Ottilienberg

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Historic buildings on the Ottilienberg

The Ottilienberg is a mountain near Eppingen in the Heilbronn district in northern Baden-Württemberg . A pilgrimage chapel was built in the 15th century on the mountain, which is said to have been used for cults in prehistoric times . In the 17th century, the ancient ring wall around the hilltop was expanded into a fortress. The historic buildings were partially destroyed in the Second World War, the chapel was then rebuilt in a modified form and was monument of the month in September 2015. In a new building complex built in the second half of the 20th century to the west of the historic buildings, there is also the Central training and further education center of the Christian Youth Village Association in Germany (CJD).

geography

The Ottilienberg is about three kilometers southeast of Eppingen. The 314.1  m above sea level NHN high elevation is embedded in the Hardtwald . The cleared, approximately two-hectare summit of the Ottilienberg is a scenic, reed sandstone oval with steep slopes to the Middle Keuper .

history

Due to the extraordinary geological formation, it is assumed that the high plateau served as a refuge and place of worship very early on. Traces of settlement have already been found from the Neolithic Age. The construction of a ring wall was probably carried out in the Hallstatt period , its expansion in the La Tène period . A Roman temple is said to have been located here later .

Former nave portal of the chapel

In 1473 the siblings Hans and Metz von Gemmingen donated a pilgrimage chapel on the mountain , consecrated to St. Ottilie , which was built on older foundations of unknown origin on the top of the mountain surrounded by the ring wall. In addition to the year of construction, a preserved building inscription also names a master Jacob as the builder. The chapel was looked after by the Wilhelmitenkloster Marienthal , which already had several properties in the nearby town of Mühlbach . A cemetery was created on the south side of the chapel. To the north of the chapel there was a residential and farm building, the massive components of which were of medieval origin. In the course of the Reformation , the Wilhelmites sold their monastery property in Mühlbach on July 3, 1546 to the city of Eppingen, which also came into the possession of the chapel. The nave of the chapel was probably destroyed in the Thirty Years War . The tower (stump) and choir have been preserved, as has a remnant of the nave, now isolated to the west of the choir due to the lack of the actual nave, with the former portal, which has been converted into an agricultural outbuilding. The farm yard has served as a hunter's house since the early 17th century, from which the popular name Jägersberg for the mountain was derived.

Under the Türkenlouis , Ottilienberg was expanded into an artillery fortress as a central defensive position for the Eppinger lines in 1697 , whereby the topographical features of the ancient ramparts were used in particular when creating the entrenchments. The ring wall and the entrenchments can still be recognized to some extent, although they were changed many times by later measures such as the construction of a quarry, the piercing of an access road, as well as timber management and site planning.

In the middle of the 18th century, pilgrimages and processions to the chapel took place again, before the forester, who lived in the farmyard, closed the chapel in 1782 and converted the churchyard into a garden. Later, the Ottilienberg developed into a popular destination for people from the area. The tower of the chapel, which was otherwise used as a haystack, could be climbed as a lookout tower; instead of the forester, an innkeeper was now the tenant of the property. An inn was set up in the basement of the farm building, and the landlord also offered guest rooms. In 1928 minor renovations were carried out. At that time, a pump room was also built by the chapel.

Choir of the pilgrimage chapel

During the Second World War , the facility on the Ottilienberg was shot at on April 5, 1945. The chapel burned down, the farmyard was destroyed. During the clean-up work in the facility, the remaining intact drinking hall was moved to the municipal building yard as a vehicle shed in 1946; in addition, numerous historical stones were lost when the rubble was removed, some of which were leveled in the historical churchyard. The remaining buildings were given temporary roofs and the facility was temporarily left to a displaced farmer from Bohemia. In 1952, the emergency roofs were damaged in a storm. The chapel was restored in a simplified, half-open form and without dormers in 1954/55, its tower was rebuilt and a stair tower was added. In 1966, the city administration and the Protestant and Catholic parishes agreed to share the chapel. Since then, church celebrations have occasionally taken place there again, the seating for the believers is in the open space of the former nave and in the remains of the nave open to the chapel. A former stable building of the historical complex was given to the Odenwaldklub in 1976 , which expanded it and occasionally offers catering there.

Meanwhile, in 1951, the city had begun building new farm buildings just west of the historic buildings. For the time being, due to a lack of money, it was left with a shell, which was transferred to the care and recovery organization for brain injured persons in 1955 . V. sold. But even this association, which did expand into a health resort, failed with its usage plans, so that the new buildings were temporarily used as a hotel and restaurant before the IHK Karlsruhe acquired the new building in 1967 and expanded it in 1973/74. The new building now houses the Arnold Dannenmann Academy, the central training and further education center of the Christian Youth Village Association in Germany (CJD).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ denkmalstiftung-baden-wuerttemberg.de
  2. ↑ Map services of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation ( information )
  3. ↑ Adolf von Oechelhäuser [Ed.]: The art monuments of the Grand Duchy of Baden (Volume 8.1): The art monuments of the districts of Sinsheim, Eppingen and Wiesloch (Heidelberg district) , Tübingen 1909, p. 162.

literature

  • Edmund Kiehnle : The Ottilienberg to Eppingen . In: Around the Ottilienberg - Contributions to the history of the city of Eppingen and the surrounding area . Volume 1. Heimatfreunde Eppingen , Eppingen 1979, pp. 34-48

Web links

Commons : Ottilienberg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 49 ° 6 ′ 56 ″  N , 8 ° 55 ′ 51 ″  E