Rococo Rules: Biberach Day 2 (17 Sep 2013)

It’s been hard for Sue not to think about Michelle de Kretser‘s Questions of travel as we’ve been traveling around. And this, our first full day in Biberach, brought de Kretser to mind and the character Laura. There’s a funny scene in India where she is asked where she’s going next and, after naming a couple of places, the questioner names the next few places. She’s astonished because she’s spent hours over guide books working out her itinerary, but, he says to her, “everyone goes there”! Well, everyone doesn’t go to the places we went to this day because they don’t appear in the guidebooks and most barely make a mention in TripAdviser. Does that mean they aren’t worth visiting? What do we travel for? Anyhow, on with the day … which was a dull, drizzly one but we enjoyed driving around southern German country towns and their farms. So, so green!

Churches in Ottobeuren and Biberach

Ottobeuren makes a brief mention in Wikipedia, mainly to refer to its Abbey which is next to the basilica. The reason we went was to see the basilica (church). According to Wikipedia’s article on the abbey, “the façade of the basilica, designed by Johann Michael Fischer, has been hailed as a pinnacle of Bavarian Baroque architecture“. It is certainly imposing, and is beautifully maintained, but it’s the interior that made Len want to show it to Sue. It’s pure Rococo. After all the cathedrals we’ve been to around Spain, Portugal and a couple in France, with their mish-mash (and we don’t mean this derogatorily) of mediaeval, baroque and renaissance styles, the Ottobeuren Basilica is pure rococo. Less is definitely not more in the eyes of the builders and decorators of this church. It is a feast for the eyes with its pretty colourings, multiple cherubs and wall-to-wall frescoes. We enjoyed wandering about looking at its various sculptures and images. Somehow all that ornamentation seems to work. It was built between 1737 and 1766 and looks pretty much as fresh as (it must have been) the day it was born. Ottobeuren is not a big place but someone is maintaining this church.

Later in the day we visited St. Martin’s Church in Biberach. It’s an older church, which is apparent from the outside. It was built between 1337 and 1366 and, as it proudly announces in its entrance, is the oldest still active shared church in Germany, shared between the Catholics and the Protestants (or, as the church writes, Evangeliker). That’s an impressive achievement, isn’t it? But also interesting was the fact that the interior was remodelled and redecorated in the baroque-rococo style in 1748. Rococo started in Paris we believe, but seems to have had a bit of an impact in Southern Germany!

Bauernhofmuseum, Illerbeuren

While we were in Ottobeuren, we asked the woman in the Konditerei (where we tried the local speciality, a plum-cake called Zwetschgen) about local sights. She looked a little uncertain at first but then suggested the “farm museum”.  So, off we went. It turned out to be Southern Germany’s first open-air museum, having been opened in 1955. Like the Hida Minzoku Folk Village we visited in Japan, it comprises authentic farm buildings that have been moved to the site, buildings from as early at the 1600s, and including a blacksmiths’ shop, bakery, and farmhouse complete with its winter area for winter housing of three or four cows/horses, and so on. It’s always interesting to see how people lived and worked in past times – and to realise how lucky we are with all our modern amenities. How cold it must have been in some of those homes and workplaces, and how hard everyone worked.

Oh, and we have to mention the little church next door to the museum. It had an amazing little cemetery. Most of the graves we saw were recent, so it’s not surprising they were in good condition, but it was the style of grave and grave care that fascinated us. Many of the graves are essentially miniature gardens. We’ve never seen anything quite like it before. Possibly related to this being the conservative, religious South?

Gasthof life

We are enjoying staying in Gasthof Grüner Baum and experiencing the pleasures of gasthof life, such as breakfast included (in a pretty, cosy room), having our washing done by housekeeping for the cost of a tip, and seeing the regulars come in the evenings to the downstairs bar/restaurant to eat, drink, talk and play cards. The place has been buzzing most nights, with barely a table spare. It’s common though to share a table, which we did one night. And, even when it’s packed we can hear ourselves talk! We haven’t meant to eat here every night but we have a couple of times because it’s been easy after a long day on the road sightseeing!

Three-words

SUE: Rain, Rural, Rococo
LEN: Church, Farming, Green

and the stills…

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and the movies…

Panorama of the inside of Ottobeuren Basilika