The Richelsley, also written Richel Ley, is an 80-metre-long and up to 12-metre-high rock formation on the edge of the High Fens, part of the Eifel Mountains, in Belgium. It bears a large cross and is a well-known pilgrimage site. Ley is a German word for "crag" or "rock".
The name is supposed to have been given to it in the 12th century by Richwin, the founder of Richwinstein Castle, today Reichenstein Abbey.
The Richelsley is located in Belgium's Wallonia region, in the Liège Province multi-language municipality of Waimes, close to the German border near Reichenstein/Monschau Abbey.
The rock formation is a Devonian conglomerate, formed over 400 million years ago. It is incorrectly described in various documents as a megalith. It is however made of sedimentary rock that contains quartz, whose present shape and extent are a result of the natural erosion of the surrounding sediment.
The cross was erected in 1890 by the priest, Gerhard Joseph Arnoldy, who worked from 1869 to 1914 in Kalterherberg and was the builder of the present Eifel Cathedral. He had it built at his own expense for 800 gold marks to commemorate the monk, Stephan Horrichem. Horrichem, known as the "Apostle of the Fens", was the prior of the nearby Premonstratensian abbey of Reichenstein from 1639 to 1686 and worked tirelessly for the people of the High Fens who were endangered during the Thirty Years' War.
The novel Das Kreuz im Venn (The Cross in the Fens) by Clara Viebig, appeared around 1908, made the Richelsley, which lies in the middle of woods, and its cross well known beyond the Eifel mountain region in which they are found.
The Richelsey has become well known not least because of the great 6-metre-high cross, weighing roughly 1.4 tonnes, which is anchored in the rock on the Richelsley. 31 steps lead up to the cross, in which cross-shaped ornaments are cut.
The Richelsley, at the statue of St. Mary in a niche on the huge rock, is a popular place of prayer. Burning candles and fresh flowers bear witness to the many pilgrims who make their way today to the Richelsley and find encouragement and renewal in the stillness, peace and solace of the place. For decades pilgrims have taken part in processions on 1 May from the surrounding villages to St. Mary's Grotto in order to celebrate the May service. [1]
The Ardennes, also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, extending into Germany and France.
Ahrweiler is a district in the north of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Euskirchen, Rhein-Sieg and the city of Bonn in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and the districts of Neuwied, Mayen-Koblenz and Vulkaneifel.
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.
The High Fens, which were declared a nature reserve in 1957, are an upland area, a plateau region in Liège Province, in the east of Belgium and adjoining parts of Germany, between the Ardennes and the Eifel highlands. The High Fens are the largest nature reserve or park in Belgium, with an area of 4,501.2 ha ; it lies within the German-Belgian natural park Hohes Venn-Eifel, in the Ardennes. Its highest point, at 694 metres (2,277 ft) above sea level, is the Signal de Botrange near Eupen, and also the highest point in Belgium. A tower 6 metres (20 ft) high was built here that reaches 700 metres (2,297 ft) above sea level. The reserve is a rich ecological endowment of Belgium covered with alpine sphagnum raised bogs both on the plateau and in the valley basin; the bogs, which are over 10,000 years old, with their unique subalpine flora, fauna and microclimate, are key to the conservation work of the park.
Meisburg is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Daun, whose seat is in the like-named town. In Meisburg, a Moselle Franconian dialect is spoken.
Kornelimünster Abbey, also known as Abbey of the Abbot Saint Benedict of Aniane and Pope Cornelius, is a Benedictine monastery that has been integrated since 1972. The abbey is located in Aachen in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.
Nohn is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Gerolstein, whose seat is in the like-named town.
The Volcanic Eifel or Vulkan Eifel, also known as the East Eifel Volcanic Field (EEVF), is a region in the Eifel Mountains in Germany that is defined to a large extent by its volcanic geological history. Characteristic of this volcanic field are its typical explosion crater lakes or maars, and numerous other signs of volcanic activity such as volcanic tuffs, lava streams and volcanic craters like the Laacher See. The Volcanic Eifel is still volcanically active today. One sign of this activity is the escaping gases in the Laacher See.
The German-Belgian High Fens – Eifel Nature Park, often called the North Eifel Nature Park, is a cross-border nature park with elements in the German federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate as well as the Belgian province of Liège. It has a total area of 2,485 km2 (959 sq mi).
The Hohe Acht is the highest mountain in the Eifel mountains of Germany. It is located on the boundary between the districts of Ahrweiler and Mayen-Koblenz in Rhineland-Palatinate.
The Red Wine Trail (Rotweinwanderweg), opened in 1972, is a trail that runs high above the floor of the Ahr Valley linking the wine villages of the Ahr wine region in Germany along the River Ahr. The route runs from Altenahr via Mayschoß, Rech and Dernau to the well known rock formation of Bunte Kuh near Walporzheim. The Red Wine Trail then continues to the former abbey of Marienthal. It then goes to the Government Bunker Documentation Site, the Roman villa near Ahrweiler, the memorial by the Silberberg Tunnel and continues via Heppingen to the station square of Bad Bodendorf.
The Kalvarienberg is a 523-metre-high (1,716 ft) calvary hill in the nature reserve of Lampertstal near Alendorf, a village in the municipality of Blankenheim in the county of Euskirchen in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The Booser Doppelmaar comprises two maars that have silted up and, today, form shallow depressions in the countryside. They lie on the territory of the village of Boos, a few hundred metres west of the village itself. The two maars were formed 10,150 to 14,160 years ago and belong to the Quaternary volcano field of the Volcanic Eifel. From a natural region perspective it lies in the south of the Hohe Acht Upland, ca. 7.8 km south of the summit of the Hohe Acht.
The Volcanic Eifel Nature Park lies in the counties of Bernkastel-Wittlich, Cochem-Zell and Vulkaneifel in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The nature park, which is in the Eifel mountains, and which is also a geopark, was inaugurated on 31 May 2010 and has an area of 1,068.24 km².> Its sponsor is the Natur- und Geopark Vulkaneifel GmbH.
The Dreiser Weiher near Dreis-Brück in the vicinity of Daun in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate is a tub-shaped maar in the Eifel mountains. It is up to 1,360 metres long and 1,160 metres wide. It is the second largest maar in the Eifel.
The Perlenbach Valley is the valley of the Perlenbach stream in the Eifel mountains in the countries of Belgium and Germany. The Perlenbach itself is a tributary of the Rur. The Perlenbach Valley is host to two outstanding, cultural-historical nature reserves along the state border which have a total area of 398 ha.
The Steling is a mountain, 658.3 m above sea level (NN) on the High Fens plateau. The German-Belgian border runs 60 meters from the mountaintop. The closest borderpoint near the summit is also the highest point in the municipal region of Aachen.
On 15 July 1949 an ammunition depot on the hill of Kalvarienberg in the Eifel mountains exploded. The cause of the explosion, in which the town was heavily damaged and 12 people killed, was never discovered. The crater, which is still visible today, is one of the largest man-made explosion craters in existence. A cross on the Kalvarienberg commemorates the victims of the disaster.