The second Sunday in September marks the Day of Open Monuments (previously) all across Europe, and today we had the opportunity to visit a local landmark, the Ostheimer Kirchenburg, and inspect parts not normally accessible to the public.
Climbing up several levels on narrow wooden ladder, we got to see the original clockwork housed in the
Waagglockenturm—so named as it used to also act as the city’s scales for weighing bushels of corn and other goods and the later repurposed counterweights powered the time-keeping mechanism, now installed at the Rathaus—and had a commanding view of the town below.
We also got to explore some of the networks of tunnels and storage space that connected all parts of the compound as well as the interior of the church with a chance to marvel at the eighteenth century pipe organ—complete with thirty-seven registers, designed by Johann Ernst Dรถring and biblical ceiling art by chief architect and engineer Nicolua Storant from 1615. Do you have any local landmarks hosting an open house today? If so, please do visit and share your impressions.
