Andernach - Maria Himmelfahrt

Andernach is a very old Roman settlement in Germany. Already in the Gallic War Gaius Iulius Caesar had a bridge build in 55BC. over the Rhine in just ten days. 55 BC. The settlement was named Antunnacum and the place, where the Rhine Valley narrows near Andernach, was called "Porta Antunnacensis" by the Romans.

After the Romans had left, the Franks took over and Andernach became a royal seat of the Merovingians. In 859 the Kings Charles the Bald, Louis II (the German) and Lothair II met here for a discussion, that was not really a success. After Louis II´s death in 876, Charles the Bald asked Louis III. the surrender the areas left of the Rhine and began with the military conquest. This ended in the Battle of Andernach, in which Charles the Bald was defeated. In 882 and 883, the city was pillaged three times during the Viking raids in the Rhineland.

In 1167 Emperor Friedrich I ("Barbarossa") gave the imperial court of Andernach with coinage and customs rights to his imperial chancellor and archbishop of Cologne Rainald von Dassel, who had accompanied the Emperor on his wars in Italy (and brought the remains of the Magis to Cologne). with this takeover, the city slid into the dispute over the German throne between Otto IV (Guelphs) and Philip (Staufers). Philip of Swabia captured the city in 1198 and set it on fire. The old town church was also destroyed up to the current bell tower.

In 1194 Emperor Heinrich VI. handed Andernach over to Archbishop Johann I of Trier, which prompted him to build a larger new bishop's church (1198–1220). Andernach grew and got fortified. The complete medieval fortification secured the city with five double gates - as well as with 15 towers.

Maria Himmelfahrt (= Assumption of Mary) (aka "Mariendom"), was erected at the site of the church burned down by Philip of Swabia. The remaining free-standing bell tower was integrated into the new church building and now is oldest part of the building. The Archbishop of Trier Johann I had the new church built as a three-aisled basilica in the Rhenish Romanesque style around 1220. The semicircular apse between the towers has very delicate carvings.

This carving depicts a forgotten part of Aesop's fable "The Fox and the Crane"