Moselsteig side trip Felsen.Fässer.Fachwerk

Where the Moselle Valley runs straight from south to north and you have a magnificent panoramic view of the former Marienburg monastery complex in the south and the steeply rising Calmont in the north, lies the wine village of Sankt Aldegund in the Zeller Land holiday region. From the historic town center, the premium trail Felsen.Fässer.Fachwerk takes you to a rock above the weir and lock of St. Aldegund. Here, you can enjoy a wide view of the Moselle landscape and the Hunsrück heights from the Kehr-Heiligenhäuschen rest area. During a short break, you can also observe the lock operation of Moselle shipping and railway traffic. The path continues past the Goldkaul cave, where attempts were made to mine copper ore in the 19th century. An impressive view of Europe's steepest vineyard is offered by the Calmontblick, which you can reach from the main path via a 300 m side path towards Bremm. Back on the main path, passing the Josefshöhe, you hike above the premium vineyard site Sankt Aldegunder Palmberg-Terrassen on an extremely steep slope through one of the largest naturally growing boxwood fields on the Moselle. For the Palmberg path running along the steep slope, you need sturdy footwear. In the valley, at the end of the Palmberg path, you can hike directly to the Raulwing-Platz viewpoint or take the 4 km long additional loop – it also leads through nature, forest, and field to Raulwing-Platz. From here, you will have a spectacular view of the landscape, the wine village of Sankt Aldegund with its numerous half-timbered houses, and the neighboring Moselle towns of Bremm, Bullay, Alf, and Neef. From Raulwing-Platz, the path leads back down into the Moselle Valley and offers you another highlight of the route, the Romanesque Old Church from 1144.

Sturdy footwear is required for the route.

Small chapel as the final resting place of a great art collector: The grave of Peter Ludwig in the mountain chapel of St. Aldegund

The premium trail Felsen.Fässer.Fachwerk. guides the hiker to an ancient Celtic cult site above Sankt Aldegund. There, in 1144, a small Christian sanctuary was erected in honor of the Merovingian Saint Aldegundis. Today called the Old Church, the chapel lies amid a garden that used to be a cemetery. Some old gravestones still remind of this time. In 1872, a new parish church was built on the Moselle riverbank, and the condition of the small mountain chapel was then so poor that the diocesan authority demanded the demolition of the nave. Fortunately, it lacked the funds, so part of the inventory was sold and the roof was provisionally repaired. After 1948, the local Marian Association took care of the old little church, repaired the roof, installed new windows, and began searching for the sold inventory. The wrought-iron pulpit from 1663 was acquired through the Cologne art trade. The sandstone grave altar by master Hans-Ruprecht Hoffmann from 1602 for the Electoral bailiff Nicolaus Rultz was discovered with the Aachen collector couple Peter and Irene Ludwig. Both initially did not want to sell the artwork but then visited the mountain chapel and decided not only to donate the grave altar but also to financially support the restoration work. In return, they wished for a grave site in connection with the sanctuary. Thus, Peter Ludwig found his final resting place in Sankt Aldegund on July 30, 1996, and Irene Ludwig on December 4, 2010.

Peter Ludwig, together with his wife Irene, collected thousands of valuable art objects. Since 1957, the couple, financially well-off by birth, explicitly collected for the public, so donations and permanent loans can be seen in over twenty museums. The "Ludwig Museums" and institutions bearing the Ludwig name go back to initiatives of the couple or have been decisively shaped by donated artworks, for example in Cologne, Oberhausen, Aachen, Koblenz, Saarlouis, Bamberg, Basel, Budapest, Vienna, St. Petersburg, and Beijing.

Completely in contrast to these great monuments that Peter and Irene Ludwig set during their lifetime, the grave in the small chapel is without any donor pathos. The sculptor Christof Anders from Senheim was commissioned to create a simple, modest grave behind which the artist's personality largely takes a backseat. The grave site can be viewed from outside, but those wishing to visit the chapel inside must obtain the key (from the von Essen family, Auf der Teusch 4).

A 48 exit Wittlich-Mitte, via B 49 towards Alf and onward to Sankt Aldegund

A 48 exit Kaisersesch, L 98 to Cochem, then via B 49 along the Moselle to Sankt Aldegund

A 61 exit Emmelshausen, via B 327 towards Kastellaun, then to exit Blümlingshof on B 421 to Zell (Mosel), then on B 53 along the Moselle to Sankt Aldegund

Parking is available on the Moselle riverbank and near the bus stop on Am Moselstausee street.

Bus lines 710 and 711 (Bullay – Cochem, stop Sankt Aldegund Römerstraße)

Further information at: www.vrminfo.de.

"Seitensprünge Band 2" - 17 premium circular hikes from Bernkastel-Kues to Koblenz by ideemedia

Authors: Ulrike Poller, Wolfgang Todt, Publisher: ideemedia, 160 pages, format: 11.0 x 16.4 cm, ISBN: 978-3-942779-60-9, €12.95

Moselsteig leisure map - Map 3: Zell (Mosel) - Koblenz (Stages 15 - 24), ISBN: 978-3-89637-421-9

Mosellandtouristik GmbH

Kordelweg 1, 54470 Bernkastel-Kues; Phone: 06531/97330

www.moselsteig.de

Zeller Land Tourismus GmbH

Balduinstraße 44, 56856 Zell (Mosel); Phone: 06542/96220

www.zellerland.de

www.felsen-faesser-fachwerk.de