Eppingen Things to Do

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The plateau behind the church and the chapel of St Catherine served as cemetery for centuries. The current cemetery has long been transferred to a place outside the village chentre but the churchyard still has grave monuments. Most of these are metal crosses in beautiful and elaborate blacksmith's work. In the back there is a steep descent to Kirchgasse, supported by walls.

Access to the cemetery is either from the courtyard between the church and the chapel of St Catherine or up a steep stairway from Kirchgasse.

A funny detail is the (modern) iron dragon, chained to the wall of St Catherine's chapel.

This extraordinary medieval fresco inside the church is a bit hidden and easily overlooked. Seeing such 'creatures from the dark side' within a church is at least remarkable. It shows a milk witch and the devil. The witch is milking a fountain (which is supposed to give water, not milk, and collecting the milk in a bucket. The devil brings a pot, waiting to get some of the milk. The inscription is unfortunately destroyed.

Witch and devil are depicted above the northern side door, the door to the cemetery. North is the dark, the night side, and this door leads to the graveyard. The picture is probably meant as a warning to beware of the dark powers.

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The "old" town hall of Eppingen looks notably younger than all those amazing half-timbered houses, and it is. Those who know the typical neoclassical architecture of Karlsruhe and the Grandduchy of Baden will immediately think of Friedrich Weinbrenner, the state architect in the easly 19th century. It wasn't himself who designed Eppingen's town hall, though, but one of his students who designed it in 1823.

The town hall is located in the wide new market square that substituted the much smaller former market square next to the Old University. Beware of the fountains in the pavement...

Another remarkable building in this sqaure is Alte Post, a half-timbered house with two gables, in restauro right now and invisible behind scaffolding, even partly taken down to repair the timberframe construction and insert new beams where needed.
Update: A couple of weeks later (photo 4) the nets and parts of the scaffolding were taken down so it was possible to get an idea of the building.

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The Old Synagogue in Küfergasse was built in 1731 and was in use until the 1870s when the Jewish community built a new synagogue. The old one was sold and became a private residential house.

The ground floor is built from stone, the upper storeys are timberframe. The ground floor still contains the 18th century mikwe, the ritual bath. The wooden door to the mikwe seems to be open in the daytime (it was both times I I visited) so you can look inside through the iron gate.
The facade still bears the chuppa or wedding stone (where the bridegroom smashes a glass during the wedding ceremony as reminiscence to the destruction of the Jerusalem temple), a relief with inscriptions in Hebrew and an 8-pointed star. On the doorframe of the main entrance, the slot is still visible where the mesusah used to be.

The building survived the Nazi era unharmed thanks to the courage of the then owner. He had covered the wedding stone with a wooden shutter and pretended there was just a cellar window behind. The Nazis showed up again and again and ordered him to open the shutter, but he refused - saying, in summer, thatthe hot air would enter and ruin his must, and in winter, that the cold air would enter and freeze his potatoes and ruin his must... He succeeded in saving his house, and this monument of Jewish religion.

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Baumann'sches Haus is probably the moast beautiful among the many beautiful half-timbered houses in Eppingen's old town. For sure it is the one with the most elaborate details in construction and ornamentation. The house dates from 1582, the date can be found above one of the side doors. Its picture even made it onto a German postage stamp.

Look for the three Neidköpfe (envy heads) on the southern side (photo 3).

In case you plan to stay overnight in style... The house hosts a hotel and restaurant: Altstadthotel Wilde Rose

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The colourful crucifix on the southern wall of the nave is an eyecatcher, and will be even more when the scaffolding has been taken down (at the moment taking aphoto in total was impossible because of that). It is named the "Longinus" Cross because the only person depicted under the cross is Longinus, the Roman officer who after Christ's death said, "He was truly the son of the Lord."

Around the cross the Arma Christi are assembled: a collection of all the arms and other requisites that appear in the Passion of Christ. Test your knowledge of the Bible...

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The catholic parish church of Our Lady is located on the highest point of the hill in the middle of the old town. The church is of medieval origins but has been extended and partly rebuilt in the 1960s or 70s.

Right now (May 2011) the outside is being renovated, but they were already painting so these works should be finished soon. There are no works inside, though. The back entrance on the right side of the church is open in the daytime.

The interior is not much to write about, apart from some medieval frescoes that have recently been rediscovered in the gothic choir and on the northern wall of the nave. The pulpit is also an old piece, the rest of the interior is 20th century.

Don't miss the little cemetery behind the church. It forms a terrace high above the road below, supported by stone walls. The grave monuments are not stones as usual but metal crosses in elaborate blacksmith's work.

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The Old University hosts the Stadt- und Fachwerkmuseum (town and timberframe museum). It shows the history of the town and its surroundings and the way people lived in former centuries on all five floors of the building. This includes interiors of housing, workshops and shops. There is an exhibition on timberframe architecture on the first floor. Some command of German is helpful to understand the explanations.
However, the museum is worth a look inside anyway. The exhibits and ensembles give an idea even if you don't read the explanations. In addition to what's on display, this is a chance to see the interior of the timberframe construction - even more so as it is free.

Museum website (in German)
Virtual tour of the musem - click the red arrows or the plan on the left to move within the building

Opening hours: Wednesday to Sunday and on public holidays 14.00 - 16.00. Free entry.