Anna-Katharina-Emmerick-Haus

The Anna-Katharina-Emmerick House is the reconstruction of the birthplace of Blessed Anna Katharina Emmerick at its original location and serves as a museum memorial site. It is located in the village of Flamschen, which belongs to Coesfeld, and has the postal address Emmerickweg 20.

This building was a thatched double huer house built in a two-post construction style. The exact date of construction is unknown, but it is first mentioned in a census list around 1750. There is an indication that the house already existed in 1690, as it is recorded in a tax list as Emmerick's personal estate. At that time (and up to the present day), it belonged, as was usual for huerling houses, to a larger agricultural operation, in this case, the neighboring homestead named Emmerick/Emmerich, Flamschen 1. The house is oriented in a north-south direction. The boarded gable juts out on console brackets. During renovations in the course of the 19th century (but probably only during the conversion in 1897), the original leaded windows were replaced with wooden mullioned windows with significantly larger individual panes. The clay infill was also replaced with firebricks. The small extension on the north/gable side was added in 1795 as a "sewing room" for A. K. Emmerick after her apprenticeship in the town of Coesfeld.

Until the partial renovation at the end of the 19th century, it was a so-called smokehouse (see also "smoking kitchen"). During this renovation, the eastern gable wall was raised, the interior layout was changed, and a kitchen room with its own chimney was installed. The roof was covered with tiles. Several rooms from the other half of the double house were also integrated into this and its unnecessary parts were demolished. Until 1932, the agricultural area of the cottage was farmed by descendants of Sister Anna Katharina's siblings, who moved to a newly constructed homestead in 1933. After that, the house was only used for residential purposes, including by individuals displaced from the Ruhr area due to bombings. The building was inhabited until around 1952, after which the owner only used it for agricultural purposes. A prayer room was established in the so-called living room, and the house became a destination for pilgrims and visitors, especially since the initiation of the beatification process at the end of the 19th century. With the halt of this process in 1928, the flow of visitors decreased. From 1956 onwards, it was no longer needed for agriculture and fell into disrepair.

Only the Anna-Katharina-Emmerick Association, founded in 1966 in Coesfeld, initiated a thorough architectural and historical investigation by experts from the Detmold Open-Air Museum and a restoration. In 1968, work began. The eastern gable wall was reduced to its original height, and the roof was thatched. A new residential building for a caretaker, who was also to ensure the maintenance of the memorial, was constructed on the south side of the Emmerick part. Just before the completion of the measures, the Emmerick House burned down in 1969, but the load-bearing timber beams were saved thanks to the timely arrival of the fire department, making another restoration possible. Everything was completed in 1974, but the building burned down again in 1976, and this time hardly any original material was preserved; nevertheless, despite all criticism and other plans for the site (e.g., the erection of a simple wooden cross), it was decided to undertake an accurate reconstruction, especially since the beatification process had been resumed. However, clauses in the lease agreement were decisive for this reconstruction, this time with roof tiles instead of thatch. The memorial was inaugurated in 1980, furnished with procured old furnishings. However, the original is the box crib displayed in the "sewing room," which was made by Anna Katharina Emmerick herself and had been preserved in St. Jakobi. Water damage from heavy rain led to the replacement of the clay floor in the main rooms with firebricks, while the clay floor remained preserved in the secondary rooms to this day. We invite you to be pleasantly surprised in our Cafe Teitekerl and the Pannkokenhus (Pancake House), furnished with vintage tables and lounge furniture.

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