Protestant Rectory
(early 18th century)
This magnificent house with the impressive half-timbered structure could have ben, like so many other houses around the market square, a noble court.
Yet, it is the Protestant Rectory and belongs to the Martinskirche. However, when the house was built around 1700, the nobility and the church actually shared power and land here in Nierstein – just as almost everywhere in Germany. They directed the fortunes of the citizens together and they both increased their property and prosperity by leasing land.
The name “Temple Court – this is how the area next to the church is called – refers to an even older church history. Long before the rectory and its neighboring buildings were erected, an abbey of the Templar Order was situated here. It is documented in 1253 here in Nierstein. The Templar Order was an order of knights, and had once been founded in Jerusalem with the aim of defending the so-called “Holy Land” against the Muslims. During the Christian crusades they were a kind of “elite unit” and directly subordinated to the Pope. One of the tasks of the Knights Templars was to generate profits to finance the fights in Palestine, and to recruit more men. So it is quite likely that men from Nierstein set out as crusaders for Jerusalem.
Route to the next station:
Martin’s Church
Arrived?
Protestant Rectory
(early 18th century)
This magnificent house with the impressive half-timbered structure could have ben, like so many other houses around the market square, a noble court.
Yet, it is the Protestant Rectory and belongs to the Martinskirche. However, when the house was built around 1700, the nobility and the church actually shared power and land here in Nierstein – just as almost everywhere in Germany. They directed the fortunes of the citizens together and they both increased their property and prosperity by leasing land.
The name “Temple Court – this is how the area next to the church is called – refers to an even older church history. Long before the rectory and its neighboring buildings were erected, an abbey of the Templar Order was situated here. It is documented in 1253 here in Nierstein. The Templar Order was an order of knights, and had once been founded in Jerusalem with the aim of defending the so-called “Holy Land” against the Muslims. During the Christian crusades they were a kind of “elite unit” and directly subordinated to the Pope. One of the tasks of the Knights Templars was to generate profits to finance the fights in Palestine, and to recruit more men. So it is quite likely that men from Nierstein set out as crusaders for Jerusalem.
Route to the next station:
Martin’s Church
Arrived?