state's rule over the town in feudal times. The "cramp", as it is called in English heraldry, or Wolfsangel as it is known in German heraldry, seen on the sinister (armsbearer's left, viewer's right) side, is a charge seen in several coats of arms borne by a particular Hillesheim family, some of whom functioned as Schöffen (roughly "lay jurists"). The Madonna in the base was already to be found in the old town seal from 1306, reappearing on Schöffen seals in the 14th and 15th centuries. These Madonna seals were in use until the late 18th century, and thus the Madonna was always closely bound to the townsfolk. Culture and sightseeing The town is one of the few European Model Towns and its renovation works are therefore subsidized by the town's urban development promotion programme. There is a mediaeval town centre partly surrounded by a town wall and with a church worth seeing for its Baroque organ from 1772, built by the famous Stumm family, annually attracting talented international organists. Hillesheim's municipal area is almost round. From the historical town centre, the town broadened out in all directions, growing from its location in the valley through new building developments up to the surrounding slopes. Buildings Main town Antoniuskapelle (chapel), Koblenzer Straße, plaster building, apparently from 1735. Saint Martin's Catholic Parish Church, Graf-Mirbach-Platz 14, Classicist aisleless church, 1851–1852. Town fortifications, south side, eastern and western parts of the crenellated girding wall built about 1300 and raised in the early 16th century. Across the street from Am Alten Born 1 – wayside cross, sandstone shaft cross, latter half of 18th or early 19th century. Am Markt 14 – three-floor Late Historicist hotel building with elaborate façade, about 1900. Am Stockberg, graveyard, Father Pfriem's Gothic Revival tomb, about 1904, Baroque wayside cross, red sandstone, from 1814 (?). At Augustinerstraße 2 – wayside cross, sandstone beam cross, from 1731. Augustinerstraße 2 – former Augustinian hermit monastery, three-winged complex, 1721, now a hotel. Bachstraße 5 – house/inn, Late Classicist plaster building, apparently from 1886. Bahnhofstraße 3 – former railway station, reception building and goods shed, Reform architecture, about 1912. Burgstraße 12 – solid structure with timber-frame gable, Late Gothic window skirting, hall kitchen (?), possibly essentially 16th century. Grabenstraße/corner of Neutorstraße – sandstone Crucifixion Bildstock, from 1650 or 1656. Graf-Mirbach-Platz 17 – representative Late Historicist shop-house, about 1900. Near in Buch 6 – sandstone Crucifixion