Racing street

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The Rennstraße im Taunus , in the area of ​​today's Taunus Nature Park , was one of the most important trade routes and high-altitude trails that connected the western Rhine-Main area with the Hintertaunus over a length of around 36 km and led to Weilmünster .

Situation in Germany

In Germany there are several old streets called "Rennstraße", " Rennweg " or "Rennsteig". In analogy to the world-famous Rennsteig in Thuringia , a (historical) main road (mostly high-altitude trail) was referred to as a racing road, on which one could move forward very quickly (“racing” from “running”) .

course

The course of this old road can probably be dated to the Franconian period, but most of it, known as Hünerstraße, was formerly of Celtic origin, i.e. already pre-Christian origins and probably the Celtic fortifications at the Altkönig , Burg , Hühnerküppel , Riesenburg with the Oppida in the Gießener Land ( Dünsberg , Glauberg ).

The Rennstraße itself ran as a high road from Königstein and Kronberg im Taunus , past the Altkönig (Celtic ring castle ), via Fuchstanz and Taunushauptkamm northwards, branches off with the (Celtic) Hünerstraße, crosses the Limes and Siegfriedstraße and leads into the Hintertaunus . It runs east past Reifenberg (the Hünerstraße led over the "Hünerberg" to the west), crosses the high altitude village of Seelenberg (presumably horse changing station), reunites with the Hünerstraße and leads in the same course as this over the mountain ranges of the Hintertaunus past Mauloff and runs above Riedelbach, past Eichelbacher Hof (medieval farm) and the Kuhbett elevation , passes Hasselbach to the west and then leads between Emmershausen and Haintchen , past the legendary Grävenroth desert to what was then the very important historical crossroads Eiserne Hand near Langenbach . From there, another important junction led eastwards into Usinger Land and the Hessenstraße coming from the west, from the Rhineland , also joins the Rennstraße / Hünerstraße coming from the Taunus at the junction "Eiserne Hand" and is identical to it on mountain ranges further north past the Hühnerküppel (traces of Celtic fortifications), north between Langenbach and Rohnstadt down into the Weiltal to Weilmünster (remains of old city walls, city or Roman tower).

Rennstraße between Mauloff and Seelenberg, Sommerweg on the left

swell

  • Old streets in the Taunus and neighboring areas of Hesse (see web links)
  • Historical maps of Hesse
  • Friedrich Kluge : Etymological dictionary of the German language. 18th edition. de Gruyter, Berlin 1960, p. 596.

Web links