Above a small village called Heinsheim, a district of the Baden-Württemberg town of Bad Rappenau, a mountain church from the 9th century sits enthroned on a ridge. This mountain church is one of the oldest rural churches in southwestern Germany and was built on a druid site. Druid sites look back on a tradition that goes back thousands of years. Special mountains or springs were used as places of worship, from which a magical energy emanated that had a beneficial effect on the body, mind, and soul. One such place was the ridge above Heinsheim. A wooden baptistery was once built here at a spring that still flows today, and was later replaced by a single-nave stone building with a flat ceiling and an imposing tower in the Romanesque style. The mountain church, which rises 110 steps above the village of Heinsheim, was first mentioned in writing in 965 in the Cartularium Wormatiense. However, archaeological finds testify to its use as early as Roman times and from the 7th/8th century onwards. The mountain church is dedicated to St. Hilarius and was the main church and burial place of the Lords of Ehrenberg from the High Middle Ages until the extinction of the family in 1674. The church was renovated several times in the 18th and 19th centuries. I could see the square tower of the church from afar and entered through a simple wooden portal. My first glance fell on the wall and ceiling frescoes in the choir room, which were uncovered in 1957. I was particularly impressed by the wall fresco of St. Christopher, which dates from 1280 and was discovered by chance during an interior renovation in 1963. The oldest frescoes in the church, the four symbols of the evangelists, dating from around 1250, are located in the cross vault of the tower above the altar. I marvelled at the frescoes on the side walls of the choir, which show Christ on the throne of judgement and on the throne of mercy. On the eastern rear wall of the choir are late Gothic frescoes from 1500 depicting the two saints St. Hilarius and St. Maximinus in medieval bishop’s robes with knights of Ehrenberg kneeling on their coats of arms. I was also able to admire the tomb slabs of the Ehrenberg knightly family on the walls of the choir room. In 1959, the current simple stone altar was erected and six old knight’s tombs were found at a depth of 1 meter. The tomb slabs date from around 1400 to 1700. The nave contains the largest tomb monument for the knight Johann Heinrich von Ehrenberg and his wife Margaretha with their eight children. I was also impressed by the Gothic baptistery with its hand-carved basalt head of Christ and beautiful ornaments on the outside, as well as stars and flames on the interior ceiling with the head of John the Baptist. The organ loft is located on the west side of the nave opposite the stone altar. The colorful mosaic windows are also well worth seeing and create a wonderful play of light inside the church. Even the exterior of the church is a real eye-catcher with its massive defensive walls and the adjacent cemetery with its large gravestones, which, however, has not been used since 1777. I also discovered the spring, which was a place of mission and baptism in Franconian times. The idyllic location of the mountain church with its spring, massive stone building, and cemetery had something mystical about it and held a special appeal for me. I had never seen such an old sacred building that radiated such incredible energy. The Heinsheim mountain church is a special church that is still used for services by the Protestant parish, alternating with the castle chapel in Heinsheim. I found peace in this place and was able to recharge my batteries and find positive thoughts. Because, as Buddha said: “What you think, you are. What you are, you radiate. What you radiate, you attract.”
