Hospital church, Hof

Little treasure chest and church of pictures

Covered in paintings, the interior of this church makes a unique impact. It all began in 1688/9, when the Hof painter Heinrich Andreas Lohe was given the contract to paint all 90 panels of the coffered ceiling with biblical scenes. He based them on examples in both the Marian Bible and the Osiander Bible. On many panels names of donors and guilds can be found. As the paintings were so popular, the painter was permitted to furnish the upper gallery with scenes from the Passion of Christ, and the organ loft with angel musicians. The paintings on the lower gallery date from 1905 and are in far worse condition than those of the 17C. The pulpit roof, with its imposing representation of the bronze serpent of Moses, was made by the Hof sculptor Johann Nikolaus Knoll in 1693.
The church was destroyed in the Second Margrave war, then rebuilt in 1557, when it was given the late gothic Marian altar by Michael Heuffner. This masterpiece was made for St Michael’s church as a side altar in 1511, but was no longer needed there after the Reformation. As the hospital church lay outside the city walls, both it and the altar escaped the city fire of 1823.
An epitaph representing the healing at the pool of Bethesda shows all the grounds of the hospital, which was founded in 1260, and which with 46 ‘hospital residents’ at that time was a large institution, subsidised by the Bishop of Bamberg.The picture also shows the sick as well as their spiritual and civic benefactors.

Discover
the church.

Hospital church
Unteres Tor 11a
95028 Hof

Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri 09:00-12:00
Please ring bell of parish office next to church for church to be unlocked for you.

Evang.-Luth. Pfarramt Hof-Hospitalkirche
09281 2868
hospitalkirche.hof@elkb.de
hospitalkirche-hof.de

  • Car parking
  • Charging station electric bikes
  • Charging station electric cars
  • Public transport
  • Food and drink
  • Church tours

Explore
the surroundings.

It's worth going a little bit further: many churches lie on lovely cycle, walking and pilgrim paths. You will find an overview of them in the following map, as well as places worth seeing nearby. It also has links to local area, church and tourist information websites.

Bike tracks, pilgrim paths and hiking trails close to Hospital church:

Saale-Radweg 403 km Hof Land HO 3 – Saale-Selbitz Tour 60 km Hof Land HO 9 – Grenztour 2 51 km Jean-Paul-Weg 200 km Seenweg 88 km Wanderweg der Deutschen Einheit 1080 km Jakobsweg Via Imperii Teilabschnitt Leipzig-Hof 192 km Jakobsweg Hof-Weißenstadt 42 km Jakobsweg Hof-Bayreuth-Nürnberg 183 km Bayerisches Vogtland – Vom Golddorf Kirchgattendorf zum Museumsdorf Mödlareuth 31 km Bayreuth Land BT 3 – Von Schloss Fantaisie nach Bayreuth 25 km Bayreuth Radring – Schleife A 15 km Bayreuth Radring – Schleife D 19 km Casanovas Ausritt 191 km Die Burgenstraße 950 km Mitteleuropa-Route-EuroVelo 4 5100 km Obermain-Frankenwald-Tour 236 km Radweg D11 Ostsee-Oberbayern 1694 km Saar-Mosel-Main – D-Route 5 987 km Thermentour 125 km Durch Bayerns steinreiche Ecke 203 km Hof Land – Vogtlandradweg 13 km Hof Land HO 1 – Von See zu See 60 km Radrunde Oberfranken 552 km Durch die Altstadt von Hof 4.5 km Markgrafenkirchen und sehr viel mehr
Tour 18: “Ins bayerische Vogtland”
38 km

Visit the
events.

Find more events on the church's website or the Evangelische Termine portal (Evangelical events portal).