Holy Trinity Church, Bad Berneck

The church sits enthroned on a rock overlooking the narrow valley, in which the spa town stretches up to the marketplace. There was already a tiny church on the artificial plateau when on 18th Oct 1365 an independent parish was established. The church burnt down several times.
The Baroque church of 1715 with its artistic stuccoed ceiling fell into disrepair; only the tower and two works of art from inside have survived: a piece of the pulpit with Luke the Evangelist and the figure of Moses, made by the court sculptor Elias Räntz. Formerly it carried the pulpit as in Pilgramsreuth, but now it stands in the corner underneath the steps.
In 1800 the renovated aisleless church with its large bright church interior was ready to be consecrated – as one of the last of the margrave churches. It is dedicated to the Holy Trinity, represented not only by the triangle on the ceiling, in the middle of a large halo of rays of light, but also by the entrances: three doorways identical in height lead into the church, whose interior is furnished in elegant neoclassical style. As the congregation had run out of money, the gilding and painting had to wait until 1837, when it was financed by generous benefactors of the parish.
Whoever takes the trouble to climb up the steps to the church is rewarded with the view over the little town in the valley, and walks into a noble house of God.