Durmersheim

In 1375 a parish church in Durmersheim was first mentioned in the records. On the site of todays parish centre (address: Römerstraße 45), the highest point in Durmersheim a simple church for 300 people was built. Because of its simple style it was sometimes referred to as "Peasant's Gothic".
As the parish grew (in 1819: 1200 Catholics, in 1829: 1450 Catholics) there was a need for a much larger church.
So in 1830 the parish church of St. Dionys was built in a Neo-Romanesque style.
The church has six bells, of which the oldest called "Andreas" and second largest (776 kg) is from 1562. The largest called "Christ" weighs 1727 kg and is from 1963. The four smaller ones are called Maria (726 kg), Michael (492 kg), Dionys (331 kg) and Bernhard (237 kg).

The inside of the 1830 erected church is very simple.
The original altar of the 1830 built church is not existing any more.
Todays main altar is a wood carving depicting Jesus Christ, side altars are depicting Maria (left) and Michael (right). They were made in 1962.
The choir windows are from 1951, the originals were damaged during the war.
The baptismal font is from 1830, the same year the church was built.

Remarkable is the painted ceiling from 1936, influenced by a motif from the old main altar of 1830.

The church in the Bickesheim part of Durmersheim is a well known church for pilgrimage.
In 1250-1260 the Margrave of Baden Rudolf I. and his wife Kunigunde von Eberstein initiated the erection of a new church instead of an older building.
In the first part of the 14th century the Katherine choir with the famous frescoes was added.
About 1450 the choir of today was added.
The original main altar from the Gothic was replaced in 1737 with a Baroque altar by Margrave Ludwig Georg.
The building of today was last rebuilt in 1925.

The interior of the church is split into the main nave with the choir at this end and a side nave with the Katherine choir with beautiful frescoes from the 15th century at that end.
Due to this separation only the choir and the south wall have large windows with stained glass. The wall between the nave and the choir in the area above the arch is covered in full width with a painting. The ceiling is fully paneled with dark wood and gives the inside a quite heavy atmosphere.
In the choir the illuminated main altar draws the attention forward and lets the visitor go straight passing the pulpit and side altars.

Beside the church of Maria Bickesheim stands a building in which the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (German: Redemptionisten) has a branch since 1920. They are responsible for the pastoral care in the neighbouring church.

Since 1965 the northern part of Durmersheim has its own parish community. It uses the church of Maria Bickesheim for their services.

Brunnenstraße is one of the most picturesque streets in Durmersheim as it is lined with timber frame houses.
Most of them were surely farmhouses, but as the work on farms has decreased most of the owners use it as residential homes, which are beautifully renovated.
As the name suggests a fountain can be found here as well.

Ritterstrasse is another very picturesque street in Durmersheim, lined with timber frame houses, former farmhouses that are now used by the owners as residential homes.
No. 16 now houses the Hardt-Museum.

The Hardt is the name for a sylvan landscape in the vicinity of Karlsruhe, where Durmersheim is about its southern border. In the north of Karlsruhe the forest is still existing but in the south it is not anymore.
The Hardt-Museum of local history gives insight into the daily life of the people that lived in this area. Reconstructed furnishing from the 19th century can be seen.
Main focus of the exhibition is the piety of the people. Many objects with a connection to the pilgrimage church of Maria Bickesheim are on display. The importance of the pilgrimage church can be traced back to the 12th century.

The building that houses the Hardt-Museum was presumably built around 1720, in the tradition of an old Frankish grange. It is a timber frame building with an accentuated gable and a pitched roof. As it is a rather large building for the 18th century the owners were presumably weathly.
From 1897-1968 the house belonged to a family called Tritsch and that is also the name of the house today. In 1970 the house was bought by the town of Durmersheim and later it became the Hardt-Museum.
The building is well preserved in its original state and thus an important example of the peasant houses in ther Hardt area.

The Federbach is a ditch and a 27 km long side arm of the river Rhine between Rastatt and Karlsruhe that passes Durmersheim and separates it into its two parishes Durmersheim and Würmersheim.
A continuous walking path along the Federbach is not existing but in some parts it is really nice to enjoy the flow of water and time.

Durmersheim is connected by the city trains S4 and S41.
S4 is scheduled on the route Heilbronn - Karlsruhe - DURMERSHEIM - Rastatt - Baden-Baden - Achern with one train per hour.
S41 is scheduled on the route Karlsruhe - DURMERSHEIM - Rastatt - Gaggenau - Forbach - Baiersbronn - Freudenstadt with one train per hour as well.
As the schedules of the S4 and S41 are 30 minutes apart it means you can come and go to or from Karlsruhe or Rastatt every 30 minutes.
The trains are serviced by the Karlsruher Verkehrsbetriebe (not the Deutsche Bahn). Train schedules can be downloaded on the pages of www.kvv.de.
A single ticket from Karlsruhe costs 3 €, from Baden-Baden 3.50 €, from Rastatt 2.50 €. A 24-hour ticket that is valid in a much larger area costs 7.80 € for one person (ticket is called 'Regiokarte') or 13 € for up to five people (called 'Regiokarte plus'). (all ticket prices in 2008.)

Note: The page was originally created on Apr 26, 2008 for Virtualtourist.com. It contributed 19 tips and 72 photos to the Durmersheim Travel guide, was Top Rated and ranked No.1 of the Top 5 Durmersheim Writers. The site was closed down on Feb 27, 2017.