Pliezhausen: Orchards, Fruit Varieties and Local History

Pliezhausen combines a landscape shaped by traditional orchards with discoveries related to fruit culture and local history. The Fruit Variety Museum preserves mainly old apple and pear varieties, which are also found in the region. A relief of Mercury can be seen at St. Martin’s Church, while the Ahnenhaus Village Museum offers insights into everyday life in the past. Nature, cultural heritage and village history thus offer different points of interest when planning a trip.

Orchards and routes through woodland and meadows

Two information panels in the Fruit Variety Museum’s varietal garden provide information about the varieties. The older trees have name labels, making it easy to discover individual apple and pear varieties. The museum’s entire collection of trees, including the extension, comprises 257 trees. The collection thus combines the preservation of mostly old varieties found in the region with a guide to discovering them among the trees.

Traditional orchards also shape the landscape around Pliezhausen beyond the varietal garden. They provide valuable habitats for many animal and plant species and serve as a local recreation area for residents. Pliezhausen is one of the member communities of Schönbuch Nature Park. The Reichenbach Loop offers a different landscape: it runs through the southeastern part of the Schönbuch near Pliezhausen and follows a varied route through woodland and meadows. Those wishing to compare natural features will find two distinct perspectives here: the preservation of fruit varieties in the varietal garden and the varied woodland and meadow scenery along the loop.

A relief of Mercury and a village museum in an old farmhouse

A 1.30-metre-high relief of Mercury is set horizontally into the wall at St. Martin’s Church in Pliezhausen. It depicts the Roman god with a winged hat, herald’s staff and money pouch, and is popularly known as the “Little Devil of Pliezhausen.” The name probably dates back to the 16th century, when the hat’s wings were mistaken for horns. The relief combines a specific image with a traditional explanation for its unusual name.

Complementing the original relief is a publicly accessible replica of a small Temple of Mercury in the garden of the Zimmermann family, at Rosenstraße 10. The VEX LEG VIII AVG interest group created it to show what such a small Temple of Mercury might have looked like. The original and the replica explore the same subject but focus on different aspects: the relief set into the church wall and the reconstruction in the garden.

The “Ahnenhaus” Village Museum is located at Entenhof 17 in the centre of Pliezhausen, in a former farmhouse dating from 1570. Its permanent exhibition features a former village shop from the 1940s, a one-room school, the rare craft of chimney masonry, and a shoemaker’s and a tailor’s workshop. Visitors can also see a bakehouse and a farmhouse garden on the museum grounds. Together, the exhibition and grounds offer different ways to explore village history: through crafts and former local institutions, as well as the rhythms of rural daily life.

More discoveries in the wider Reutlingen destination

Other places in the wider Reutlingen destination also have their own cultural and landscape highlights. In Zwiefalten, the Minster of Our Lady is the centrepiece of the old monastery and pilgrimage town. It is one of the most important examples of German Baroque architecture. Minster concerts are held there every year; dates vary.

In Münsingen, interactive exhibits and audio and video features at the Swabian Alb Biosphere Centre offer insights into the nature, landscape and people of the biosphere area. The Old Castle houses the town museum, which presents the history and culture of the Münsingen Alb. Lichtenstein Castle, meanwhile, was built between 1840 and 1842 on the foundations of an older knight’s castle. From there, the Hochgehträumt circular hiking trail leads along impressive rocky viewpoints directly to Nebelhöhle Cave.

You can therefore tailor your search to the discoveries you would like to focus on during your stay.

Discover more destinations

Discover more destinations: Dettingen An Der Erms, Bad Urach, Grafenberg, Lichtenstein, Engstingen, Hohenstein, Pfullingen, Mehrstetten.

Back to the wider travel overview: Reutlingen.