About 30 hearts of bishops, some of which had been desecrated during the German Peasants' War, are said to have found their final resting place at Ebrach.

The Prince-Bishop Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn (d. 1617) broke with this tradition and left instructions for his heart to be buried in the Neubaukirche [de].

The exterior today mostly retains its original appearance (although a wooden tower was added in 1716), but the interior was significantly changed in the 18th century.

[3]: 240 The late 13th-century west façade features a Gothic portal flanked by statues of the patrons Mary and John the Evangelist, added in 1648/9.

He added Corithian columns, a Neoclassical sill and covered the Gothic vaulting rib with stucco garlands.

Oil paintings on the walls of the side aisles show saints or beatified members of the Cistercian order.

The towering high altar features a 17th-century painting showing the Assumption of Mary, based on an earlier picture by Peter Paul Rubens.

The tabernacle shows figures of Saint Peter, John the Evangelist, Bernard of Clairvaux and Edmund of Canterbury by Wagner.

[3]: 241 Access to the ring of chapels is via stucco-marble archways by Daniel Friedrich Humbach (1741), showing Saint Nepomuk (south) and Jesus with the Fourteen Helpers (north).

At the back of the high altar are the burial monuments for Gertrud and her son Friedrich von Schwaben.

[3]: 241 In the northern transept stands a Renaissance altar made from sandstone and alabaster dedicated to Bernard of Clairvaux, created in 1625/6 by Veit Dümpel.

Since the axis of this chapel and the crypt below are not aligned with the rest of the church, these may be the oldest parts of the structure, begun before the plan for the overall basilica was finished.

The earlier tract was planned and built by Leonhard Dientzenhofer (eastern wings and two-storied north façade) in early Baroque style, out of gray/white sandstone.

He later, based on plans revised by Balthasar Neumann, constructed the western front of the large cour d'honneur and built the Festsaalbau at its eastern end.

The Kaisersaal also features stucco by Hennicke, surrounding a central ceiling painting of "The triumph of the lamb" by Clemens Lünenschloss.