Old Postcard (Greetings from Beedenkirchen)

eedenkirchen is a small village of approx. 600 inhabitants situated approx. 310 mtrs up in the hills of the south western part of the Forest of Oden (Odenwald) in the south west of the German federal state of Hesse. Since 1972 it has been part of the sprawling borough of Lautertal (twinned with the Parish of Aldenham/Radlett, England and Jarnac, France), a part of the rural district Bergstrasse (see map).

This area is close to Heidelberg, Mannheim, Darmstadt and Frankfurt. During the first half of the Middle Ages, once the Romans deserted the area, it was dominated by the legendary Abbey of Lorsch (now UNESCO listed). Now the village is known for its old church (the oldest in the area) which was built on a small hillock during 1624-1669 replacing an even older church and a vicarage from 1787, which also replaced an older building (see picture gallery).

There are still two old inns in the village with one still running a bakery and offering B&B. There is a butcher who at the end of 2012 went into retirement and a small food and haberdashery shop and it has its own fire brigade. Otherwise the place entertains a wide variety of local medium-sized and small trade companies like roofer, painter, plumber, builder and specialised engineering  etc. that are still very common in Germany.

The first fullyauthenticated reference to the village is from 1012 to be found in the Lorsch Codex (the original is kept in the state archives in Würzburg, Bavaria). Hence the reason for celebrating 1000 years of Beedenkirchen in 2012. But it can be assumed that the village existed long before that. Along the southern slopes of the hill next to the village (Felsberg, 515 mtrs) there are many remains of Roman masonary activity in the stone quarries, including an almost fully intact granite column that can be visited today, still lying where it was left well over 1000 years ago (see Felsenmeer).

The purpose of this Web site is to present an historical summary of this village and, above all, report on the the festival weekend in August 2012 and its preparations. With the festivities a jubilee booklet was published. For the beginning 2013 a DVD is planned with over 300 photos of the festivities together with film material of the Sunday jubilee parade which can then be purchased.

Unfortunately it will be impossible to present all of the numerous pages in English, but should you be interested in any aspects of the village, celebrations or just this Web site, please do not hesitate to contact us (email).

Compiled by Johnny Glover