HEILIGES KREUZ MÜNSTER

Clive Hicks mentions only one Green Man in Schwäbisch Gmünd. So I said to my wife MeiMei, maybe we skip SG. No, she said, go there, you never know. After an arduous trip we finally stood eye to eye with the biggest church, the Münster. Immediately, I sensed the presence of Green Men (I really get a nose for them, after all, they are my relatives....). They all appeared to be on the outside of the church. It was really one surprise after the other. Some very old, very characteristic, others lovingly restored. So, I embraced my wife for having brought me to Schwäbisch Gmünd.

Within two minutes walk we then arrived at the Johanneskirche. She originates from the early 13th century. First we went to the entrance side, and, within seconds I saw the whole panorama evolving in front of me: Green Men everywhere! Again some VERY old while others were nicely restored. The latter appeared to have a special style, almost "modern", say Jugendstil. Of course the original images were as old as the others, incredible, really. The more we got into it, the more Green Men "showed up". Along the streetside of the church there were dozens, maybe around fifty at least. An entire church celebrating the Green Men, that I had only seen in Frankenberg. I wouldn't be surprised that the Johanneskirche has a direct link with the crusaders e.g. the Templars, thus explaining the abundance of the Green Man images - Son of the Great Mother, the latter hidden as Cosmic Yoni's..... everywhere in the church - and being the center of worship of the knights*.

* Again, in the official booklet of the church NO ANY word was spent about Green Men, despite the fifty or so images.....  

JOHANNESKIRCHE