Theatine Church, Munich

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The Theatinerkirche in Munich.

Interior of the church.

The Catholic Theatine Church St. Cajetan (Theatinerkirche St. Kajetan) in Munich was built from 1663 to 1690, it was founded by Elector Ferdinand Maria and his wife, Henriette Adelaide of Savoy, as a gesture of thanks for the birth of the long-awaited heir to the Bavarian crown, Prince Max Emanuel, in 1662.

The church was built in Italian high-baroque style after San Andrea del Valle in Rome and designed by the Italian architect Agostino Barelli. His successor, Enrico Zuccalli, added two towers, which originally were not planned and then finished the 71 meter (233 ft) high dome in 1690. The facade in rococo style was finished only in 1768 by François de Cuvilles. Its Mediterranean appearance and yellow coloring became a well known symbol for the city and had much influence on Southern German baroque architecture.

The rich stucco ornaments inside the church have a remarkably light feeling owing to its brilliant white color. The stucco decorations were done by Nicolo Petri (1685 - 1688) while Wolfgang Leutner was responsible for the stucco figures. The great black pulpit is a work of Andreas Faistenberger (1686). The altars keep paintings of Caspar de Crayer, Carlo Cignani, George Desmareés and Joachim Sandrart. Balthasar Ableithner created the statues of Saint Marcus and Saint John. A small chapel contains the tombs of King Max II and his wife. The crypt also contains the Prince’s Tomb, where among others these members of the Wittelsbach family were buried: