
It is important to us to live and operate as close to society and as sustainable as possible. In doing so, we want to create added value for the region.
What is to be created in Kirnhalden:
The renovation of the buildings and the implementation of the small and large project components will proceed gradually.
We plan a development period of 5-10 years.
THE PLACE.
Founded as a monastery, the farmstead Kirnhalden has been nestled alone in the small Kirn valley since the 14th century. At times it was closely surrounded by forest, almost overgrown, at times also surrounded by meadows and green hills. Over the centuries it was embattled, taken, burned down and rebuilt.
From 1717 Kirnhalden was discovered as a place of healing. The spring there was said to have special powers. The “Bad Kirnhalden” developed splendidly and became, with a low point during the 1st World War, a popular health resort until the beginning of the 2nd World War. After the war, war returnees and veterans were housed in the Kirnhalden buildings.
In the early 1960s, another building was added to the remote place: The isolation and ‘smallpox station’. However, this location, built for emergencies, was never used. Instead, Kirnhalden was purchased by Bruderhaus Diakonie in the late 1960s and used as a nursing and retirement home for old people with long-term mental illness. Until 2017, many old and sick people lived and died in Kirnhalden.
Since then, the site has been more or less empty. The subsequent owner wanted to make a wedding and event location out of the place, but never implemented his plan. Interim uses as accommodation for refugees have been tried, but also failed. Since 2018, only Rudolf D., an artist who carves life-size wooden figures and earns his living as a gravedigger, lives on the Kirnhalden site. And then, in May 2021, we discovered the place…