St. Peter's Church, Straubing

St. Peter's Church, Straubing, is a Romanesque basilica in Straubing, Germany. It was built in the second half of the 12th century, and is distinguished by its two sculpted portals. The surrounding graveyard contains a number of funeral chapels, most notably the Totenkapelle, which is decorated with a cycle of paintings depicting the Totentanz (Dance of the Dead) by the Rococo artist Felix Hözl.LocationSt. Peter's is located on the southern bank of the Danube river in the Altstadt of Straubing, approximately one kilometer to the east of the present city center. It sits on top of a small elevation, and the graveyard, church, and chapels are enclosed by a wall.HistoryThe present church is at least the second to have stood on the site: excavations conducted in 1974 revealed the presence of an earlier Carolingian hall church. The present church was built around 1200, shortly before the removal of Straubing's main market to a site well to the east (the present-day Neustadt). St. Peter's remained, however, the only rectory in Straubing until 1492, when the Church of St. Jakob was built in the Neustadt. The church was redecorated in a Baroque style sometime before 1696, and an onion-dome was set atop the south-western tower. The Baroque decoration and onion dome were removed in 1866/67 in the course of a historicizing "purification" of the structure. In 1885 the north-western tower, which had previously been only three storeys high, was raised to the height of the south-western tower. The most recent restoration was undertaken in 1977/78, at which time the nave was provided with a wooden roof.