Book by Dean Mannhardt: Sound of the churches in the district of Miesbach

Created: 2022-11-26 06:03

By: Sabrina Winklmaier

Happy about the publication of the photo book (from left): Editor Verena Wolf, Mayor Gerhard Braunmiller, Dean and author Michael Mannhardt and Hartmut Wolf.

© Sabrina Winklmaier

Miesbach – Over 60 churches have their home in the district of Miesbach.

Dean Michael Mannhardt was in the "Glockenland" and published an illustrated book.

"Books are cultural assets," Verena Wolf reported.

The fact that she and her husband Hartmut Wolf got no less an author than the Miesbach dean Michael Mannhardt for their first published book was like a gift for both of them.

The book "Klangenklänge im Miesbacher Land" is a large joint project.

Mannhardt added several hundred pages of manuscript and more than 300 hours of sound material, while Isabella Krobisch, head of the Waitzinger Keller cultural center, took photographs of the impressive churches and their bells in the district.

The foreword was written by Georg Impler, long-standing editor-in-chief of the well-known BR program "Zwölfuhrläuten", to which Mannhardt also regularly contributes.

Resonating experience

Hartmut Wolf made the audience smile with his anecdote about “the literally formative experience” when he and Mannhardt stood in a bell tower and did not wear earplugs when the bell rang.

Wolfgang Bischof, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, sent the message via video message: Anyone who is still complaining about bells in the district can simply get this book in their hands.

Mannhardt had tears in his eyes when he played a video of the bells of the St. Anton Church in Hausham at the beginning of his speech.

The imposing belfry are made of oak and support several tons of weight.

"There is a whole forest in every bell tower," he added. "Five bells vibrate there in the Parzival motif, namely C sharp E F sharp A C sharp," he explained to his audience.

He knows the symphonic compositions of all his bells, having been fascinated by the sound since he was a child in Traunstein, where Mannhardt was born.

Years of research then made him an expert in this field.

The dean then briefly outlined the history of the bells: Originally from the Far East, the bell came to Central Europe in 313.

The two missionaries Marinus and Arianus finally brought them to the district.

That is why the 1523-year-old Marinus bell hangs in the Wilparting pilgrimage church, which is only rung on the patron saint's day.

"The bell still needs some development," Mannhardt remarked mischievously as the photo, along with the bright-sounding audio recording, of the small, somewhat bulky bell appeared on the screen.

The largest and heaviest bell in the district hangs in the former monastery church of St. Quirin in Tegernsee.

The two bells date from the 15th and 17th centuries and weigh an impressive nine tons alone.

They have been echoing through the monastery complex in six voices for several hundred years.

“The bells connect us humans throughout history.

They warn, they bring joy, sadness and consolation,” Mannhardt concluded the evening.