Open Mind Place: Hillershausen wants a chapel on the edge of town

A group of active citizens with a close affinity to their homeland is campaigning for the construction of a chapel on the outskirts of the Korbach district of Hillershausen. It is to be built in the immediate vicinity of the peace cross, which is visible from afar, and is to become an "open mind place", a place of relaxation, reflection and encounter. District Administrator Dr Reinhard Kubat and the head of the district building authority, Susanne Paulus, now presented the initiators of the project with a preliminary building permit. This means that the planned chapel has a concrete chance of being realised at the desired location.

As the district administrator explained at the handover, it is often not clear, especially in the outer area, whether a site is legally suitable for building. However, security has now been created in this regard and the "Hillershausen Chapel Association", which is currently being founded, can enter the concrete planning phase. Kilian Emde, who together with Andreas Geck, Martin Hellwig, Heinz Faupel, Peter Groß and Karl-Heinz Becker is one of the driving forces behind the project, was pleased to be able to welcome Mayor Klaus Friedrich and local chief Christine Huneck to the meeting. In his short speech, he described how the idea of building a chapel slowly solidified. "It was not a spontaneous decision, but a slow maturing process that led us here," Emde said. Other chapels, especially in neighbouring North Rhine-Westphalia, and the "soul places" or "open mind places" that have sprung up around the Medebach district served as models, so to speak.

Now they also want to create a place of peace and devotion in Hillershausen, at a prominent location on the feeder road to the premium hiking trail "Sauerland-Höhenflug", on the border between Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, which for centuries was the scene of disputes between the Electorate of Cologne and Waldeck. The land required for the chapel can be acquired by Karl-Heinz Becker to bring the project close to a speedy realisation.

Head of the village Christine Huneck described the planned chapel as an important community project that would strengthen the cohesion of the village community. Mayor Klaus Friedrich advised to start building the chapel as soon as possible in order to immediately use the impulse given by the preliminary building permit creatively. Like the district administrator, Friedrich also declared his willingness to look for and obtain funding for the project. After all, the total costs are estimated at around 90,000 euros. But the chapel is worth it to the initiators because they are convinced that they are creating an urgently needed place of gathering, consolation and hope in a time marked by global, but also regional and individual crises.