When the Holy Year 1450 brought many pilgrims to Rome, the brotherhood built a church, a new hospice for German pilgrims on the adjoining land, and developed the Campo Santo into a German national institution. In the 15th, 16th, and even in the 19th century the German nation was represented at Rome by numerous officials at the papal court and by guilds of German bakers, shoemakers, and weavers; in these ages Germans were to be found in every industry of ordinary life, and German bankers and inn-keepers were especially numerous. Nevertheless, the steadily decreasing German population of Rome during the 17th and 18th centuries caused the Campo Santo, as a national foundation, and the brotherhood to sink into neglect. The church was progressively eclipsed by the church of Saint Maria dell' Anima. In 1876 Pope Pius IX founded a seminary for German-speaking priests for the special study of archaeology and church history to replace the "Schola Francorum". Today, the church is still an important gathering place for the German-speaking community in Rome. The present church was built in the last quarter of the fifteenth century. Access to the Church (from the cemetery) is through a portal by sculptor Elmar Hillebrand of Cologne, given in 1957 by the President of the Republic of Germany Theodor Heuss. During the Sack of Rome (1527), the Swiss Guard made their last stand in the Teutonic Cemetery, holding off the invading troops long enough for Pope Clement VII to escape over the Passetto di Borgo to Castel Sant'Angelo. The Chapel of the Swiss served as a burial place for the fallen guards. A guide from the early 19th century mentions a main altarpiece depicting a "Deposition" by Polidoro di Caravaggio, flanked by painting by Giacinto d'Hasse. This latter painter's tomb monument, located inside the church, was sculpted by Francois Duquesnoy. The lateral altars housed a "St Erasmus" by Giacinto Gimignani and "Epiphany" by Scarsellino; the altar dedicated to St Charles Borromeo had an altarpiece depicting the "Flight to Egypt" by Arrigo Fiammingo; "St John Nepomunk" by Ignazio Stern; and the sacristy held an "Immaculate Conception" by Luigi Garzi.