Thunder Mountain
| Thunder Mountain | ||
|---|---|---|
 View from the east to the Donnersberg |
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| height | 686.5 m above sea level NHN | |
| location | Northern Palatinate ; at Dannenfels ; Donnersbergkreis , Rhineland-Palatinate ( Germany ) | |
| Mountains | North Palatinate Uplands | |
| Dominance | 55 km → Butterhecker Steinköpfe ( 722.6 m ; Hunsrück ) | |
| Notch height | 417 m ↓ near Forsthaus Börrstadt (270 m) | |
| Coordinates | 49 ° 37 '31 " N , 7 ° 54' 53" E | |
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| Type | Cryptodome | |
| rock | Rhyolite | |
| particularities | highest mountain in the Palatinate with: - Königsstuhl (summit rock) - Keltenwall Donnersberg - five castle ruins (outskirts): - Falkenstein - Hohenfels - Ruppertsecken - Tannenfels - Wildenstein - former St. Jakob monastery - Ludwigsturm ( AT ) - Adlerbogen (monument) - Donnersberger Waldhaus ( Whs ) -. Former US -Funkstation - transmitter Donnersberg |
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 View from the Zellertalbahn past the Münsterhof |
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The Donnersberg ( Latin Mons Jovis , French Mont Tonnerre ) near Dannenfels in the Rhineland-Palatinate Donnersbergkreis is 686.5 m above sea level. NHN the highest mountain range in the North Palatinate Uplands and the entire Palatinate . The highest point of the Donnersberg massif , which has several peaks , is on the summit of the Königsstuhl rock formation .
There are the on the wooded mountain Keltenwall Thunder Mountain , which was once the monastery of St. Jacob stand, observation tower Ludwigsturm , the monument eagle arch , a former US -Funkstation and the transmitter Thunder Mountain . There were five castles on its outskirts (see section Middle Ages to Modern Times ), which are still in ruins.
geography
location
The Donnersberg is located in the northeast of the North Palatinate mountains on the border to the north and east of the Rheinhessen hill country . It is located - not quite in the center of the city triangle Bad Kreuznach in the north-north-west, Kaiserslautern in the south-south-west and Worms in the east - between the small towns of Rockenhausen in the west and Kirchheimbolanden in the north-east. On the Bergostflanke is Dannenfels , southeast are Jakobsweiler and Steinbach , the massive southern edge is Imsbach , in solid Falkenstein , northwest of Mount Marienthal and north Bastenhaus . Its summit, located on the Königsstuhl, rises about 2.1 km west of Dannenfels and 2.2 km (as the crow flies ) southeast of Marienthal.
The Donnersberg massif has an area of around 24 km² . It is 7 km long in the northeast-southwest direction between Bastenhaus and Imsbach and 4.5 km wide in the northwest-southeast direction between the Marienthaler Mordkammerhof and the Steinbacher residential area Haus Kaiserbusch . Its summit ( 686.5 m ) rises 344 meters above the area of the Marienthal Church, which is 342.5 m high, and 410.5 m above that of the Steinbach Church, which is 276 m high.
Natural allocation
The Donnersberg belongs in the natural spatial main unit group Saar-Nahe-Bergland (No. 19), in the main unit North Palatinate Bergland (193) and in the subunit Donnersbergmassiv (193.4) to the natural area Hoher Donnersberg and Falkensteiner Berge (193.41), which is in the northeastern part Hoher Donnersberg (193.411) and the south-western part of Falkensteiner Berge (193.410). The Hohe Donnersberg is located in the Dannenfels district, the Falkensteiner Mountains are spread across those of Marienthal , Börrstadt , Imsbach and Falkenstein . To the west the landscape falls into the western Donnersbergrandhöhen natural area (193.40), to the north it joins the Bürgerwald natural area (193.42), and to the east the landscape descends into the Dannenfelser Randhügel natural area (193.43).
morphology
On the Hohen Donnersberg there is an approximately 300 hectare plateau with little relief. The top of the Königsstuhl , a rock formation on the southwestern edge of this plateau, is at 686.5 m . The mountain height is generally given rounded to 686 m or 687 m. The plateau drops off relatively steeply at its edges, but particularly steeply on the north and west slopes.
