St. John the Baptist
On the occasion of a visitation trip in 1698, the auxiliary bishop of Regensburg, Count von Wartenberg, declared: "In the entire diocese of Regensburg he had not seen and encountered a worse or more miserable church than in Stamsried".
After the visit of the auxiliary bishop, however, another 20 years were to pass before the construction of the new church could be tackled, which was finally inaugurated on July 20, 1725 by the auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Regensburg, Gottfried Langwert von Simmern.
The building is 35 meters long, 12 meters wide and 11 meters high. Despite the three additional buildings (tower, sacristy and oratory), the basic structure of the building is clearly recognizable. The church tower reaches exactly up to the gable height of the gable roof and continues from there in an octagonal shape. Within this section are eight large sound holes and the four faces of the clock tower. The tower ends with a baroque onion roof with a cross on top. The total tower height is about 35 meters. Overall, the building is a typical baroque village church.
When entering the interior, one immediately notices the expressive ceilings or wall frescoes and emblems. They were created by Johann Valentin Reischl in the years 1720/21.
The parish church was also severely damaged in a major fire that raged in Stamsried in 1839. The church was then renovated in a makeshift manner, apparently they did not dare to restore the frescoes and simply painted them over. Only in 1966 - as part of an interior renovation of the church - did parts of the frescoes come to light. The restoration work on the frescoes was then completed in 1967.
The current high altar is already the third in this church. It dates from 1895 and represents a mixture of neo-romanticism and baroque, in accordance with the taste of the time. The high altar picture shows "the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist".
The two side altars and the pulpit date from 1722 and were created by Wessobrunn plasterer Magnus Schäffler. The left side altar shows the image of Mary as "Mary Help of Christians", the smaller image above the martyr Sebastian pierced by arrows. The right altar was built in honor of St. John Nepomuk, the smaller picture above shows St. Florian.
Source: Excerpts from the church guide in the parish church of Stamsried