Rotenkirchner Gate

Rothenkirchen Monastery

The Rothenkirchen Monastery, founded by Werner II von Bolanden (1118 – approx. 1190) and his wife Guda (HANC DOMVM FECERVNT WERNER ET GVDA) around 1160, is located an hour (3 km) north of the “Rothenkircher Gate”.

Of the formerly very extensive abbey, only the Romanesque refectory remains. The Premonstratensians were based in Rothenkirchen. The dissolution of their monastery in 1544 can be seen in a dual context: the general crisis of the late medieval church and a monastic self-understanding that had eroded its meaning, through which the arch inscription at the entrance to the refectory, the monks’ dining hall, had lost its deeper meaning.

SEDIBVS HIS PANEM CARNI VERBVM DABIS AVRI, DELICIIS VERBI SACIVS QVAM PANE CIBARI

Here, food is offered to the body, the word to the soul; better than food nourishes you, the sweetness of the word nourishes you.

Upper Town

Successful medieval urban projects soon grew beyond their walled perimeters. This led to the development of suburbs, which usually also received an outer protective wall.

In Kirchheimbolanden, an “Upper Town” thus developed. The entire urban area now encompassed about 4.5 hectares (two-thirds of which were within the walled perimeter). The total number of houses is estimated at about 130 (40 of which were in the “Upper Town”). The population in the core city was likely around 450, with an additional 180 in the upper suburb.

The axis of the “Upper Town” was formed by Langstraße (current house numbers 31 and 32 to 51/53, as well as 54). Today, Baroque-era buildings dominate this street area (for example, Langstraße 34 or 37/39/41/43), as well as in Neugasse as a transverse axis.