The Rhenish helm is a type of

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires a ...

typical of Romanesque church architecture of the historic

Rhineland The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section. Term Historically, the Rhinelands ...

. It is a pyramidal roof on towers of square plan. Each of the four sides of the roof is

rhomboid Traditionally, in two-dimensional geometry, a rhomboid is a parallelogram in which adjacent sides are of unequal lengths and angles are non-right angled. A parallelogram with sides of equal length (equilateral) is a rhombus but not a rhomboi ...

in form, with the long diagonal running from the apex of roof to one of the corners of the supporting tower. Each side of the tower is topped with an even triangular

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

from the peak of which runs a ridge to the

apex The apex is the highest point of something. The word may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional entities * Apex (comics), a teenaged super villainess in the Marvel Universe * Ape-X, a super-intelligent ape in the Squadron Supreme universe *Apex, ...

of the roof. Thus, the corners of the pyramidical roof do not correspond with the corners of the tower but with the peaks of the gables. An early if not the first example of such spires can be found on the four tall towers of the Cathedral of Speyer. Rhenish helm spires are mainly found in the historical Rhineland but there are a few churches in other areas with such spires.

Examples of churches in the historical Rhineland

Speyer Cathedral , native_name_lang = German , image = Speyer_dom_11.jpg , imagesize = 280px , imagelink = , imagealt = , landscape = , caption = , pushpin ma ...

Maria Laach Abbey Maria Laach Abbey (in German: ''Abtei Maria Laach'', in Latin: ''Abbatia Maria Lacensis'' or ''Abbatia Maria ad Lacum'') is a Benedictine abbey situated on the southwestern shore of the Laacher See (Lake Laach), near Andernach, in the Eifel ...

, near

Andernach Andernach () is a town in the district of Mayen-Koblenz, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, of about 30,000 inhabitants. It is situated towards the end of the '' Neuwied basin'' on the left bank of the Rhine between the former tiny fishing villa ...

* Basilica of St. Castor, Koblenz * Collegiate Church of St. Bartholomew, Liège * Limburg Cathedral * St. Dionysius, Rhens *

Munsterkerk The Munsterkerk (''Munster'') is a 13th-century church dedicated to Our Lady in the Dutch town of Roermond. Its remarkable front towers are 55 meter in height. The Munsterkerk is one of the most important examples of Late Romanesque architectur ...

Roermond Roermond (; li, Remunj or ) is a city, municipality, and diocese in the Limburg province of the Netherlands. Roermond is a historically important town on the lower Roer on the east bank of the river Meuse. It received town rights in 1231. Ro ...

* St. Faith's Church, Sélestat *

Basilica of the Holy Apostles, Cologne The Basilica of the Holy Apostles (german: Basilika St. Aposteln, , ) is a Romanesque church in Cologne (Köln), located near Innenstadt's busy . The former collegiate church is dedicated to the twelve Apostles. It is one of the twelve Romane ...

* St. Maria Lyskirchen, Cologne * St. Aegidius Church,

Bad Honnef Bad Honnef () is a spa town in Germany near Bonn in the Rhein-Sieg district, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the border of the neighbouring state Rhineland-Palatinate. To the north it lies on the slopes of the Drachenfels (“Dragon' ...

Eibingen Abbey Eibingen Abbey (german: Abtei St. Hildegard, full name: Benedictine Abbey of St. Hildegard) is a community of Benedictine nuns in Eibingen near Rüdesheim in Hesse, Germany. Founded by Hildegard of Bingen in 1165, it was dissolved in 1804, but ...

Examples of churches outside of the historical Rhineland

Germany

* St. Mary's Church, Lübeck * Stumm-Kirche, Brebach-Fechingen, Saarbrücken

The Netherlands

* Basilica of Our Lady, Maastricht

Canada

* Moravian Church, Nain, Newfoundland and Labrador * Saint Peter's and Saint John's Anglican Church, Baddeck, Nova Scotia * Trinity Anglican Church, Jordan Falls, Nova Scotia

China

* St. Michael's Cathedral, Qingdao

England

* Church of St Mary the Blessed Virgin, Sompting,

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

St Margaret's Church, Wormhill St Margaret's Church, Wormhill is a Grade II* listed parish church in the Church of England in Wormhill, Derbyshire. History The medieval chapel was enlarged and altered in 1746 when a low porch and west gallery were erected. In 1826 another ga ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

* St Mary's Church, Flixton, Suffolk * St Peter and St Paul, Hawkley,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

* St Stephen's Church,

West Bowling West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

, Bradford,

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

* St Andrew's Church,

Churcham Churcham is a small village and civil parish in the Forest of Dean District of Gloucestershire in England, located west of Gloucester. It has a population of 655.Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

* St Anne's Church,

Bowden Hill Bowden Hill is a village in Wiltshire, England, in Lacock parish about south of Chippenham and to the east of Lacock village. Bowden Hill has about 50 houses, a pub, and a small industrial estate. Origins of the name Bowden Hill was historica ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

Hungary

* Abbey Church of St James, Lébény * Mary Magdalene Church, Egregy,

Hévíz Hévíz is a spa town in Zala County, Hungary, about from Keszthely. Description of the lake The town is located near Lake Hévíz, the world’s second-largest thermal lake, but biologically the biggest active natural lake. Its temperatur ...

Denmark

* Ribe Cathedral

The United States

* Old Chapel (Amherst, Massachusetts)

Further examples

* Preußisches Regierungsgebäude, Koblenz *

Temple Neuf, Metz Temple Neuf (, meaning "New Temple") is a Protestant church in Metz, France. It is located on place de la Comédie (next to Opéra-Théâtre), at the center of the Jardin d'Amour on the southwestern edge of Île du Petit-Saulcy, which is surrou ...

* https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3852199 * https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/mysterious-and-magnificent-lewes-home-market-1109789?amp Towers Architectural elements Church architecture {{Church-architecture-stub