Historischer Weiherwanderweg

Comfortable circular walk to some of the historic monastery ponds in the municipality of Wald. Suitable for all ages. The path is flat and easy to walk on and is also paved except for a stretch of approx. 350 meters.

When Burkhard von Weckenstein founded the Cistercian monastery in Wald for his two sisters Judita and Ita in 1212, the order's leaders were faced with a major task: providing sufficient fish as a fasting food, as the Cistercian nuns were originally completely forbidden from eating meat.
The construction of the pond system in the High Middle Ages was a technical masterpiece; the task of damming a total of twelve interconnected ponds and using them for fishing was tackled with great expertise.
Mainly carp, tench and pike were bred.
In addition to supplying fish, the ponds also served as a source of power for mills and sawmills. The monastery pond was used by the brewery at the time to produce ice for cooling the beer cellars.

Only two of these ponds remain today. Most of the others were drained due to their inefficiency and used as meadows. used as meadows.

The walk along the pond trail is intended to convey the joy of nature on the one hand, but also to provide information on the important role of the monasteries in the reclamation of our landscape during the Middle Ages.
At a total of seven, mostly former ponds, there is an information board with a brief history of each one.</p