When we first arrived in southern Germany we saw a number of small churches dotting the landscape. usually situated right beside some very large farm houses. Why would anyone build something like that?

The friend who was driving us through the area explained that back when the weather was more extreme and roads less passable, wealthy Roman Catholic families built their own chapels for use when they were not able to get to the parish church. There are still hundreds, maybe thousands, of them around.

I’m sure there is an interesting tale to tell about this one, just on the outskirts of Titisee in the Black Forest, but I won’t be the one to share the story. It isn’t that I don’t want to, but I haven’t been able to find the information.

This church is located on the grounds of an old farmhouse that is now an agricultural museum. It might seat ten people, though not in these days of social distancing. The museum is only open three hours a week, on Thursday afternoons, and it was Tuesday when I was in Titisee. The museum website wasn’t much help – I couldn’t get it to load (which may be more my computer than the site – you can try).

There are two memorials in the church, for Alois and Otto Konig – both of whom died within a few months of each other in 1944.  I wonder if their war deaths are the reason the farm house is now a museum. Maybe they were supposed to take on the family farm, and there was no-one else.

The information is probably out there somewhere. But it is the weekend, and I will admit to a preference today to enjoying the sunshine rather than scanning online genealogies in German. If you are inclined to do the research, let me know what you find out.

As we were taking the train home we noticed several other miniature churches along the route. I suggested to my wife that you could make a great coffee-table book, taking pictures and telling the stories behind each one.

Which shows my age. Who these days would buy a coffee table book?