Nativity scene walk through Benediktbeuern

Created: 12/15/2022, 09:00

By: Elena Royer

This box crib dates from 1855.

It is probably the oldest model on display.

© arp

It's Christmas time in Benediktbeuern: more than 25 cribs are set up in many windows and in front of houses throughout the village.

Former mayor Georg Rauchenberger explains some specimens.

Benediktbeuern – Old or modern, made of wood or metal, covered with fabric or painted – the cribs that can be seen this year in the windows of private and commercial buildings in Benediktbeuern could not be more different.

For the third time, more than 25 specimens can be admired on the initiative of the support group for customs and culture.

Crib walk through Benediktbeuern: windows are decorated throughout the village

It all started during Corona, as an alternative to the Christmas market, says the former mayor of Benediktbeur, Georg Rauchenberger, who chairs the support group.

Since then, more and more cribs have been added.

From the middle of the Bahnhofstraße, at the Dorfplatz and in the Dorfstraße to the beginning of the Häusernstraße, many windows are decorated with it.

You can find more current news from the region around Bad Tölz at Merkur.de/Bad Tölz.

Alternating biblical scenes in the Marienkirche

Those who start at the village square will not regret a detour to the Marienkirche.

There you can see changing biblical scenes until Palm Sunday.

“The search for hostels is being shown,” explains Rauchenberger.

"It stays there until Christmas Eve." The nativity figures in St. Mary's Church date from the Baroque period.

The nativity scene used to stand in the basilica in Benediktbeuern, "open, without a glass pane for protection," as Rauchenberger emphasizes.

Who is knocking?

Maria and Josef's search for a hostel can be seen in the Marienkirche.

© arp

In front of the church there is an almost life-size nativity scene with wooden figures.

“It goes down particularly well with the children,” Rauchenberger knows.

At the Christmas market, children disguised as shepherds and angels have gathered to see a living nativity scene.

A very old example: a crib from 1855

What is probably the oldest crib that can be seen in the village is in the café on the village square.

"A crib", as the former mayor explains.

It dates from 1855. If you walk further up the village street, you can discover something behind almost every window of the old farmhouses.

Sometimes angels lurk from behind the curtains, or other Christmas figures present themselves to passers-by on the windowsill.

In the next window is a special model, a foldable 3D paper nativity scene.

But there is also a lot to discover outside in front of the houses: For example, the residents have set up a nativity scene on a house bench and lovingly decorated it.

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Action goes down well with the locals

In general, the response from the villagers to the campaign was very good, reports Rauchenberger.

“Most of them don't even need to be reminded to set up their cribs.

They do it themselves,” he says.

Modern metal crib

A slightly different nativity scene can be seen at the “Oberschmied”.

"As befits a blacksmith, here is one made of metal," says Rauchenberger.

An older couple is also looking at the rusted metal figures.

"It's really nice how different the cribs are, and there's always something new," they say happily.

Carved crib by monastery carpenter Otto Scherg

A little further on, in the house of Rauchenberger's son, there is a so-called Scherg crib.

“Otto Scherg”, explains Rauchenberger, “lived in the Benediktbeuern monastery.

He was a carpenter and a gifted carver.” Rauchenberger himself wanted to try carving figures, but he didn't succeed as well as Scherg.

"He then finished carving the figures for me," says Rauchenberger.

A nativity scene by Otto Scherg is also on display in the reading room at the tourist information office.

Which cribs did Rauchenberger personally like best?

“I like both the old and the modern cribs.

I once saw terracotta cribs in Sicily, and I really liked them too.”

Further information:

There is a plan for the position of the cribs at Brauchumsverein-benediktbeuern.de or benediktbeuern.de.

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