Parish Centre of St. John the Baptist in Ismaning near Munich
Like almost no other place around Munich, Ismaning, especially its centre, still retains an organically grown and largely intact townscape. Until the turn of the 20th century, there was also a Romanesque church here, appropriately scaled to the village, complete with a cemetery and village green. However, this church became too small for the community, which had prospered thanks to bountiful harvests. Unfortunately, it wasn't sensibly expanded, but rather demolished. Only the tower, with its nearly 2-metre-thick walls at the base, was left standing. At the time, the architect told the community he could build them a Neo-Romanesque, a Neo-Gothic, or even a Neo-Baroque church. They opted for a Neo-Romanesque structure with a massive nave and two side aisles, a main apse, side apses, and numerous side chapels, oriels, and turrets. The old tower would have been too modest in comparison to this massive building, so it was raised by 15 metres and is now visible from afar. Inside, there is a variety of arch forms – Romanesque only because they are mostly round arches, but in its overall character, strongly influenced by Art Nouveau. All in all, a powerful building, but rather insensitive with regard to the local scale and its integration into the surrounding buildings.
