Kirchberg - Michaelskirche

Kirchberg has held a city charter since 1259 and is thought to be one of the oldest settlements in the Hunsrück region. Unfortunately there are hardly any written sources on the medieval history of Kirchberg.  Archaeological surveys are therefore of utmost importance.  
In the sixties restoration work in the Michaelskirche made it possible to gain insight into the history of the building and thus also the history of the medieval settlement.
Throughout the church there emerged traces of the Roman settlement. These are the remains of Kirchberg/Dumnissus, the ancient settlement on the roman road and found located on a roadmap from antiquity.
Above the Roman level the excavators found traces of three earlier construction phases that predate today’s Michaeliskirche. 
Only a few traces of the first construction remain.
At the eastern end of the two-part church construction was a 5 metre long rectangular hall – the choir.
At least two steps led down, westward, from the elevated choir to the rectangular nave.  
The first stone church in Kirchberg was a simple, almost 15 m long, hall-type church.
After the complete demolition of the first building came the larger second construction. The building now stood on strong foundations, 1.4 metres deep.
The choir was laid out as a square and the nave extended westward.
The western hall, located slightly lower, was separated by columns and arches. This was probably where the baptistery stood
The first and second construction differed only in size; for the third phase of construction a new style – the basilica – was chosen. The deep foundations stand partly on pile structures, which were pushed through the layers of debris left when the earlier buildings were levelled. The nave is 18 m  long by approximately 13 m wide. The choir in the East is semi-circular.
Attached to the West side of the nave is an approximately 3.2 metre wide tower.
Another extension– possibly the sacristy – used to be located on the North side of the nave.
The nave is divided into one central and two side aisles by two traversing arcade walls. Between the Apse and nave stood the ‘Vorjoch’ – a room separated by the choir and archways.
In the Western part of the nave (pillar or buttress?) foundations determine the space for the baptistery.
Hall-type churches are typical constructions of the 8th to 10th century. It is unfortunate that during the excavations no discoveries were made that could be accurately dated. Without exception the burials unearthed in the Michaeliskirche did not include gifts. The custom of burial gifts was given up from the 8th century onwards so this means that the first church construction can be estimated to be 8th century at the earliest. The surrounding Frankish settlement “Chiriperg” was named after the church situated at its highest point.  The more modern name “Kirchberg”, derives from this older name “Chiriperg”.
In the foundations of the choir of the second church a tomb slab had been bricked in. This second church was probably erected in the 9th or 10th century.
The dating of the third church was determined by art-historical classification. Pillared basilicas have their seeds in the age of Carolingian architecture and reach mainly to the Romanesque but in rural areas to the Gothic. The third church construction is presumed to date from the 11th century.
Today’s late Gothic hall-type church was erected between 1460 and 1485 on the foundations of the three earlier buildings.

[Martin Thoma]