The southwestern part of the Donnersberg massif ( Falkensteiner Berge ), on the other hand, is divided into individual elevations, which are separated from each other by deeply cut valleys. These elevations include Gebrannter Berg ( 651.5 m ), Bickberg ( 559 m ), Dorntreiber Kopf ( 550.6 m ), Kübelberg ( 548.7 m ), Hühnerberg ( 531.4 m ), Katharinenberg ( 497 m ) and Schartenrück ( 474 m ).
In addition to the Königsstuhl , there are other prominent rock formations on the Donnersberg massif. These include bags of rock , Falkenstein (with Falkenstein Castle ), Hahnweiler bag rock , Dampfnudel rocks , shepherds rock , Hohenfels (with castle ruins Hohenfels ), pulpit , Long Rock ( KD ), which Moltke rock (with the monument eagle arch), Rehbockfelsen , Torrential rock and Tannenfels (with castle ruins Fir rock ). Some of these rocks serve as lookout points.
Flowing waters
North below the Königsstuhl rises the Königsbach , which runs first north and then westwards , whose water reaches the Appelbach below Marienthal through the Mordkammerbach swelling southwest of the rock formation , which initially flows south and then northwestwards ; the latter flows into the Rhine tributary Nahe . The Wildensteiner Bach rises south-south-east of the Königsstuhl , runs south-east and flows into the nearby Rhine tributary Pfrimm below Steinbach . At the Donnersberger Waldhaus , an inn, the Eschbach rises, first flowing north and then east , whose water flows through the Gerbach near Marnheim into the Pfrimm.
geology
In regional geology, the North Palatinate Uplands, to which the Donnersberg belongs, is assigned to the Saar-Nahe Basin , which is between the northern Rhenish Slate Mountains (older) and the south- west German layer plain to the south , both spatially and in terms of the age of the rocks that occur there ( Rotliegend ) (younger) lies.
The rock that forms the Donnersberg today consists of rhyolite ("quartz porphyry"), an acidic volcanic rock that is chemically similar to granite . It was created at the transition from the Lower to the Upper Rotliegend and represents only one of numerous volcanic objects of the acidic, Rotliegend period volcanism typical of Central Europe. However, at that time it was not a "real" volcano that brought magma to the surface of the land and ejected it there. Instead, the acidic magma masses rising from the interior of the earth in the area of the North Palatinate Uplands remained stuck below the surface of the earth due to their high viscosity and formed so-called sub - volcanic intrusions there . This intrusion was only exposed through erosion of the overlying Rotliegend layers. This is why the Donnersberg massif is also known as the cryptodome .
The rhyolite for use in road construction is extracted in various quarries. In the south-west of the Donnersberg massif near the municipality of Imsbach there are hydrothermal mineralizations on which intensive ore mining was carried out, for example in the abandoned copper mines Katharina I and Katharina II . The pits are located northwest of Imsbach on the western slope of the Schartenrück.
Flora and fauna
Today the Donnersberg is completely forested, mostly with hardwood, of which about 50% beech and 25% birch . Spruce and pine predominate among the conifers . A large population of sweet chestnuts is remarkable in the eastern edge . This tree species came to the Palatinate with the Romans around the turn of the Christian era .
Wild boars , deer , foxes and hares as well as European mouflons can be found in wild mammals .
history
Celtic times
On the high plateau of the mountain are the remains of a two-part Celtic ring wall ( oppidum ), which was one of the largest of its kind north of the Alps with a total length of 8.5 km. It was made in the Latène period , around 150 BC. BC, and took up an area of 240 hectares, with a wall height of about 4 m at the eastern main structure. A small section, which is located about 170 m (as the crow flies) northeast of the Ludwigsturm at an altitude of 662.5 m , has been reconstructed. The entire complex was built around 50 BC. BC evacuated in a peaceful way. It is described in more detail in the section Keltenwall Donnersberg .
Late Celtic and German times
The German name Donnersberg suggests that from the west often cloud-shrouded mountain range, on the other hand in his Lee located north Vorderpfalz and southern Rheinhessen often brings droughts, on all Germans to the weather god Donar was sacred. This is supported by the Latin name ( mountain of Jupiter ), which may have originated in an analogous translation when the Romans once took possession of the area. During the Roman period up to the 5th century AD, however, Celts lived in this area, possibly the descendants of those who built the ring wall on the mountain. That is why there are researchers who do not interpret the name Donnersberg as a homage to the Germanic god Donar, but derive the name from the Celtic name dunum for mountain, hill. There is also the possibility that the mountain is named after the Celtic god Taranis , who represented the equivalent of Donar. Peoples of Germanic origin only settled here permanently, apart from a few previous raids, in the 7th and 8th centuries.
