Erding - Everyone in Erdinger knows the Frauenkircherl on Schrannenplatz.
But many have no idea what an eventful history the building owned by the city of Erding has to tell.
The small Frauenkircherl on Schrannenplatz has long been an integral part of the Erdingen cultural scene.
It is particularly popular as an exhibition space.
The former church has a checkered history that we want to trace.
The Marienkirche on Schrannenplatz was built in 1390 - in the late Gothic style. At that time it comprised today's Frauenkircherl and the building on the right, in which the chancel and the sacristy were located. At the end of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) the church was badly damaged by fire. Even after the Battle of Hohenlinden on December 3, 1800 during the Napoleonic Wars, the church was affected: The French troops unabashedly used the building as a horse stable.
A few years later, the church's use finally came to an end. Through secularization, i.e. the expropriation of church property by the state, in 1803 the church became a secular building. The furnishings were auctioned and the former sacristy was converted into a sales room. Apartments were built into the attic above. The shop building changed hands several times, as Emil Herrmann describes in his chronicle of the house.
Around 1910, master rope maker Georg Schöberl sold his products here, as his grandson Thomas Schöberl tells us.
He launched the “Historisches Erding” Facebook page.
In 1925, Seiler Schöberl moved his shop a few doors down to Kleiner Platz.
The history of the Herrmann family next to the Frauenkircherl began in 1952. They first ran a grocery store with a pastry department there, later a lottery acceptance and a travel agency.
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Historically from 1910: The Frauenkircherl with the four large entrance gates for the fire brigade, right next to it the Georg Schöberl shop.
© private
In today's Frauenkircherl next door, the Erdinger fire brigade moved in around 1870.
The vehicles had to park forwards in tight quarters and, in the event of an alarm, first had to be maneuvered backwards onto Schrannenplatz.
In the 1950s, the keys to this fire-fighting equipment store were kept by the Herrmann family as well as the Kraus family from the Kraus fashion store opposite, as well as the weighing masters Landbrecht and Lex von der Viehwaage.
When the siren at school on the Grüner Markt wailed three times at night, the Kraus family had to get out of bed, jump into their bathrobe and use the key to get to the Frauenkircherl.
There, the gate to the tower was unlocked, where the phone was hanging, and a call to the regional police clarified exactly where the fire was.
Hermann Kraus senior, who was the key man for years as a young man, remembers how commanders Josef Hochholzer and Hans Schmidmayer rushed towards the rest of the troops on bicycles - from all directions and mostly still in their sleeping clothes.
While the fire fighters were hastily changing, the gatekeeper Kraus opened the gates so that the large fire engines could drive out.
The proper parking of the wildly jumbled bikes was also his job, Kraus remembers with a smile.
When the radio code was switched over in the 1960s, Kraus was able to report: "Here, Florian 1".
The church tower was also used.
It was ideally suited for drying the wet hoses, which were only rolled up again when they were dry.
With the construction of the fire brigade equipment house on Lebzelterstrasse in 1974, the fire brigade era ended on Schrannenplatz.
Today the fire brigade is only used in Mardi Gras to help the tower of the Frauenkircherl together with the Narrhalla in Punch and Judy garb.
The renovation took place a few years later.
The large gates were walled up, the false ceiling removed and new windows installed.
The stonemason company of the later mayor Karl-Heinz Bauernfeind laid the new natural stone floors.
The image of the Madonna and Child that adorns the tower facade was created by the Erdingen artist Benno Hauber, applied during the renovation in 1969. In the Madonna's dress there is the city coat of arms with a ploughshare, underneath a sundial counts the hours.
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Airy exhibition space: The former church is ideal for cultural events, here Corinna Gunst's picture exhibition at the beginning of September.
© Peter Gebel
Today the Frauenkircherl is a versatile cultural space - for exhibitions, readings, lectures and concerts.
The space is often used by associations such as the Erding Photo Club or the Art Association and attracts numerous visitors.
And a few times before the elections, the Erdingers were able to collect their postal voting documents there.
Following the example of the Munich town hall, a carillon has been sounding from the tower of the Frauenkircherl since 1989.
A list of the songs can be found on the city's homepage.
The historical building is still in the middle of the life of the ducal city.
GERDA AND PETER GEBEL