Northeast of the small town of Bretzenheim (east of Bad
Kreuznach, Rhineland-Palatinate) is an interesting chapel/grotto complex carved
into the cliffs along the Guldenbach (Golden Brook) The sandstone of the cliff
is the typical soft red sandstone found in the Vosges Mountains of northern
France and the adjacent areas of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
The cliff grottos are among the earliest holy sites in the
lower Nahe River Valley. According to the information sign at the end of the
path leading up to the cliffs, the grotto may have originally been a Mithraeum.
After the Roman era, it probably continued in use as a sacred site. About the year 1000, a chapel had been
erected here. It soon became a popular pilgrimage site.
In 1567, after very
heavy rains, the cliff above the grotto collapsed. It wasn’t until 1716 that the site was rediscovered and the
debris cleared out. In 1723 a new chapel was begun, using the foundations of
the former church in front of the cliff. The care of the chapel was given to a
group of hermits under the Archbishop of Mainz, and the pilgrimages began
again.
In addition to the new chapel, housing
for the hermit/monks was constructed. Several rooms were cut out of the cliff,
in the style of cliff dwellings found further south in Alsace.
The last hermit/monk died in 1827, and
the property was auctioned off by the French government, at that time in
control of this area. The buildings had
become dilapidated, and after the dissolution, the stone was used for building
churches and other uses in nearby villages.
There are several legends about the founding of the
hermitage and chapel of St. Antonius. A robber knight was out in the dark, and
only the wisdom of his horse kept them from going over the cliff. In another
version, a knight returning from the Crusades had killed his supposedly
unfaithful wife, and was wandering about the countryside in great misery. Once again, the horse saved the day. In both cases, the knights were so
remorseful; they founded the hermitage chapel in atonement for their misdeeds.
(This type of legend seems to be attached to every cliff in this part of
Germany!)
We visited the Eremitage on January 8, 2000, hoping there
might be a spring or well in the area of interest. While we found no ancient well or spring, there was a curious
basin in front of the arch altar in the Felsengrotto or Cliff Grotto. This
would have been where the typical image of Mithras was carved into the cliff
wall. It had been removed, making the
area under the arch deeper than it needed to be for a Christian altar. In front
of this, at about waist level, was a table-like structure with a basin of about
three feet square carved into it. This had a drainage hole in the front, so
must have held liquid of some sort. In the cliff wall behind the basin was a
small niche, now perfectly dry that seemed to be the only possible source for
water.
There was another basin arrangement like this
on an outside wall near the steps leading into the rock carved rooms of the
hermitage. It was dry as well.
Entdeckungenreisen in Landkreis Bad
Kreuznach; Historishes Sehenwertes. Bodo Lipps, editor. 1991
Photos
snatched from videos taken on the site.
