The Carolingian abbey town in Meßkirch
In Baden-Württemberg a medieval town is being created under historical conditions
Muscle power instead of machine power, ox carts instead of lorries, historical garments instead of overalls: in a forest clearing in southern Upper Swabia, between the Danube and Lake Constance, a medieval abbey town in being created under historical conditions. Thirty permanently employed craftsmen are building fifty houses and a cathedral for 2,000 people in Meßkirch. They are using exclusively construction methods and materials of the ninth century. All building materials – stone, clay and wood – are obtained directly on the site; everything is to be done exactly as it was in the days of Charlemagne. The work-year runs from 2 April, the birthday of the Carolingian emperor, to St. Martin’s Day on 11 November. The workers have one free weekend per month.
The idea for this mammoth project originated with the Rhenish businessman Bert Geurten. In his hometown of Aachen he came across a model of the plan for the abbey of St. Gallen, which was drawn up in the ninth century on the island of Reichenau in Lake Constance, but never realized. Geurten also cites as a model Guédelon, a French project in which an association is building a castle using the construction methods of the thirteenth century. About 300,000 paying visitors come every year to this remote town to view the building site.
The idea is that Meßkirch, too, after seed finding of around one million euros from the coffers of the town, district and EU, should pay for itself as a tourist attraction. And not only must the craftsmen plunge into medieval conditions, but also the visitors. To set the right mood, the latter will have a long way to walk from the car park to the construction site. “They’ll embark on a journey through time”, says Geurten. If they want refreshments after the march, the abbey town will have on the menu only what was available in the ninth century. “Surveys of visitors at Guédelon have shown that they come back on an average of every three years”, says Geurten. This is tourism as a kind of series, to be continued. Because it will be at least forty years until the town is completed.
