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 Unsere 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, Luxembourg, and 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 and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of Belgium.
Willibrord was a Northumbrian missionary saint, known as the "Apostle to the Frisians" in the modern Netherlands. He became the first Bishop of Utrecht and died at Echternach, Luxembourg.
Monschau is a small resort town in the Eifel region of western Germany, located in the Aachen district of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Beuron Archabbey is a major house of the Benedictine Order located at Beuron in the upper Danube valley in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.
The Nims is a 61-kilometre-long (38 mi), lefthand arm of the River Prüm in the South Eifel region of the Eifel Mountains. It runs through the county of Bitburg-Prüm in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Niederöfflingen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Jünkerath is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It was th seat of the former Verbandsgemeinde of Obere Kyll.
Josef Benedikt Bremm was an officer in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. Although Veit Scherzer challenged the presentation of the Swords in 2007, Bremm was the highest decorated soldier of the Eifel region.
The Frisian Kingdom, also known as Magna Frisia, is a modern name for the Frisian realm in the period when it was at its largest (650-734). This empire 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. In medieval writings, the region is designated by the Latin term Frisia. There is a dispute among historians about the extent of this realm; There is no documentary evidence for the existence of a permanent central authority. Possibly Frisia consisted of multiple petty kingdoms, which transformed in time of war to a unit to resist invading powers, and then headed by an elected leader, the primus inter pares. It is possible that Redbad established an administrative unit. Among the Frisians at that time there was no feudal system.
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 largest standing stone in Brittany and is over 9 meters high.
The Eifel National Park is the 14th national park in Germany and the first in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The Ehrenbürg is a double-peaked butte on the edge of the Franconian Jura in Bavaria, Germany. It is in the district of Forchheim in Upper Franconia, in the municipalities of Kirchehrenbach, Leutenbach and Wiesenthau. The north peak is the 513.9 m Walberla, the south peak the 531.7 m Rodenstein. The hill is popularly known as the Walberla.
The Hülfensberg is a 448 m high, heavily wooded mountain in the Geismar municipality in the Eichsfeld district, Thuringia, Germany. The mountain has been a pilgrimage site since the late Middle Ages, and on its summit are a church containing a 12th-century crucifix, a Franciscan friary, a chapel dedicated to Saint Boniface, and a large free-standing cross.
The Eifelsteig is a long-distance hiking trail in the Eifel, Germany. It leads in 15 stages of 14–28 kilometres (8.7–17.4 mi) from the Aachen district Kornelimünster to Trier and is maintained by the Eifel Club.
The Ferschweiler Plateau, which is home to the villages of Ferschweiler and Ernzen among others, is an extensive highland area made from sandstone and is located in the collective municipality of Irrel in the county of Bitburg-Prüm in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. From a landscape perspective the Ferschweiler Plateau lies within the South Eifel, a region in the Eifel Mountains.
The Lower Germanic Limes is the former frontier between the Roman province of Germania inferior and Germania Magna. The Lower Germanic Limes separated that part of the Rhineland left of the Rhine as well as the Netherlands, which was part of the Roman Empire, from the less tightly controlled regions east of the Rhine.
Wollersheim is a village in the municipality of Nideggen in the district of Düren in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Dollendorf is a village in the municipality of Blankenheim in the district of Euskirchen in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It gives its name to the surrounding limestone depression (Kalkmulde).
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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