Kapellenweg Wallenfels

In the rafting town of Wallenfels, the Christian faith has always been of great importance.

The chapel trail leads interested hikers to a variety of buildings and monuments, some of which are still used in the church calendar today.

We start our 18-stop guided circular walk in the town center at the market square and walk from here towards the church. Via Frankenwaldstraße and the road "Im Selzachtal", we come to a forest path that winds evenly uphill along the Selzachtal valley and meets the Nortwaldweg (blue "N") at the top, which leads to Schindelthal. In this area there are wonderful views across to Neufang and Birnbaum. We follow the Nortwaldweg to the left and stay roughly level for the next kilometer. From a left-hand bend, the path leads more steeply downhill until the Nortwaldweg finally turns off to the right on the ridge and we head straight on to the Schlossberg chapel.

Behind the chapel, our path leads steeply downhill and with the Way of the Cross through the cemetery of the rafting village. We soon pass the church and return to our starting point on the market square.

Stations along the chapel trail:

(1) Next to the Raiffeisen-Volksbank, you will find an 18th-century martyrdom on a sandstone pillar. The front shows a relief of St. Joseph with the infant Jesus. The back depicts a crucifixion group.

(2) A statue of St. Nepomuk, which was donated by Johann Carl Hanauer in 1778, stands right next to the town hall. The saint is depicted holding a large cross with both hands.

(3) A wooden cross carved in Unterammergau can be found at the former Vogtsmühle mill. The so-called Maier house is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Wallenfels.

(4) The obelisk-like war memorial on the Schloßberg commemorates those who died in the war of 1870/71.

(5) Decorative reliefs adorn the unusual sandstone martyr on the cemetery steps. It dates from the early 18th century and depicts the coronation of Mary.

(6) In Frankenwaldstraße in front of house no. 9, between two trees, there is an artificial stone martyr erected in 1958. A handcrafted Madonna and Child sits in a niche.

(7) At the junction of Frankenwaldstraße and Jakob-Degen-Straße, a sandstone depiction of St. John of Nepomuk catches the eye. This was erected in 1754 and depicts the saint as a half-figure on clouds.

(8) At the entrance to the Selzach Valley, St. Mark's Chapel, which dates back to the 19th century, awaits us. It was once built by Wallenfels merchants as a wooden structure and later replaced by a brick building. The St. Mark's procession service is also celebrated here every year. A wooden cross and a depiction of the Mother of God of Maria Kulm decorate the interior of the chapel.

(9) Little is known about the "Five Wounds Cross" on the connecting path from Schloßberg to Schindelthal. The 1.50 m high and 1.20 m wide cross shows the stigmata, which are attached to the wooden cross with forged square nails. The reason for its erection and the year it was put up are not known.

(10) A few hundred meters further on, we come to a modern cross: a cross carved into the 60 cm thick trunk of a felled Douglas fir was donated by the Müller-Lisa family in 2008 to mark the opening of the chapel path.

(11) Further along the forest path in the direction of Schloßberg, a square wooden building was erected in the 19th century as a forest chapel slightly off the path. The high chapel has no windows and daylight only reaches the Mother of God with the Baby Jesus and a wooden cross from the 19th century through bars on the door. Miraculously, the chapel was spared all the severe storm damage of recent decades.

(12) We now continue slightly downhill and come to the Neumühl cross, built in 1930 in Alpine style. This stands on the left-hand side of the path and is surrounded by trees. The flat cross trunk with a depiction of the crucified Jesus stands on a stone base.

(13) Waldenfels Castle once stood on the Schloßberg, which was destroyed during the Peasants' War in 1525. Today, the castle hill chapel, one of the landmarks of Wallenfels, stands in its place. The typical Köstenberg marble was used for the walls and the pointed roof is covered with natural slate. The chapel was consecrated in 1923 and commemorates the fallen of the First World War. A wooden altar depicts a sorrowful Mother of God with seven swords, symbolizing the seven pains of Mary.

(14) From the Schloßberg Chapel, a Stations of the Cross with 14 masonry stations leads in serpentines down to the unique mountain cemetery. From here, you have a beautiful view of the rafting town of Wallenfels in the valley.

(15) In the upper part of the mountain cemetery, a 2.70 m high iron cross stands on a sandstone base. The metal body is hollow and gilded on the inside.

(16) The war memorial in the mountain cemetery, also made of Köstenberg marble, commemorates the missing and fallen of the Second World War.

(17) A sandstone figure of the so-called "Kreuzschlepper" stands guard at the priest's grave. The monument was erected in 1722 with a total height of 2.60 m and shows a cross-bearing Christ.

(18) The foundation stone of the neo-Gothic Catholic parish church of St. Thomas was laid in 1861. The construction was made possible by a bequest from a Wallenfels citizen who donated 15,000 guilders. The consecration took place on August 15, 1869 by Archbishop Michael von Deinlein from Bamberg. The church on the Schloßberg can be seen from afar. Inside, the statues of saints and the stained glass windows with Christian motifs are particularly worth seeing. Consecration Sunday is the last Sunday in July.