Ruins of the Theutbirg Basilica of Nauborn

Interesting church ruins, of which only the foundation walls are preserved.

The church of Theutbirg or Teutbirg in loco qui dicitur Nivora (“at the place called Nivora”) was first mentioned in documents in 778, but was built well before that year.

This own church, which was donated to the Lorsch Monastery by a “venerable woman” (venerabilis matrona) named Teutbirg (“Consecrated to God”), can probably be identified with today’s Teutbirg Basilica.

The Teutbirg Basilica was probably connected to Lorsch Monastery before the donation.
The small church only existed until the turn of the 9th century and was probably abandoned when the focus of the Nauborn settlement shifted further north.

The remains of the wall were only discovered by Karl Schieferstein in 1927.
The church was about 20m long and 6m wide and had a simple floor plan, consisting of an anteroom, a church hall and a recessed choir with a semicircular, recessed apse.
To the south of the anteroom there was a small hermitage.
It is assumed that the founder Theutbirg herself lived in the hermitage next to the church, secluded from the world and led a godly life.

There was a cemetery around the church.
The graves were laid out towards the church. During the excavation, 14 grave sites were opened and poorly buried corpses were uncovered.
They were buried here at the time without coffins or jewelry.

In addition to bones, some shards of vessels from the period between 700 and 780 and an iron ax were found in the associated cemetery. It is assumed that there was also a small cultivated field here.

Unfortunately, only the foundations of the Teutbirg basilica remain. The structure of the choir, church room, anteroom and hermitage is clearly visible.