According to tradition, the celebrated missionary in the Eifel region, Willibrord refashioned the roughly 5,000-year-old menhir by hand into the shape of a cross as a Christian monument. Two niches for figures have been chiselled into the rock, each surrounded by holes. Today, the cross is about 3.5 metres high.
The origin of its name is unclear. It could be derived from Unserer lieben Frau Bild-Kreuz, "Sculpted Cross of Our Dear Lady". Another possibility is that the name is derived from Sibyl, which was given to prophetic women. Evidence of the latter is that the menhir was mentioned in 1617 as the Sybillen Creutz ("Sybil Cross").
Literature
Johannes Groht: Menhire in Deutschland. Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt, Halle (Saale) 2013, ISBN978-3-943904-18-5, pp. 339–340.
Leonard Palzkill: Sauertal ohne Grenzen. Wanderungen durch die deutsch-luxemburgische Felsenlandschaft. Verbandsgemeinde Irrel, Irrel, 2002, ISBN3-00-008585-8, p. 41: "Fraubillenkreuz".
Walter Pipke, Ida Leinberger: Die Eifel. Geschichte und Kultur des alten Vulkanlandes zwischen Aachen und Trier. 5th updated edition. DuMont, Cologne, 2006, ISBN3-7701-3926-7 (DuMont Kunstreiseführer).
Pierre Kauthen: Vom 'Fraubillenkreuz' zum Grab des hl. Willibrord. In: Hémecht 2011 (63rd year), Issue 1, pp.5-20.
The Moselle is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A small part of Belgium is in its basin as it includes the Sauer and the Our.
The Eifel is a low mountain range in western Germany, eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of Belgium.
Willibrord was an Anglo-Saxon monk, bishop, and missionary. He became the first Bishop of Utrecht in what is now the Netherlands, dying at Echternach in Luxembourg, and is known as the "Apostle to the Frisians".
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The Frisian Kingdom is a modern name for the post-Roman Frisian realm in Western Europe in the period when it was at its largest (650–734). This dominion was ruled by kings and emerged in the mid-7th century and probably ended with the Battle of the Boarn in 734 when the Frisians were defeated by the Frankish Empire. It lay mainly in what is now the Netherlands and – according to some 19th century authors – extended from the Zwin near Bruges in Belgium to the Weser in Germany. The center of power was the city of Utrecht.
The Menhir de Champ-Dolent is a menhir, or upright standing stone, located in a field outside the town of Dol-de-Bretagne. It is the second largest standing stone in Brittany and is over 9 metres high.
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A wayside cross is a cross by a footpath, track or road, at an intersection, along the edge of a field or in a forest. It can be made of wood, stone or metal. Stone crosses may also be conciliation crosses. Often they serve as waymarks for walkers and pilgrims or designate dangerous places.
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Hüttenbrennen, sometimes also referred to as Burgbrennen, is an old-fashioned bonfire custom in many part of the Eifel mountains in Germany. It is celebrated every year on "Straw Sunday", the first Sunday after Shrove Tuesday, also observed as Funkensonntag.
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