the farmers and craftsmen who donated them – a piece of village history you can read. Above them stretches the painted wooden ceiling of 1711 with the Holy Trinity and the Last Judgement. The organ was built in 1911 by Hermann Eule of Bautzen into the old Baroque case, with two manuals and 14 stops.
As of: 10/2026
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