Our Blog - Germany 2023 - Endingen am Kaiserstuhl, France

Germany has several wine-growing regions, including a volcanic area called Kaiserstuhl. This range of hills of volcanic origin is considered to be one of the warmest places of Germany and therefore, is considered good for growing wine grapes. We went through a couple small towns to taste (and buy) some wine and grabbed a few pictures of Endingen. The town was first mentioned in documents in 862 as belonging to a set of Lords, and then granted "town rights" in 1285. A bit of trivia: in 1751, one of the last witch trials in Europe took place here on April 24th when Anna Schnidenwind was burned at the stake.

There are a number of historical buildings, especially around Marktplatz and down the main street (Hauptstraße).

There are several churches in town, including St.-Martins-Kirche, which is the Pilgrimage church of St. Martin. After a previous church was demolished, this church was built around 1471 in the late Gothic style. Damage caused by grenade impacts during World War II led to the church being repaired and restored in 1949. In addition to the mostly damaged windows, the ceiling in the choir room also had to be replaced. On the north side of the tower, a giant St. George figure in the relief keeps vigil for those who fell in WWI and WWII.

The interior has Gothic arches but there are no Gothic vaults or ribs. The ceiling is flat and painted. I am not sure whether they were part of the restoration in 1949, but the altarpieces look Baroque in style to me instead of Gothic.