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Niederkalbach is celebrating its 1200th anniversary this year. On March 22, 826, today's Kalbach district was first mentioned in a deed of donation as Calbaha. The jubilee day is celebrated at the weekend.
Niederkalbach – The first documented mention of Niederkalbach sounds a little like an indulgence: in the document “in the name of God for the reparation of my soul”, the priest Germunt not only gives a location in the area of today's Lower Franconian district of Rhön-Grabfeld, but also a third of a bifang – i.e. a field – in the town of Calbaha as a donation.
Although the document marks the birth of Niederkalbach, it can be assumed that the area was already populated beforehand. The mentions of villages around it followed later – like Mittelkalbach and Oberkalbach probably in the years 1012 and 1167.
Calbaha becomes Niederkalbach – the village celebrates its 1200th anniversary
The further history of Niederkalbach can be understood – as is so often the case in the Fulda region – primarily from the church chronicles. The castle chapel, consecrated to St. Lawrence in 1447, belonged to the parish of Flieden and thus to the diocese of Mainz. However, the arm of the bishops of the Rhine only took limited action, because the influence of the Fulda diocese in the region had already been immense for centuries. In 1582 Niederkabach, which had already been named Nydderkalbe in 1442, fell to the newly founded parish of Neuhof. Events from these times can be read in the 432-page chronicle, which was created for the village anniversary.
In the Middle Ages and the early modern period there were repeated disputes between the knights in Niederkalbach – including for a long time the Lords of Ebersburg-Weyhers – and the prince abbots. These disputes finally culminated in 1581, when Niederkalbach was attacked by 600 servants. So the preacher in the now Protestant village was expelled and the Catholic priest was reinstated. With the decline of the castle of the knights residing in Nydderkalbe – and thus also the castle chapel – a new half-timbered chapel was built in 1765, but it was closed in 1901 due to the risk of collapse and finally demolished.
Festival program
The 1200th anniversary of Niederkalbach will be celebrated this weekend, on Easter Monday and in August.
On Saturday, March 21st, the jubilee date will be celebrated with a festival starting at 7:30 p.m. in the community center. From then on the chronicle will also be available for 35 euros.
A festive service with a brass band and choir will take place on Easter Monday, April 6th, at 9 a.m.
A festival weekend will take place from Friday 14th to Monday 17th August. On Friday evenings it starts with DJs ON FIRE, on Saturdays Caution Gebläse plays, on Sundays there is a standing parade under the motto “open village”, and there is live music with the band “Kuppenstürmer”. On Monday the festival ends with a pork knuckle evening and the RSM brass band.
Roughly where the castle once stood, the church now shapes the townscape. The St. Lawrence Church, built in 1909 in the neo-Gothic style, was expanded in 1977 to include a long transept. It has the floor plan of a Greek cross. From 1925 to 2015 the community was an independent parish curate. Since 2016, Niederkalbach, together with the Veitsteinbach and Uttrichshausen branches, has belonged to the newly established parish of St. Kilian Kalbach.
For the village anniversary, Niederkalbach is getting a new chronicle
The village community center is now also one of the central contact points in the village. In 1952, according to Markus Hackenberg, it was the first in the Fulda district. “Back then, every resident had to work 40 hours for the construction,” he reports. And Niederkalbach still has a district record to offer: Outside the city of Fulda, the village has the oldest sports club in the district, FC Union, founded in 1907. In addition to this, the carnival club, the Kolping family, the KfD, the small animal breeding club and the RSM brass band still exist today.
The history of the village is now to be celebrated this year: a good 1,198 years after it was first mentioned, the festival committee met for the first time in autumn 2024, reports Markus Hackenberg. It was soon decided that, in addition to the Kommers on the founding day, there would also be a festival weekend. What is particularly remarkable is the chronicle, which not only contains the text of the deed of donation from 826 and a historical outline, but also, among other things, an overview of the house names, club history and even a dialect dictionary.
Furthermore, a coat of arms designed especially for the village anniversary will be presented. This shows a knight's head with wings, which indicates the knightly protection of the place, a lily for the Ebersberger knight family, which is also symbolized by the color blue in the coat of arms. The street with vines and wheels refers to the location on the former trade route between Fulda and Würzburg and a river to the Kalbach. The castle in the coat of arms is reminiscent of the complex, which fell into disrepair in the 17th century and whose appearance is not known. The fields are separated by a white cross as a sign of belonging to the Fulda Monastery. And finally, the color gold symbolizes the ears of grain as an expression of the importance of agriculture.
Meanwhile, about a year ago A dedicated team completed the four-volume chronicle of the Church of St. Aegidius in Marbach.
