The Nunkirche in the Hunsrück

A few kilometers from Simmern, quite secluded and on a very exposed site above the village of Sargenroth, is the Romanesque Nunkirche, one of the landmarks of Hunsrück. Its name is probably derived from the medieval "Nuwe Kirche" (new church), which the townsfolk used to differentiate it from the churches in Simmern or Kirchberg. Built around the year 1000, Nunkirche was certainly a part of the long-term development plans of the politically-minded and very ambitious Archbishop Willigis of Mainz (975-1011), who, at the time, was putting a lot of energy into the development of the high-lying region of Hunsrück from the south. This was primarily to differentiate himself from the Trier Electors, who, at about the same time, began to spread their influence from the west, over the Mosel-Hunsrück region towards the Rhine. The frescos, as well as the paintings on the walls and vault of Nunkirche, dating from the 13th to 14th Centuries, are among the oldest in the Hunsrück region.

Photo: The Romanesque Nunkirche near Sargenroth, built around the turn of the millennium, is one of the landmarks of Hunsrück. Because of its exposed position on a hill above the village, it is visible from afar.