Augustinerkirche, Mainz

Having survived the Second World War virtually unscathed, the Augustinerkirche (St. Augustine's) has retained a splendor unusual for this part of Germany. Used as a monastery by the monks of the Augustinian order from 1260-1803, the main building stems from 1768 and is now the seminary for the diocese. Painter Johann Baptist Enderle has paid tribute to the life of St. Augustine with some fantastic frescos on the ceiling, and one of the few surviving organs built by master craftsman Johann Heinrich Stumm stands under the main window. In 1851 the church was renamed 'Liebfrauenkirche' (Church of the Holy Virgin), but the people of Mainz will always know it as 'St. Augustine's'. The church organizes special programs for weekends.