The parish church of Simon and Judas, Marlesreuth

The white walls of the little church shine out in contrast to the slate cladding which is typical of the region and which also covers the whole of the tower and west wall. Once inside, you are met with unexpected, splendid baroque colour. The Gospel is proclaimed in pictures and in colourful figures just as much as it is from the pulpit in the centre of the pulpit altar. It was members of the Knoll and Lohe families, artists from Hof, who created the church furnishings, and for a long time the church belonged to the parish of Selbitz, even though the temporal lords in this border area were the von Wildenstein family (as in Presseck) and others.
Sculptor Johann Nikolaus Knoll carved the pulpit altar with its four Evangelists, the Saviour (in the act of blessing) in the centre, and with Heaven open above. He also made the baptismal angel which used to be lowered from the ceiling when required, but then in the 19C disappeared to the attic, and nowadays is fixed to a pillar.The organ case made by Knoll no longer exists, but the organ is still in place above the pulpit altar. Probably the oldest parts of the church come from the previous altar: the pictures of saints on the wall. It was Heinrich Matthäus Lohe and Heinrich Samuel Lohe who created the shiny metallic colouring of both the altar and the baptismal angel. They also painted the galleries and the 25 pictures in the panels of the coffered ceiling, which portray the whole of the story of salvation from the Creation to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Whitsun.