Middle Ages to modern times
The five castles Falkenstein , Hohenfels , Ruppertsecken , Tannenfels and Wildenstein , which surrounded the Donnersberg in the Middle Ages or stood on its foothills, underline its strategic importance. They are all ruins today.
1370 gave Henry II. Of Sponheim-Bolanden the Order of Pauline Fathers Hermits old, located on the summit of Mount Thunder, St. James consecrated hermitage, along with land and associated buildings to where the St. James Monastery to found. This had already been a plan of his father Philipp von Sponheim-Bolanden. In 1371 he donated all the properties mentioned to this monastery as a piece of equipment for himself, his wife Adelheid, and for all her ancestors and descendants, with two perpetual masses as seasons . The monks cleared the area in the area of the former ring wall and cultivated it for their own consumption. Around 1554, after the Reformation , the monastery was dissolved and converted into an agricultural estate (with 70 hectares of arable and meadow land), which was in operation until 1854. The Kingdom of Bavaria then bought the entire area and had it reforested. The Waldhaus restaurant is located in this area today , and the remains of the monastery church are walled in here.
Namesake
After 1797/98, the Donnersberg gave its name to the French department of Donnersberg (Département du Mont-Tonnerre) and in 1969 for today's Rhineland-Palatinate Donnersberg district .
Buildings
The structures on the Donnersberg include the five castles or castle ruins on its peripheral locations - see section Middle Ages to Modern Times - the following, which are sorted according to the year of their construction or completion:
Celtic Wall Donnersberg
The Celtic wall located on the high elevations of the Donnersberg consists of an east and a west structure and was renewed twice by the Celts . Inside the wall (and this is unique so far) there is a square hill . Excavations have been going on at the so-called slag wall at the northern corner since 2004. First excavation results make the thesis likely that the Celts heated rhyolite in ovens on the cinder wall in order to get raw glass that was used for the manufacture of jewelry and consumer goods.
In terms of size alone, the ramparts are one of the most important Celtic oppida of all. In addition to the Viereckschanze and the glass production, other discoveries were made. A bronze axle nail head as well as coins from the Leukes and from Roman times were found. More recently there have been other finds of bronze metal parts, e.g. B. a small, almost 4 cm long and tapered bronze sleeve with double head. It was probably the tip of a Celtic drinking horn .
Ludwigsturm
The 26.9 m high Ludwigsturm stands about 860 m east of the Königsstuhl . It was built in 1864/65 at a height of 674.5 m . From the observation tower, the all-round view extends over large parts of Rheinhessen and the North Palatinate Uplands as well as to the Palatinate Forest , Hunsrück , Taunus, Odenwald and Black Forest . To the east is Worms, around 31 km away, with the Worms Cathedral and to the northeast, the skyline of Frankfurt am Main, which is around 77 km away (as the crow flies) .
Eagle bow
On the eastern flank of the Donnersberg stands the eagle arch on the Moltkefelsen, south of Dannenfels, a little below a 544.9 m high forest path. The monument was erected at the instigation of the Palatinate Beautification Association in 1880 in honor of the contribution made by Field Marshal von Moltke (1800–1891) in securing the Palatinate borders in the Franco-German War (1870/71); it was created by civil engineer August Freiherr Schilling von Canstatt . It consists of a steel arch crowned by a steel eagle ( imperial eagle ) and flanked by two statues of Moltkes and Bismarcks .
After the Second World War , the eagle was shot in the head by US soldiers in 1945. In 1981 the restored eagle, which was delivered by helicopter , was reassembled. In the period that followed, the Bismarck statue was riddled with holes and beheaded, and the Moltke statue disappeared completely.
As part of a comprehensive restoration of the facility on June 18, 2016, again with the help of a helicopter, true-to-original copies of the two statues were placed on the pedestals provided for this purpose . The chainsaw artist Ricardo Villacis from Ecuador carved blanks for the figures from a 140 cm thick oak trunk, the casting was done free of charge by the company Heger Guss from Enkenbach-Alsenborn.
