Eye of god (wayside shrine)
The Eye of God is a chapel-like wayside shrine on the parish of the Rheinbreitbach community in the Neuwied district in Rhineland-Palatinate .
location
The shrine is located on the Lower Westerwald belonging Rheinwesterwald Volcanic Ridge , at an altitude of 305.3 meters above sea level. NHN between the Erpeler Kirchspielwald and the Honnefer Stadtwald , as well as between the Detzelbach and the Honnefer Graben , about 340 m southeast to east-southeast of the summit of the Bad Honnef Hasenhardt hill , at a developed intersection of three or five forest paths, which it gives its name. The forest district Im alten Weiher joins northeast of the intersection and the forest district Auf dem alten Weiher to the south-southwest . The Eye of God is a good three kilometers from the center of Rheinbreitbach and just under two kilometers east-northeast from the center of the district of Breite Heide . Due to its location on the so-called Rheinhöhenweg , part of the Rheinsteig hiking trail , it is one of the main attractions in the vicinity. The Eye of God is an approach point for emergency vehicles . The border with North Rhine-Westphalia runs 165 meters to the north .
history
The wayside shrine was probably built between 1870 and 1880 by the innkeeper Johann Wilhelm Menden. He owned the property at an intersection of the then important connection route from the Westerwald to the Rhine and had initially planned to build an inn there. The corresponding building application to the Rheinbreitbach municipal administration was rejected, however. Menden's property was frequently the victim of wood theft, which he could not prevent unless he was there regularly. Instead, as a warning to the thieves, Menden erected the wayside shrine, in the gable of which there is a representation of God's eye of providence , from which no sin escapes as the “all-seeing eye” .
In 1920, the Eye of God with the surrounding parcel of land was leased from the Düsseldorf Weißeley mine to mine quartzite , which was discontinued a little later. In 1921 the wayside shrine was renovated for the first time. At the end of the Second World War, one of four launching ramps for the so-called V1 cruise missiles was built south of the Eye of God junction in the vicinity of the Asberg . In 1965 and again in 2005/2006 there were further restorations of the wayside shrine, the last time also the image of Christ . A cross has been attached to the right to commemorate the dead of the two world wars.
According to a widespread legend , the lord of the castle from nearby Bruchhausen , who was considered violent and ruthless, saw the glaring sun as an eye at this point, which prevented him from shooting a doe . After this apparition, the lord of the castle committed suicide, so that the peasants who were subservient to him were released and built the wayside shrine as thanks.
literature
- Alfred Hess: "Eye of God" - a wayside shrine in the Rheinbreitbach forest . In: Heimat-Jahrbuch des Landkreis Neuwied 2007 , pp. 271–274.
- Rheinländer , Issue 38, October 2011, p. 52.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Information according to the digital topographic map 1: 5,000 (DTK5)
Coordinates: 50 ° 37 ′ 33.3 " N , 7 ° 16 ′ 23.2" E