Weinfelder Maar

The Weinfelder Maar , also known as Totenmaar , is a maar around two kilometers southeast of the town of Daun in the Eifel , Rhineland-Palatinate .

Weinfelder Maar, aerial photo (2015)

geography

The maar lake was formed around 10,500 years ago in a volcanic steam explosion and is around 525 m long, 375 m wide and 51 m deep. The water surface is about 16.8 ha . The maar lies at a height of 483.5 m above sea level. NHN . The tuff wall surrounding the lake is higher on the western and southern sides than on the north and east. In the course of this wall are the Mäuseberg ( 561.2 m ) and the Maarkreuz ( 534.5 m ). The area of the lake is now a nature reserve . Bathing in the maar is prohibited.

Naming

Weinfelder Maar in winter with a view of the church of Weinfeld

The name "Totenmaar" comes from the cemetery in the immediate vicinity of the maar with a small chapel, some of which dates from the 14th century. This is the former parish church of Weinfeld . The village was abandoned in the 16th century (last documented mention in 1512) due to the plague .

The chapel and the adjoining cemetery are used today by the community of Schalkenmehren for burials. In the entrance area of the chapel there are numerous thank you plaques with dedications such as: "Maria helped."

Say

There are many legends about the quiet Totenmaar. According to one of the legends, a castle is said to have stood here once, in which a benevolent count lived with his servants, his hard-hearted wife and his only child. One day the count returned home from the hunt and found only a lake at the place where his castle had stood. It was sunk into the ground with all its inhabitants, leaving behind a lake, the dead maar. As if by a miracle, a cradle appeared on the surface, in which his child drifted safely to the shore. The Count's horse scraped a spring from the ground during an exclamation from his master. The count later built a chapel out of gratitude for the salvation of his child, which, like the spring, has been preserved.

The Weinfelder Maar 1878 (The Gazebo)

The Eifel painter Richard Franzen from Mehren dedicated the following poem to this maar:

The chapel still stands up there,
here in the beautiful Eifel region,
where
the village of Weinfeld once stood a few hundred years ago .
Plague and poverty, bad times,
forced people in need
to leave their homes,
last train in the sunset.
But
quiet sleepers return to Weinfeld year after year to
rest forever
on the mountain on the Totenmaar