Donnersberger Waldhaus and Keltenhütte
For day trippers there are two restaurants on the Donnersberg :
At the beginning of the 20th century , the Donnersberger Waldhaus , which is also called Haus Donnersberg and was formerly also known as the Palatinate Waldhaus , was built at about 655 m above sea level at the point where the main building of the St. Jakob Monastery previously stood . It has been closed "for renovation" since November 2017.
The Keltenhütte of the Pfälzerwald-Verein Kirchheimbolanden is located at the parking lots near the Ludwigsturm .
Transmitter Donnersberg
The Donnersberg transmitter, built in 1961/62, is located about 660 m east of the Königsstuhl . His 204.82 m high telecommunications tower in reinforced concrete construction method stands next to a 673.5 m high point at 670.52 m height. It serves as a basic network transmitter for VHF radio and television and supplies large parts of the Palatinate (excluding the southern Palatinate), the Nahe region, Rheinhessen , the Rhine-Neckar region and the Rhine Valley between Speyer / Bruchsal and Wiesbaden.
US radio station
About 300 meters east of King chair was after the Second World War on an approximately 685 m high point of Mount Thunder for the US Army 's largest radio station created Western Europe, especially in the times of the Cold War, of outstanding importance for the connection in the United States had and decisively was also involved in the television broadcast of the moon landing in Germany in 1969 . The radio station was given up in October 2011, the site came to the Federal Agency for Real Estate Tasks . Following a tender, the Saarland telecommunications company inexio acquired the area at the beginning of 2015.
Another transmitter station, which was about 650 m southeast of the tower of the Donnersberg transmitter on the Signal hill ( 678.6 m ), was previously used for civilian purposes. Today the masts used as radio relay stations of Pfalzwerke .
Protected areas
A large part of the Donnersberg landscape protection area is located on the Donnersberg ( CDDA no. 320399; designated in 1978; 50.26 km² in size). The nature reserve Spendel-Wildenstein (CDDA no. 82610; 1940; 1.45 km²) extends from the Königsstuhl in a south-easterly direction along the Wildensteiner Bach , on the north side of the mountain near the hamlet of Bastenhaus is the NSG Eschdell (CDDA no. 81626; 1981 ; 8 ha ), and on the southwestern edge of the mountain massif are the nature reserves Beutelfels (CDDA no. 81391; 1981; 60 ha) and Schelmenkopf-Falkenstein (CDDA no. 165379; 1985; 65 ha). Large parts of the Donnersberg fauna-flora-habitat area (FFH no. 6313-301; 80.82 km²) also extend over the massif .
Sports
Every year in February the Donnersberglauf is the first of several races of the Palatinate Mountain Run Cup . It leads over a distance of 7200 m with a cumulative gradient of 418 m. Also every year since 2010 there has been another run on the Donnersberg with the Rockie Mountain Run at the beginning of April. This leads from the west over about 13 km and 560 meters in altitude to the summit region. It starts on the market square in Rockenhausen and is also part of the Palatinate Mountain Run Cup. The mountain is also popular with mountain bikers . In winter there are cross-country ski trails on the high altitudes, which are groomed at a height of around 550 m and lengths of either 5 or 10 km.
In addition, the Donnersberg is used all year round for paragliding and hang-gliding . These are aircraft without a motor that are used to take off on a slope. Possible starting directions are northeast and southeast. The starting ramp for the northeast is above the community of Dannenfels at the Bärenloch . The starting point for the southeast is at the Moltkefelsen at the Adlerbogen. In summer you can fly from Donnersberg to Saarland or France when the thermals are good.
Traffic and walking
The arrival and departure to the plateau of the Donnersberg takes place on the state road 394 from Dannenfels in the east as well as on the L 386 from Marienthal in the west or Kirchheimbolanden in the northeast; The L 394 meets the L 386 at the Dannenfels hamlet of Bastenhaus . There, at a height of 459.3 m , the L 394 branches off the partly winding county road 82, which leads steeply up to the high mountains . This road meets the K 51 at a height of 645 m , which is a winding one-way street on the eastern flank of the mountain that leads down to Dannenfels and thus offers an additional return option. A little south of the point where the two streets meet, there are two parking spaces near the Ludwigsturm ; here is the Celtic hut. In addition, a so-called excursion bus ( hiking bus ) to Donnersberg runs from Kirchheimbolanden, where the Donnersbergbahn ends, on weekends from May to October , and on Sundays and public holidays also from Winnweiler station on the Alsenztalbahn .
