St. Marien Church (Hof)

The imposing structure of the Catholic St. Mary's Church forms the visual culmination of the old town. Built in 1864 in the neo-Gothic style according to plans by the Regensburg cathedral master builder Denzinger, the main Catholic church is one of the "youngest" churches in Hof. After Catholic life died out in the wake of the Reformation in 1529, Catholics only began to move to the area again in 1810, when Hof, along with the Margraviate of Bayreuth, became part of Bavaria. The growing number of Catholic workers from Bohemia and the Franconian Forest, as well as Bavarian officials, ultimately led to the construction of St. Mary's Church – on the site of the former Golden Sun Inn. The name of the Sonnenplatz next to St. Mary's Church still recalls the former inn. Its artistic unity lends St. Mary's a special charisma.

At the beginning of the 19th century workers from Bohemia and the Franconian Forest and Bavarian officials came to Hof. Through them, after the death of the last Catholic abbess in 1564, a Catholic parish was established again for the first time. After using a worship room in the customs building and a "chapel" in Karolinenstraße for a while, the 539-member congregation decided in 1860 to build a church. St. George, Laurentius, Nicholas, Antonius, Aloysius, Maria Magdalena, Bernhard, a depiction of the Sacred Heart of Mary, Bonaventure, Otto, a depiction of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and St. Klara.

In the chancel windows we see representations of the apostles Peter and Paul and the diocese patrons Heinrich and Kunigunde.

Pictures and statues show us Saints Catherine and Francis, Archangel Michael, a depiction of Maria Immaculata and a Crucifixion group. Like the depiction of the Mother of God with the Child in the high altar, they also point us to the Son of God who became man.

Very nice church 👍🏻