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Project - Ulm, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

No. 3 - 3: Ulm to Karlsruhe, part of the long journey home: (21/5/10)

 

On the face of it a lot of these villages look quite picturesque, with quaint little churches, and not a lot more than that!

 

"Stadtkirche" in Geislingen an der Steige.

 

A 'Rhenish helm' spire

 

Then you start a little research and discover that this sort of tower was built in the vogue of the 12th Century! - and, lo, these little villages become clusters of dwellings nestling around the edges of the Black Forest - where they have been living through history through the centuries. In the this photograph can be seen a little of a mediaeval domestic building of some sort.

 

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...... of a ‘Rhenish helm’ .....

. Saxon church towers are far from common in England and the form known as Rhenish is almost unknown here, although I am told more common in Germany. The framework is square, with a four-sided pyramid rising to a central mast. The helm was re-shingled in 1984, which offered the opportunity for a detailed study. Samples of the timber frame were sent for radio carbon dating and tree-ring dating, identifying the wood as 14th-century oak. It is likely that this wood was a replacement of earlier work, because the original tower construction shows a shape that is consistent with the Rhenish helm. - Bowness Ave. | Sompting Village, Lancing, England

 

http://www.somptingparish.org.uk/

 

This in Germany is recognised as coming from the Romano-Gothic aka Early Gothic of the 12th and 13th Centuries.

 

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To see Large: farm5.static.flickr.com/4064/4610517045_ed34713f2a_o.jpg

 

Taken on October 17, 2007 at 14:14

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Uploaded on May 21, 2010
Taken on October 17, 2007