Bajuwarenhof Kirchheim

The Bajuwarenhof Kirchheim is an archaeological open-air museum in the Upper Bavarian municipality of Kirchheim near Munich in the district of Munich .

The museum consists of a Merovingian court complex , which was reconstructed as realistically as possible based on archaeological findings , mainly from the Munich region, and taking into account experimental archaeological findings . Founded in winter 2003, the Bajuwarenhof was Kirchheim's official contribution to the 2005 Federal Horticultural Show . The 2800 square meter site was also made available by the municipality. The museum is run by the Bajuwarenhof Kirchheim association. The focus of the museum's work is on a practical representation of the rural life and working world of the 6th and 7th centuries AD. At the same time, the facility serves as a research object for practical long-term experiments on a wide variety of archaeological issues.

location

The museum is located in the Heimstetten part of the Kirchheim community in the southeastern Zwickel between the Munich-East motorway ring (A 99), Bajuwarenstraße and the residential area on Heimstettener Moosweg. The site of a former overburden landfill is now completely greened. A noise barrier, densely planted with trees and bushes and barely visible to the naked eye, effectively shields the facility from the motorway that passes directly by.

Facilities

Longhouse: Hall (detail) with fireplace

Longhouse: living room

Outbuildings

The Bajuwarenhof Kirchheim is a reconstructed farmstead from the Merovingian period (approx. 450 - 750 AD). The replica does not follow an original on the spot, but is based on findings from archaeological excavations, especially in the Munich gravel plain (e.g. settlement excavations in Kirchheim, south of Tassilostraße, in the early 1980s).

Access to the museum grounds is from the northeast via an entrance building. Its contemporary design and construction clearly stand out from the rest of the buildings. A wattle fence with a passage running in north-south direction crosses a herb and wildflower meadow and marks the beginning of the actual courtyard area.

The largest building of the Bajuwarenhof is in the north a long house (house 2) with a thatched rafter roof . The building, which manages without an internal structure , houses several rooms: in the middle a hall with a fireplace , in the east a room , above a chamber open to the hall, in the north-east a hallway and in the west of the hall an adjoining room that is shared with the main room is separated from an unplastered wattle wall. In the hall the floor is laid with gravel stones, in the room with split wood. The posts of the nave are less than 90 centimeters apart and the gable is seven meters high.

The second largest building is the so-called auxiliary building (house 1) in the west of the site . It was the first building of the Bajuwarenhof to be completed on the occasion of the Federal Garden Show in 2005. The house has a rammed earth floor and a furnace roof , where the rafters are attached to the ridge beam. In the east, a canopy attached halfway up protects the lower part of the lime- plastered gable wall from driving rain . In the west, the construction is protected by a hip that extends far down . The house is accessed via a door from the east. On the north side there is a gate, which, however, has no historical model. There is a fireplace inside the outbuilding, which serves as a workshop and storage room .

A herb garden that was laid out in April 2005 is located between the nave and the outbuilding . Kitchen and medicinal herbs , useful plants and some old vegetables grow in it . The garden is completely surrounded by a wattle fence with a door on the northeast side.

The larger pit house 2 , covered by a tent-like reed roof, is used as a storage room. The lower area of the pit serves as a weaving room . In addition to the two gable posts, the pit house has four further, indented posts in the corners of the pit. The north side of the house is open, the other sides have wickerwork walls.

The smaller pit house 1 houses a simple forge in the northeast and is covered with a tent-like reed roof. This rests on a longitudinal purlin , which is supported by two buried posts. The pit house is accessed from the west. The half-sided wall there is formed by branches arranged next to one another. The wall on the east side consists of wickerwork, one side of which (in front of the forge) is smeared with clay.

The longitudinal axis of all reconstructed houses runs in the west-east direction typical of the early Middle Ages.

There is a wooden box fountain between the four houses . However, it does not reach the groundwater level, which can be found in this region of the Munich gravel plain at a depth of around 6.5 meters.

An experimental field was laid out in April 2005 immediately south of the adjoining building. In it and in a smaller field in the south-eastern part of the site, crops and cereals are grown that are documented for the 6th and 7th centuries. The experimental field is largely surrounded by a willow plug-in fence almost as high as a man, the smaller field by a low wattle fence. In addition, fruit trees and native hardwoods grow on the site .

In the southwest corner of the Bajuwarenhof there is a work area that is covered by a contemporary wooden structure. Its southern part serves as protection for a glass , a pot and an oven (all since spring 2008). Its northern part houses a modern forge, in which replicas of archaeological finds are made from iron and blacksmithing techniques are demonstrated.

In the southern part of the courtyard area, a small wooden church with a simple rectangular hall and a ridge height of around 4.5 meters is planned on a stone foundation .

Experimental archeology

Since the beginning of its existence, experimental archeology has been carried out at the Bajuwarenhof Kirchheim in order to test scientific hypotheses about the living and working world of the farmers who settled in the Munich area in the early Middle Ages through practical tests. This concern is fed by a widespread lack of written evidence and organic legacies (e.g. wooden buildings and tools, useful plants, animal skins, hides ) from the early Middle Ages that could provide information about everyday life (e.g. handicrafts ).

Experience is gained at the Bajuwarenhof Kirchheim in the construction, design and furnishing of buildings, but also in the manufacture of everyday objects as well as in horticulture and agriculture .

Others

The construction of the buildings as well as the creation of the garden and fields was carried out with considerable involvement of volunteers . The operation and maintenance of the site is also carried out exclusively by volunteers. These present themselves to the visitors as “living exhibits” with replicas of early medieval clothing, equipment and tools. Among other things, they demonstrate old handicrafts and provide information about the time.

literature

Bajuwarenhof Kirchheim e. V. (Hrsg.): Project for living archeology of the early Middle Ages. Annual journal 2004 . Editor: Stephanie Zintl. Thannabaur, Volkenschwand 2005, ISBN 3-9808362-1-5 .
Bajuwarenhof Kirchheim e. V. (Ed.): The Bajuwarenhof. A tour . Editing: Hans-Peter Volpert, Stephanie Zintl. In the series “Bajuwarenhof Kirchheim. Project for Living Archeology of the Early Middle Ages ”. Without location information 2011.