Our Lady of the Palatinate Court

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The Mother of God from the Palatinate Court in Sinsheim in the Rhein-Neckar district in Baden-Württemberg is a figure of Mary from the Rococo period , which is in the lapidary of the Sinsheim city museum. The figure takes its name from the former installation site at the Pfälzer Hof , an inn that was demolished in 1954.

history

From the reign of Elector Philipp Wilhelm (1685–1690) in the Reformed Electoral Palatinate there were efforts to recatholicize, especially from the second quarter of the 18th century, which was also reflected in Catholic images of places in the Electoral Palatinate. This includes the figure of Mary on the corner of the building of the Hilsbach cellar's office building, which was newly built in 1732/33 . At around the same time, an identical statue was placed on a column in Sinsheim in front of the building on the corner of Kirchtorstrasse (later Bahnhofstrasse) and Hauptstrasse. Around 1745, four stone crosses followed in Sinsheim, the largest of which has been preserved on the east side of the Protestant town church.

Around 1750, the owner of the Sinsheimer Eckhaus, which has since become the Pfälzer Hof inn, had the statue of Mary put up in a niche at the corner of the building. The innkeepers at the Palatinate Court until 1850 were all Catholic. In the course of time, the knowledge of the identity of the saints depicted was lost and the statue was considered to be Saint Barbara until the Catholic parish priest Wilhelm Restle proved beyond doubt around 1920 that it was the Mother of God.

On the night of June 12th to 13th, 1939, two NSDAP party members tried to push the statue off its base. However, the master hairdresser Fritz Rohleder from the neighborhood noticed the men and recognized them, so they left. Government builder Richard Fischer reported the process to the Sinsheim District Office and asked for the two culprits to be prosecuted. Since this did not happen and the Madonna was also in danger of falling, Barber Rohleder took her into custody. The figure was badly damaged: the head, right foot and right hand were broken off. After 1945 the statue was restored by Wilhelm Merkle , who put the head back on and replaced the missing wooden hand. The figure was then repainted by master painter Hans Lehr. Since the Palatinate Court was demolished in 1954, the statue did not return to its old location, but initially remained in Lehr's workshop. It later came into the holdings of the Sinsheim City Museum.

description

The statue is made of yellow sandstone, painted in color and has a height of 1.05 meters. The Madonna is designed in the style of a crescent Madonna . She stands on a globe around which a snake with an apple in its mouth winds. The right foot of the Madonna crushes the head of the snake, the left foot rests on a crescent moon. The Madonna wears a blue dress with a red overdress thrown loosely over it. She has a star flower in her hair. She has brought her left hand to her breast, with her right hand she is holding a lily stem.

literature

  • K. Zimmermann-Ebert: Sinsheim an der Elsenz. A chapter home history in pictures , Gummersbach 1981, p. 32 (with a historical photo of the Palatinate court with statue).
  • Wilhelm Bauer: Mother of God from the “Palatinate Court” once forgotten . In: Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung of January 2, 2001 (with illustration of the statue and photo of the Palatinate Court without statue).
  • Wilhelm Bauer: The Mother of God from the “Palatinate Court”. In: Unser Land 2004. Local calendar for Neckartal, Odenwald, Bauland and Kraichgau , Heidelberg 2004, pp. 228–231 (with historical drawing of the Palatinate Court with statue).