Meßkirch (; Swabian: ''Mässkirch'') is a town in the district of

Sigmaringen Sigmaringen ( Swabian: ''Semmerenga'') is a town in southern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Situated on the upper Danube, it is the capital of the Sigmaringen district. Sigmaringen is renowned for its castle, Schloss Sigmaringen ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The town was the residence of the counts of Zimmern, widely known through Count Froben Christoph's ''

Zimmern Chronicle The Zimmern Chronicle (German: ''Zimmerische Chronik'' or ''Chronik der Grafen von Zimmern'') is a family chronicle describing the lineage and history of the noble family of Zimmern, based in Meßkirch, Germany. It was written in a Swabian variety ...

'' (1559–1566).

Geography

The municipality is composed of following villages and hamlets: ♯The Ringgenbach river flows through Dietershofen, then Ringgenbach, before its confluence into the Ablach east of Leitishofen †Heudorf is a location on the

Upper Swabian Baroque Route The Upper Swabian Baroque Route (''Oberschwäbische Barockstraße'') is a tourist theme route through Upper Swabia, following the themes of "nature, culture, baroque". The route has a length of about 500 km (approximately 310 miles). It was ...

‡Menningen-Leitishofen was formerly a stop on the extant

Radolfzell–Mengen railway The Radolfzell–Mengen railway (also called in German the Hegau-Ablachtal-Bahn—Hegau–Ablach Valley Railway) is a branch line in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It runs from Radolfzell via Stockach to Mengen. The line was built as a m ...

Notable residents

Meßkirch is the birthplace of composer

Conradin Kreutzer Conradin Kreutzer or Kreuzer (22 November 1780 – 14 December 1849) was a German composer and conductor. His works include the operas ''Das Nachtlager in Granada'' and incidental music to ''Der Verschwender'', both produced in 1834 in Vienna. ...

, archbishop

Conrad Gröber Conrad Gröber (1 April 1872 in Meßkirch – 14 February 1948 in Freiburg im Breisgau) was a Catholic priest and archbishop of the Archdiocese of Freiburg. Life Youth and education Gröber was born in Meßkirch in 1872, to Alois and Marti ...

, writer and

Georg Büchner Prize The Georg Büchner Prize (german: link=no, Georg-Büchner-Preis) is the most important literary prize for German language literature, along with the Goethe Prize. The award is named after dramatist and writer Georg Büchner, author of '' Woyzeck ...

winner

Arnold Stadler Arnold Stadler (born 1954) is a German writer, essayist and translator. Life He was born on 9 April 1954 in Meßkirch in the district of Sigmaringen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Stadler grew up on a farm in Rast, a small village adjoini ...

and, most famously, the philosopher

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th ce ...

. Also included are the well-known brewers Johann Nepomuk Schalk and his sons Herrmann and Oscar who began the Schalk Brewery in Newark, New Jersey, the first to bring lager beer to New Jersey. The town's name is also connected with a Renaissance painter whose provisional name is

Master of Meßkirch The Master of Meßkirch (German: Meister von Meßkirch; active c. 1515 - 1540) was an anonymous German Renaissance painter. Biography The so-called Master of Meßkirch is named after the eleven altarpieces (one main altarpiece and ten auxilia ...

. His ''Adoration of the Magi'' can be seen in the church of St. Martin.

Katharina von Zimmern Katharina von Zimmern (1478 – 17 August 1547), also known as the imperial abbess of Zürich and Katharina von Reischach, was the last abbess of the Fraumünster Abbey in Zürich. Early life Katharina von Zimmern was born in 1478 in the ...

(1478-1547), the last abbess of the

Fraumünster Abbey The Fraumünster (; lit. in en, Women's Minster, but often wrongly translated to urLady Minster) is a church in Zürich which was built on the remains of a former abbey for aristocratic women which was founded in 853 by Louis the German for h ...

in Zürich, was born in Meßkirch.

Culture

The '' Bodenseesender'' radio transmitter in the nearby village of Rohrdorf was turned off in February 2012.

History

In 1800, the city was the site of

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

of the

French Revolutionary War The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted France against Britain, Austria, Prussia ...

Campus Galli

Campus Galli Campus Galli is a Carolingian monastic community under construction in Meßkirch, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The construction project includes plans to build a medieval monastery according to the early ninth-century Plan of Saint Gall using t ...

is a project to construct an authentic medieval town with a Carolingian

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...

, that is located in woodlands near Meßkirch.

References

External links

*
Old photos of Messkirch and of the Oldtimer car ''Veritas''

Renaissance castle in Messkirch
Sigmaringen (district) Baden {{Sigmaringen-geo-stub