Meißenheim

Or, in other words: The place where Friederike Brion died.

First of all you may wonder:

Who was Friederike Brion?
Some people say that she was just an ordinary Alsatian girl. Which is of course the truth.

But history made it happen that she will never be forgotten. She was born in Niederroedern on 19 April 1752 and died in Meißenheim on 5 April 1813.
In 1770 at the age of 18 she met the then 21-year young Johann Wolfgang Goethe, actually THE GOETHE, the famous German writer or as George Eliot called him "Germany's greatest man of letters… and the last true polymath to walk the earth."
What made the first meeting so important for her was that he fell IN LOVE with her. The affair lasted about a year, the time Goethe was a law student in Strasbourg. Several of his poems, like "Willkommen und Abschied" ("Welcome and Farewell"), "Sesenheimer Lieder" ("Sessenheim songs") and "Heideröslein" originate from this time.
If you want to travel in the footsteps of Friederike Brion (and partly Goethe) then please continue to my Sessenheim | France and Niederroedern | France pages.

The protestant church of Meißenheim was built in 1766 by Joseph Michael Schnöller in the Baroque style.
It is famous for the organ also from 1766 built by Joh. Andreas SILBERMANN from Strasbourg and concerts are held from time to time.
On the backside of the church you can find the grave of Friederike Brion.

On the backside of the protestant church is the grave of Friederike Brion, the love of Johann Wolfgang Goethe at the time when he was a law student in Strasbourg.
Right beside her grave is the grave of her sister Maria Salome Marx (1749-1807) and her brother-in-law Weil M. Marx (-1819), in whose house Friederike was living until her death.

Right beside the graves of Friederike Brion and her sister and brother-in-law stands another much older but very well preserved gravestone.
As written it was dedicated to Maria Eusebia Wurms who died on 5 November 1624.

Centrally located stands a school dedicated to the most famous daughter of Meißenheim, the Friederike-Brion-School. It is a so called "Grund- und Hauptschule", a primary and middle school, which means that pupils are educated here until the 9th grade. If they want to continue their secondary education they have to move to another school.

Heidi Roth, the owner of the restaurant, serves local dishes.

In case that during your travels in the vicinity of Meißenheim you catch a cold or flue, then get your medication in this pharmacy and at the same time enjoy this beautifully restored timber frame house called "Riedhaus".
It was built in 1800 by Andreas H. Ockios and Elisabeda Molin as can be read on one of the corner timber posts.

"Gasthaus Sonne" means "Restaurant Sun".
It is an old but very beautiful timber frame house. Unfortunate that it is not a "Gasthaus" anymore. So if you are looking for a business idea ... ;)

Note: The page was originally created on May 12, 2008 for Virtualtourist.com. It contributed 7 tips and 23 photos to the Meißenheim Travel guide, was Top Rated and ranked No.1 of the Top 5 Meißenheim Writers. The site was closed down on Feb 27, 2017.