Research project on Ingelheim's town fortifications completed with book publication
Press release dated 15 July 2025:
After seven years of intensive joint research, the Kaiserpfalz Research Centre in Ingelheim and TU Darmstadt (Department of Classical Archaeology in the Faculty of Architecture) have presented the results of their successful collaboration: The publication Die Ortsbefestigungen von Ober-Ingelheim und Großwinternheim (The Local Fortifications of Ober-Ingelheim and Großwinternheim) presents the most comprehensive overview to date of the two medieval local fortifications. In the case of Großwinternheim, this is the first complete reconstruction of the structure ever. The Ober-Ingelheim defensive wall was last examined by art historian Christian Rauch almost 100 years ago. The book also launches the new popular science series Cultural Monuments of the City of Ingelheim am Rhein, edited by Mayor Eveline Breyer and Research Centre Director Holger Grewe. In addition to the Palatinate, the series will focus on other historical sites in the coming years and highlight the city’s rich historical cultural heritage.
One of Ingelheim’s greatest cultural treasures is undoubtedly the preserved walls of the two town fortifications with their gates, towers and moats dating from the 14th century, which the editors of this volume began researching in 2017: Clemens Brünenberg, Matylda Gierszewska-Noszczyńska, Judith Ley, Piotr Noszczyński and Katharina Peisker began by working with more than a hundred students from the Technical University of Darmstadt to compile detailed inventories of the two long structures – the Ober-Ingelheim wall was 2,100 metres long and the Großwinternheim wall 965 metres long! The Ober-Ingelheim fortifications are particularly well preserved, and their examination was aided by Jutta Hundhausen’s building surveys, which were carried out prior to the renovation of the Uffhub and Ohrenbrücker gates in 2009 and 2010. Reconstructing the Großwinternheim complex, on the other hand, required some detective work.
Thanks to the participation of TU Darmstadt, state-of-the-art technical processes such as laser scanning and Structure from Motion (SfM) could be used to document the preserved parts. This made it possible to integrate interactive models and drone flights into the digital exhibition ortsbefestigung3punkt0.de, which presented the interim results of the research in 2020/2021.
At the heart of the book is a narrative section on the inventory, construction site, function and zeitgeist of the local fortifications. The passages, which are easy to understand even for readers with little prior knowledge, open a window onto the late Middle Ages in Ingelheim and make the volume a popular science book in the best sense of the term. Numerous illustrations with detailed plans of the preserved building remains and a total of 518 colour and 145 black-and-white images – including photographs from the late 19th and early 20th centuries published for the first time, among others from the Peter Weiland image archive – illustrate the research results. A summary underlining the special significance of the two local fortifications rounds off this section. A component catalogue containing the essential facts about the walls, towers, gates and moats serves as a scientific database in the appendix. The catalogue is supplemented by an extensive collection of written sources mentioning the local fortifications from the 14th to the 19th century, contributed primarily by Hartmut Geißler (Historischer Verein Ingelheim e. V.).
‘What makes this book special,’ the editors agree, ‘is the interdisciplinary collaboration between the fields of archaeology, building research and history. When results are discussed together, it is much easier to correct inconsistent assumptions.’ The exchange with Nadine Gerhard and Peggy Meenzen (Ingelheim City Archives), the people who live in the monuments, history enthusiasts and collectors was also extremely valuable. The large 496-page collaborative work costs €49.95 and is now available in bookshops, directly from Imhof-Verlag, at the museum at the Imperial Palace and at the tourist information office in the Winzerkeller.