Kees' photos with the keyword: mauern

It would seem to be a good idea to get into the car –soon...

“Day of the Open Monument”: everywhere doors opened which are normally closed. We visited the church of Mauern to view a crucifix from around 900 AD. I’m no art historian, but I doubt if the large cross in the Mauern church was much older than 1900 AD. Looking again at our papers, we saw our stop should have been Enghausen, a part of Mauern, and a few miles away... We left Mauern with this photo, and no regret.

The cross itself isn’t original, nor is the paint on the Christ figure, but research of the material (basswood) surprisingly resulted in a date around 900 AD, centuries earlier than art historians had estimated. The C-14 method isn’t very precise, but a stylistic classification is outright hazardous: only very few comparable crucifixes have survived. For a long time, the charwoman had complained about sawdust she had to clean up from under it: clearly, it was urgent to do something for its preservation. An exhibition, a couple of years ago, offered a good opportunity. A close examination revealed how old and rare it really was, and the Enghausen citizens feared it wouldn’t return to their church. Lucky for them, it did.

Well, why not? From Ferrara Cathedral back to Enghausen Cathedral... Including a lesson in “foreground interest” (Nigel?). ;-)

The church of Enghausen was built around 1500 in Gothic style. The community consists of just a few farmer families and, accordingly, the church is quite small. It’s also charming enough, but would certainly attract less visitors if it wouldn’t contain the oldest life-size crucifix hitherto known (ca. 900 AD). This niche is right under the bell tower. The rope may only be pulled by authorized personnel.