“Forgotten Treasures: The Lost Historical Picture Panels of Sipplingen”

Five historical testimonies from the history of Sippling are in the archive of the municipality. They are in danger of being forgotten there. There are five picture panels from the 18th century – presumably. They were donated to the community in 2004 and left in trust to make them accessible to the people of Sippling. But they have disappeared from the public eye for several years.

It is thanks to a happy coincidence that the five panels from the Sipplinger story did not end up in the trash. The Überlingen lawyer Fritz Kleffner discovered the panels painted on wood in 1985 when visiting a client in Sipplingen. The naïve images of saints had been hidden behind wooden paneling in the former monastery building of the Franciscan nuns for decades and only now came to light during renovation work. It was part of the ceiling painting of the chapel of the former convent of St. Ulrich. The five images show an image of Mary standing on a globe crushing the head of a snake, as well as four angels playing music. When and by whom they were painted is uncertain. Its origin is dated to the period between 1684 and 1722. The lawyer acquired the five paintings.

When attorney Kleffner died in 2002, he left his wife Sibylla, among other things, the five panels. She complied with a wish of her deceased husband: “My husband wanted the five panels to return to the place with whose history they are closely connected.” Through the mediation of the former Sippling mayor Kurt Binder, Sybilla Kleffner contacted the incumbent mayor Anselm in 2004 Closer up. “He was very happy and happy that the historical testimonies could return to the community,” Sybilla Kleffner recalls. According to her husband’s wish, the Sipplingers should be able to see the pictures again. “They should be publicly accessible,” confirms Kurt Binder.

The four putti and the image of the Madonna were hung up on the back of the historical town hall in Sipplingen. A place where another historical testimony of Sipplinger history had found its place: the much older Leprosen or Siechenkreuz.

During the renovation of the town hall, the Siechenkreuz and the picture panels disappeared from the public eye. But only the Siechenkreuz returned to the Bürgersaal after the reopening of the town hall. Instead of the five picture panels, a sober, modern clock is emblazoned today.

When asked by the SÜDKURIER about the whereabouts of the five pictures, the municipality replied: “The municipality’s picture panels are currently still in our archive in the town hall.” it said laconically: “If there is currently acute interest, these (the pictures, editor’s note) can be viewed there.”

But that was not the intention with which Sybilla Kleffner gave the historical picture panels to the community of Sipplingen in 2004. She told SÜDKURIER: “I didn’t want that. They don’t have to be in the town hall, but where the citizens of Sippling can walk past them.”

Easier said than done. Because the community has only a few buildings or rooms that are available to the public. Elisabeth Lohrer, consultant for history and village development, currently sees no room for them, at least in the citizens’ hall: “The picture panels do not belong in the historic citizens’ hall. Unlike the Leprosenkreuz, which stands for “social support in the community that has lasted for centuries”. This cannot be the case with the wood pictures.

But what to do with the five picture panels? Elisabeth Lohrer is at a loss, but still hopes to find a place: “The final solution for the interior design, or rather the wall decoration in the town hall, is not yet complete. It cannot be ruled out that the picture panels will come back there again. We’ll see,” she wrote to SÜDKURIER when asked.

Sybilla Kleffner fears for the plaques in view of the community’s response: “I know from experience that things well packed in the depot are eaten by rats after 20 years. But they should be preserved.”