For example, starting at the aforementioned roads, the Donnersberg can be hiked on numerous forest paths and paths. The European long-distance hiking trail E8 leads over the mountain, which is divided into the north variant (Donnersberg– Lautertaler Felsenmeer - Königstuhl ) and south variant (Donnersberg– Eschkopf –Königstuhl), and the Pfälzer Höhenweg , which passes the summit formation of the Königsstuhl . Parts of the Keltenwall and the Viereckschanze can be hiked on the Keltenweg , which runs along the eastern main wall.
literature
- Andrea Zeeb-Lanz : The Celtic oppidum on the Donnersberg . In: State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate , Department of Archaeological Preservation of Monuments (ed.): Archeology in Rhineland-Palatinate 2003 . Zabern, Mainz 2004, ISBN 3-8053-3404-4 .
- Kurt Bittel: excavation on the Donnersberg (Rheinpfalz) . In: Germania . tape 14 . Ph. Von Zabern, 1930, ISSN 0016-8874 , p. 206-214 .
- Kurt Bittel: The Donnersberg, a Celtic city complex . Franz Steiner, Wiesbaden 1981, ISBN 3-515-03575-3 .
- Kurt Bittel: The contribution of the excavations on the Donnersberg for the knowledge of late Celtic city facilities . Special print. Steiner, Stuttgart 1989, p. 237-243 .
- Heinz-Josef Engels: The Viereckschanze, excavation 1974/75 . In: Der Donnersberg, excavations, research, history, vol. 1 . Franz Steiner, Wiesbaden 1976, ISBN 3-515-02349-6 .
Web links
- Landscape maintenance:
- Archeology:
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Inscription of the granite stone from the trigonometric point on the king's chair .
- ^ Landesamt für Vermessung und Geobasisinformation Rheinland-Pfalz (Ed.): Topographische Karte Donnersberg , 1: 25.000, Verlag Landesamt für Vermessung und Geobasisinformation Rheinland-Pfalz, 3rd edition, Koblenz 1990.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j map service of the landscape information system of the Rhineland-Palatinate nature conservation administration (LANIS map) ( notes )
- ↑ Harald Uhlig: Geographical land survey: The natural space units on sheet 150 Mainz. Federal Institute for Regional Studies, Bad Godesberg 1964. → Online map (PDF; 4.7 MB)
- ↑ Alfons Hoffmann: St. Jakob Monastery on the Donnersberg , Pilger-Verlag, Speyer 1958, pp. 29–32.
- ↑ a b Celtic Thunder Mountain. An important late Celtic city complex. (PDF; 1817 kB) Verbandsgemeinde Winnweiler , accessed on October 26, 2016 .
- ↑ a b c Map services of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation ( information )
- ↑ Calculated 360 ° panorama ( U. Deuschle ; information ) from the Ludwigsturm on the Donnersberg
- ↑ Information board of the Donnersberg Tourist Association on the Adlerbogen.
- ^ Sebastian Stollhof: Field Marshal on a rope . In: The Rheinpfalz on Sunday . No. 25 . Ludwigshafen June 19, 2016, p. 4 .
- ↑ Return by helicopter. In: Schilling-Kurier, No. 16, October 2016.
- ↑ Dannenfels - Gastronomy. (No longer available online.) Www.dannenfels.de, December 7, 2017, archived from the original on August 27, 2018 ; accessed on August 27, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Fernsehturm Donnersberg , on structurae.de.
- ↑ Source unknown / not researched.
- ↑ Historic Donnersberg signal site bids farewell by Kristopher Joseph (USAREUR) from October 21, 2011 ( English ).
- ↑ Donnersberg Athletics Club : Donnersberglauf , on lc-donnersberg.de (menu item).
- ↑ Rockie Mountain Run , on berglauf-rockenhausen.de.
- ↑ 1. Palatinate hang- glider and paraglider club on pdgfc.de.
- ↑ a b Der Große Falk Atlas - Deutschland Detailkarten , 1: 200.000, 2004/2005, ISBN 978-3-8279-0381-5 .
