Renquishausen: Church, Harvest Thanksgiving and Local History

Renquishausen can be discovered through two very different themes: St. Stephen’s Parish Church, with its ceiling paintings and harvest thanksgiving carpet, and the nature trail, which draws attention to the town’s once precarious water situation. Religious art and local history offer different points of interest. This gives you a practical starting point for planning your trip: you can decide whether the interior design, the seasonal harvest thanksgiving decorations or the former water supply should shape your stay. If you are planning a family trip, you can tailor these themes to the interests of your fellow travellers.

St. Stephen’s: Interior and Ceiling Paintings

The current simple appearance of the interior of St. Stephen’s Parish Church dates back to its renovation and redesign in 1992. The ceiling paintings are by Father Tutilo of Beuron Abbey. This allows you to distinguish between two aspects of the church: the interior’s simple present-day design and the paintings on the ceiling. If you are interested in religious art, you will find both a date for the interior design and a specific attribution for the paintings.

Harvest Thanksgiving in October and a 2024 Design

In October, Renquishausen’s church is decorated with a harvest thanksgiving carpet and a harvest altar arranged around a theme. Many people come to see the carpet. These seasonal decorations are a distinct feature alongside the simple appearance of the interior. For a specific example of the harvest thanksgiving theme, consider 2024, when the carpet was dedicated to Hildegard of Bingen, the medieval polymath.

In 2024, the carpet and the other decorations on the altar and church walls were made over several months from ears of grain, fruit and blossoms. The design therefore included not only the motif on the carpet, but also the altar and church walls. If you are interested in the connection between church tradition and craftsmanship, this particular edition offers a vivid example.

The Nature Trail and the Former Water Situation

The Renquishausen nature trail draws attention to the town’s once precarious water situation. This puts a different aspect of local history in the foreground than the church: here, the focus is on the former water supply. This distinction can help you choose which local themes interest you most. If you would like to include the nature trail in your plans, check current access before visiting.

Tuttlingen as the Wider Setting

The wider destination of Tuttlingen district covers 734.4 square kilometres and includes the southwestern foothills of the Swabian Alb, parts of the Baar and the valley of the Young Danube. In the northern part of the district are juniper heaths and the region known as the 10-Tausender, with ten mountains over 1,000 metres high. Other landscape highlights in the district include the Danube gorge and the Höwenegg volcanic crater. White limestone cliffs rise above the Danube Valley in the district. These landscapes broaden the picture of the wider destination without replacing Renquishausen’s local focus.

The wider destination of Tuttlingen also offers other cultural attractions. The Neuhausen ob Eck Open-Air Museum features 25 historic buildings that were dismantled at their original sites, moved there and restored to their original condition. On the upper floors of the Künstlerhaus Scharf Eck in Fridingen, a museum is dedicated to Hans Bucher, a painter of the Danube Valley; his life and work are presented across three floors. These examples represent cultural highlights in the district that differ from Renquishausen’s church and local history.

When looking for accommodation in Renquishausen, you can start by deciding what you want to focus on during your stay: would you like to centre your visit on St. Stephen’s Church, its design and the seasonal harvest thanksgiving carpet, or are you particularly interested in the former water supply?

Discover more destinations: Deilingen, Rietheim-Weilheim, Reichenbach Am Heuberg, Fridingen An Der Donau, Spaichingen, Geisingen, Wehingen, Nendingen.

View the wider travel guide: Tuttlingen.