Bluestone Tour

On this tour, it will be blue and green. Blaustein, a particularly hard form of coal limestone, was a valuable asset of the Münsterländchen, and the wealth of the Kornelimünster Abbey was based not least on this treasure. To this day, the hidden rock walls of former quarries, which we find throughout the German-Belgian border of Münsterländchen and Eupen Land, remind us of the former extraction of limestone in the region. Blaustein has been used since Roman times in house construction and also in craftsmanship due to its special hardness. Pride and recognition are evident in the designation "Breiniger Marble" for the Blaustein from the local quarry "auf dem Schomet" (1843-1970).
To this day, Blaustein, actually of a rather gray-white color, has shaped the face of many villages in the vicinity of the quarries and has also reached out to Aachen. In Kornelimünster, it was used, among other places, in magnificent bourgeois houses from the 17th/18th century around the Korneliusmarkt. During the tour, it is farmhouses and churches that have turned villages like Krauthausen, Dorff, Venwegen, and Breinig into veritable Blaustein villages.
We cycle through the hilly expanses of the Münsterländchen, and before we cross the ups and downs in the tranquil Münsterwald, we arrive in the Vichttal. Here, the once water-powered Bernhardshammer still stands to this day, a witness to the iron and later copper industry, further milestones in local industrial history. A favorable location for a mill, as the gradient provides correspondingly strong hydraulic power at this point. The nearby limestone quarry was active until the 1970s, and the stones were used in the cement industry. Today, it is like many other nature reserves.
Passing the outskirts of Venwegen, we reach the entrance of Breinig. A short detour to Alt-Breinig-Winterstraße and back is worthwhile. Here, an entire listed street presents itself, with its Blaustein houses standing side by side since around 1600. In stark contrast to the stately Stockheider Hof, these are small farms with narrow plots for self-sufficiency. It is quite possible that the settlement was not intended for farmers but as a workers' settlement for employees in the nearby quarries, lime kilns, and ore mining.
Highlights along the route
Historic center of Kornelimünster
Historic center of Breinig
Schlangenberg