Ehingen am Ries offers a focus on cultural history, particularly churches and chapels. If you take these themes into account when choosing your destination, you will find both a shared Simultaneum church and the history of a chapel that was relocated. The municipality of Belzheim, which is part of the district, is home to additional religious buildings and archaeological finds. The wider Donau-Ries destination also has its own highlights in urban history, religious architecture and geology.
Simultaneum and Romanesque Crucifix
The denominational division that followed the Reformation of 1550 continues in the Simultaneum: Catholics and Protestants share the parish church of St. Stephen and Ulrich. It is currently the only Simultaneum church in Bavaria. The church also houses a Romanesque crucifix, regarded as the oldest surviving work of art in the Ries. This place thus brings together continued shared use and a work of art of particular significance in the history of the Ries.
Chapels and Archaeological Finds
The Catholic Chapel of St. Aloysius stands outside the cemetery in Ehingen. Its history leads to Lohe: it was originally built there and moved to Ehingen in 1877, after the death of the last Catholic resident there. Its present location is therefore part of a history that also encompasses the chapel’s relocation.
In the municipality of Belzheim, which is part of the district, the Catholic parish church of St. Michael was built in 1608 and given a Baroque makeover in 1682. The Chapel of St. Anthony in Belzheim was built by Anton Jaumann, a former Bavarian state minister. Excavations at the Belzheim burial mound group uncovered remains of wooden burial chambers containing grave goods of varying value. The chambers were covered by burial mounds of different sizes. Religious buildings and archaeological finds offer distinct historical perspectives here.
Culture and Geology in the Wider Donau-Ries Destination
The Donau-Ries district describes the Ries Crater, formed by a meteorite impact and home to the Ries Geopark, as a tourist attraction. For a historical perspective, the town museum in Nördlingen explores several themes: life and faith in Nördlingen, changes during the Reformation, the Thirty Years’ War and the 1634 Battle of Nördlingen. A collection more than 150 years old is displayed there across four floors. A model made of around 6,000 tin figures illustrates the 1634 battle. Nördlingen’s medieval town wall has also survived in its entirety and can be walked along in full.
The Ries Crater Museum, by contrast, focuses on the asteroid impact that created the Nördlinger Ries, its cosmic origins and its effects to this day. Exhibits and interpretive materials include meteorites, fossils, a piece of real lunar rock, information panels and multimedia displays. The exhibition is housed in a carefully renovated medieval barn dating from 1503. The themes are therefore easy to distinguish: the town museum covers the town’s history and historical events, while the Ries Crater Museum explores the geological event and its consequences.
Another focus on religious history in the wider Donau-Ries area is the pilgrimage basilica of Maria BrĂĽnnlein. The Rococo church was built between 1748 and 1782 to designs by Franz Joseph Roth as the number of pilgrims grew. Its shrine altar is a fountain altar featuring the miraculous Madonna by Johann Joseph Mayr, created in 1755; Ernst Steinacker created the altar table with its fountain basin in 1953. In 1998, Pope John Paul II elevated the basilica to the status of a minor basilica. Around 150,000 pilgrims visit it every year.
Discover more destinations: Oettingen in Bayern, Asbach-Bäumenheim, Mertingen, Monheim, Tapfheim, Wallerstein, Marxheim, Donauwörth
View the wider travel guide: Donau-Ries.
