The Jesuit Church of St. Ignatius and Franz Xaver is a Catholic church in downtown Mannheim in square A 4. It was built between 1738 and 1760 and is one of the parish churches of the Mannheim-Johannes XXIII pastoral unit. as well as the seat of the dean of the catholic city deanery Mannheim. At the beginning of the 20th century, the art historian Georg Dehio described it as the most important baroque church in south-west Germany.
On March 12, 1733 the cornerstone of the church was laid. However, since the construction of the castle cost enormous sums of money, the actual construction work on the church did not begin until 1738. Carl Philipp had agreed to cover the costs from his private purse. After his death in 1742, the new Elector Carl Theodor initially implemented austerity measures due to the country's tight financial situation, so that the Jesuits' construction site also came to a standstill. In 1744 work was resumed, but the elector demanded that the plans be modified in order to avoid "unnecessary" costs. The topping-out ceremony for the dome was celebrated in 1748 and the shell of the building was largely completed the following year, so that the interior design could begin.
The church was extensively renovated in 1906 for the 300th anniversary of the city. The two donor figures by the sculptor Thomas Buscher were created in the vestibule. During the Second World War, the church building suffered severe damage from British-American air raids, especially in the chancel and in the cupola. Parts of the equipment were also destroyed or damaged. After the war it was decided to restore the church in its historical style. Reconstruction took place under the direction of Anton Ohnmacht and Hans Rolli and on November 6, 1960 Archbishop Hermann Schäufele celebrated the consecration. Jesuits have been active in Mannheim again since 1947. Between 1986 and 2004 further reconstructions were carried out inside the church, in particular the marble high altar in 1997 and the electoral court boxes. As a result of the exodus of the population from the city center and the dwindling number of believers, the three inner city parishes of the upper and lower parishes and the Liebfrauenkirche were combined into one pastoral care unit on September 1, 2005.