The
HÖRI is a 63 square kilometre peninsula on a tongue of land between Lake Zell (= Radolfzell + Lake) and Untersee. The name can be explained as follows: It is referred to as a "Bischofshöri" - this stretch of land belonged to the property of the Prince-Bishop of Constance. The poet
Viktor von Scheffel, who made this landscape his second home, put it like this: "All around is fine and beautiful, here the creator of the world has created a masterpiece"!
Moos and its four districts of Iznang, Weiler with the gem of Bettnang and Bankholzen form the "Vordere Höri " with large areas of vegetable cultivation and the place of origin of the "Höri -Bülle", the common name for onions in Alemannic, as the red onion has been called since 14 October 2014, which has been awarded the EU label and is known for its delicate flavour and mild, non-intrusive pungency.
Historical events include the Mooser water procession, which takes place every year in July, and the Büllefest , which is held in October. The solar tower in the harbour of Moos, the result of a design competition at the Department of Architecture at the University of Applied Sciences in Constance, stands out. Iznang, a former fishing settlement and birthplace of Dr Franz Anton Messmer, the discoverer of animal magnetism (1794-1815), lies directly on the lakeshore. Weiler, an Alemannic settlement, was part of the episcopal territory of Constance on the Höri from 1535 to 1802. Its late Gothic parish church of St Leonhard is well worth a visit. On the edge of the Weiler district, hidden in the solitude of the forest, the Grünenberg monastery once stood at the foot of a long-decayed knight's castle. Unfortunately, none of the convent buildings, which had housed a small Franciscan convent since the middle of the 14th century and were built to replace an older beguinage, have survived; they were demolished around 1830. A memorial plaque inaugurated in the village in 1969 keeps the memory of this convent and its founder alive, while a valuable crucifix of Blessed Elsa, the first head of this community of pious women, dating from around 1350 and a bell in the tower of the parish church in Weiler are the last significant reminders of the vanished convent complex in the Grünenberg valley. The Blatt plateau offers marvellous views of the Hegau with its volcanic mountains, the Bodanrück and the Zeller and Untersee lakes!
From the Horner water tower, there is an enhanced panoramic view of the lake over Lake Zell with the Mettnau peninsula, towards Constance, the Alps, the Bodanrück and eastwards over the island of Reichenau and the Thurgau ridge.
The fruit and vegetable plantations around the Schienerberg are largely under nature and landscape protection.
On Weiler Straße, we pass the field cross and descend to the village centre of Horn, the former summer residence of the prince-bishops of Constance, cross the main road at the Hirschen inn and walk along Kirchgasse directly to the Catholic parish church of St. Johann and St. Veit, a late Gothic hall church with a church cemetery. The Grand Duke of Baden, Friedrich I, is said to have once remarked while standing next to the church: If I were not Grand Duke of Baden, I would want to be the parish priest of Horn! Certainly because of the marvellous view! Hans Leip, the author of the soldier's song "Lilli Marlen" from 1915, with which the singer Lale Andersen became popular during the Second World War, has been buried in this cemetery since 1983.
Horn is a district of Gaienhofen on the Middle Höri . The climate of this headland is very mild and balanced due to the large mass of water that surrounds it and which also serves as a heat reservoir, and the southern slope in particular has a Mediterranean flavour. The hospitable and hard-working people here live mainly from agriculture, fruit and vegetable growing and are blessed with rich harvests. Hornstaad Castle was once the residence of the canons of the Öhningen monastery and is now the Schlössle lakeside restaurant. We walk along the beach path in the nature and landscape conservation area near the shores of Untersee to the Horn lido and reach the "Gaienhofen landing stage" on the reed banks. Now we walk uphill along Schloss Straße past the "Ev. Schule Schloss Gaienhofen"school to the main road with the SBG bus stop.
World-famous poets and painters found their inspiration here and have always chosen the region as the centre of their lives, including Hermann Hesse, Otto Dix, Erich Heckel, Ludwig Finckh, Helmut Macke and many others. Today, the Hesse Museum Gaienhofen, the Hermann Hesse House in Erlenloh in Gaienhofen and the Otto Dix House in Hemmenhofen honour the once famous residents with exhibitions. You can follow in the footsteps of these celebrities in their former homes.
The Hesse Museum in Gaienhofen also has a section on the pile dwellings on Untersee, which were discovered in 1856/1857 at the Hornstaad-Hörnle site with finds and reconstructions.
An attraction in Gaienhofen are the "Lenk sculptures" with figures 2.60 metres high from a work by Otto Dix directly above the main road in the so-called "Dix curve" with a total height of 8 metres, by Bodman artist Peter Lenk.
Gaienhofen has a landing stage operated by the Swiss shipping company Untersee und Rhein and the Gaienhofen-Steckborn/CH solar ferry.
