St. John's Church, Osnabrück

St. Johann is a former collegiate church in Osnabrück. It is considered one of the earliest large Gothic hall churches in Germany. John the Baptist is the patron saint of the church. It comprises a three-nave nave, a straight-closed chancel, an east transept and a two-towered west transept. The latter is a feature of the original function as a collegiate church. In this cruciform building with a monumental west façade, architectural ideas from Westphalia and Lower Saxony as well as from the Rhineland were taken up and applied independently. Although this building is of decisive importance for the beginning of the Gothic period in Germany, it remained without significant successors.

St. John's Church stands on the business-rich Johannisstrasse in Osnabrück. It is the settlement core of the old Neustadt and towers far above its houses. In addition to Osnabrück Cathedral, St. Mary's and St. Catherine's, St. John's is the fourth medieval church in Osnabrück's city center. In front of the church there is a chapel. It reinforces the separation of the sacred area from the modern shopping street.