Pollenfeld: Church Art and Routes in the Municipality

Pollenfeld brings together two different travel interests: routes through the municipality and a remarkable parish church. The entire municipal area of Pollenfeld lies in the Altmühltal Nature Park. This can be a helpful starting point when choosing your holiday apartment: consider whether you would like to spend most of your time outdoors on trails or exploring architectural history and art.

St. Sixtus: Gothic Architecture and Special Details

The Gothic parish church of St. Sixtus in Pollenfeld is one of the sights. The choir and tower date from the Late Gothic period around 1400. The Neo-Gothic nave was partly built on older foundations in 1911/12 and consecrated in 1913. The church reveals building phases from different centuries, making it an appealing place to visit for anyone interested in architecture and history while on holiday.

The artworks also provide distinctive highlights. A fresco dating from around 1430, depicting the Death of Mary, is preserved on the south side of the choir. The art-historically significant stained-glass windows date from around 1410/20: the right window shows scenes from the childhood of Jesus, while the left shows scenes from the Passion. The figures on the high altar, especially the Madonna, are among the finest wooden sculptures in the area of the former Prince-Bishopric of Eichstätt.

The furnishings also include a six-metre-high sacrament house and a two-doored stone wall cabinet beside it, once intended to hold the collection of relics. Both are Late Gothic works dating from around 1470, made by stonemasons from Eichstätt. The fresco, stained glass, figures and stonework offer several points of interest if you would like to explore the details of a church.

Walking and Cycling in the Municipality

For active days, surfaced field and forest tracks in the municipality of Pollenfeld invite you to walk and cycle. Along the way, you can discover wayside crosses, memorial stones and wayside shrines. Public cycling and forest walking trails can also be used on foot; one example is the Eichstätt–Titting cycle route. The well-developed cycle network connects the villages in the municipality safely. These routes and their practical route planning offer a different focus from the art history of St. Sixtus.

Other Places and Culture Nearby

There are also sights outside the centre of Pollenfeld, elsewhere in the municipality: these include the tower of St. Martin’s Church in Wörmersdorf and the Chapel of St. Mary in Seuversholz. Sornhüll is home to four prehistoric burial mounds, which are also among the municipality’s sights. Preith lies close to Pollenfeld; its parish church stands on an old Roman road. These places offer further cultural themes to consider when planning your trip, while keeping the focus on the different villages and their own sights.

The wider destination of Eichstätt adds another distinctive element: the Jura Museum Eichstätt focuses its exhibitions on fossils from the Solnhofen Plattenkalk; the original Eichstätt specimen of Archaeopteryx can also be seen there. Willibaldsburg Castle was built in 1355 by Bishop Berthold Burggraf von Zollern and served as the bishops’ residence until 1725. Parts of the 420-metre-long complex that survive include walls and bastions, the arsenal, the 63-metre-long gate hall and the Gemmingen building with its two towers. In the 1,500-square-metre bastion garden, the Hortus Eystettensis, destroyed during the Thirty Years’ War, was brought back to life after 400 years; visitors can discover many of the original plant species there. These cultural sites in Eichstätt are part of the wider destination, not sights within the municipality of Pollenfeld.

Discover More Destinations

Discover more destinations: Lenting, Schernfeld, Altmannstein, Mörnsheim, Kinding, Wellheim, Titting, Nassenfels.

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