Mindelstetten can be explored through two distinct points of interest: the memory of Saint Anna Schäffer and the annual market. The Anna Schäffer heritage includes burial sites and a birthplace with an exhibition; the market brings a festival hall and equestrian tournament to the town. When planning your trip, it is therefore helpful to distinguish between the Anna Schäffer sites and the event dates.

Anna Schäffer Sites and Getting Your Bearings

The first burial site of Saint Anna Schäffer is by the church tower. Another important stop is the tomb above her grave in the nave of the old neo-Gothic parish church of St. Nicholas. The church dates from 1904/05. The burial site and tomb are therefore distinct points of reference in Mindelstetten’s church history.

The Anna Schäffer birthplace, which houses the Anna Schäffer exhibition, is also one of the places that deepen visitors’ connection to her. Members of the parish can visit the house; check before your visit whether it is currently open to visitors. Plan for a closure over the Christmas and New Year period: the birthplace is closed from December 24 through January 1 inclusive. Check that this information is still current before your visit.

The pilgrimage center is located at Kirchplatz 2a and has a hall and toilets. This address gives you a specific point of reference for planning your visit. If you take the pilgrimage cycle route from Hüttenhausen to Mindelstetten, you will travel a further two kilometers on paved cycle paths. Check current route information before setting off.

The Mindelstetten Market

At the annual Mindelstetten Market, the festival procession sets off from in front of the church on a Friday and continues to the market square and the festival hall. Celebrations then continue there for four days, with clubs, musicians and other participants. The market also includes an equestrian tournament with show-jumping events, organized by RuFV-Mindelstetten near the market square. If you want to plan your trip around the festival, check the dates for the year you will be traveling.

Church History in Hüttenhausen

The church in Hüttenhausen, part of the municipality, offers a distinct historical point of interest. It is dated to around 1190 on the basis of two stylistically closely related depictions of Christ Pantocrator in tympana. The church underwent major renovations around 1700, when the nave was extended westward by more than five meters. The dating and the later alteration thus describe two different phases of its architectural history.

Culture in the Wider Eichstätt Destination

In the wider Eichstätt destination, the Jura Museum offers a distinct attraction: the exhibition focuses on fossils from the Solnhofen Plattenkalk limestone deposits. The original Eichstätt specimen of Archaeopteryx is also on display.

The Willibaldsburg in Eichstätt was built in 1355 by Bishop Berthold Burggraf von Zollern and served as the bishop’s residence until 1725. Parts of the 420-meter-long castle that have been preserved include walls and bastions, the armory, the 63-meter-long gate hall, and the Gemmingen building with its two towers. These architectural remains give a visit its own historical focus.

The 1,500-square-meter bastion garden is also located at Willibaldsburg. There, the Hortus Eystettensis, destroyed during the Thirty Years’ War, was brought back to life after 400 years; visitors can discover many of the garden’s original plant species. The Anna Schäffer sites and the market in Mindelstetten thus sit alongside a distinct cultural offering in the explicitly wider Eichstätt destination.

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