Bridges - Dream Tour Diamond

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Rest stops

Safety information

NOTICE:

We endeavor to announce on this platform any closures that occur on our hiking trails in the region due to forestry work, hunting parties or similar.

Nevertheless, there are situations where hiking trails are closed and we have not been informed.

Every hiker who hikes through closed areas (route tape, "Caution Hunting" etc.), even at weekends, is acting with gross negligence and is responsible for their own actions!

Tips and suggestions

In Brücken with adjoining restaurant and the neighboring "Little Chapel" (cultural heritage room - key available at the Diamond Cutter Museum ).

Rice mill coffee manufactory.

www.vgog.de

www.begehbaresgeschichtsbuch.de

www.ohmbachsee-glantal.de

(1) Diamond Cutter Museum (bridges)

Isidor Triefus from Steinbach opened the first Palatinate diamond cutting shop in 1888 at the Neumühle between Brücken and Ohmbach. Skilled workers from Hanau trained the first local apprentices as diamond cutters. Until the First World War, further diamond cutting shops were established in Brücken and several neighboring villages. By the mid-1930s, the industry had reached its peak with 2,500 cutters and grinders in the Western Palatinate. After the Second World War, there was another brief boom. The emergence of new diamond cutting centersin Israel, Russia and India, with very low wage levels, led to a steady decline from 1957 onwards. Today, there is only one diamond cutting shop left in Brücken.

The Diamond Cutter Museum, established in 1998, shows the historical, technical and economic development of the Palatinate diamond industry. On Sundays, you can look over the shoulders of the former cutters at the grinding wheel in the Diamond Cutter Museum and immerse yourself in the fascination of diamonds.

(2) Old church (bridges)

There was already a chapel in the center of the village in medieval times. It was destroyed during the Thirty Years' War. In 1715, the Catholics built a new chapel from the remains. The chapel's bell dates back to 1463. After the parish of Brücken was established in 1730, the small church served as the parish church. At the beginning of the 19th century, the church was too small and also in a poor state of repair. The factory council therefore decided to build a larger parish church in 1829. In the years 1836-38, a new church was built according to the plans of the civil building inspector August von Voit. By 1900, the church was once again too small. In 1915, the church was to be completely rebuilt. However, the First World War thwarted the building project. The church conversion was not pursued any further later, as the decision was made to build a new church elsewhere. After the new church was built (1953-55), the "old church", as it was now called, was used less and less and was finally demolished in 1970.

(3) Laurentius fountain(bridges)

The new Laurentius fountainwas erected in summer 2006. It is a reminder of the historic Laurentiusbrunnen, which was in operation just a few meters from here until 1934 and had special significance for bridges. In earlier times, the well water was considered to have healing properties. An old description from 1772 states:" The St. Laurenty fountain rises in the village, where the inhabitants fetch their drinking water and where sick people are said to have been cured before." In 1754, the fountain is first mentioned as "St. Lorenz Born". In 1785, there is evidence of a spa guest who came here to "Churtrinken". In 1937, the fountain was built over by the milk house. After the building was demolished in March 1981, the old well chamber was filled in. Thanks to the free transfer of part of the parking lot by the families Wolfgang Bauer, Michael Schön and Charlotte Strobel, the new Laurentiusbrunnencould be built on the historic site. During the construction work on the new fountain, the old fountain chamber was also uncovered. The new Laurentius fountainis made of Palatinate sandstone and is designed as a running fountain with two troughs and is fed with water from the old fountain chamber. The figure of St. Laurentius was created by Franz Defland from Brücken.

(4) St. Laurentius Catholic parish church

The Catholic parish church was built in 1953-55. It is the third church to be built since the Catholic parish of Brücken was founded in 1730.

There is a monumental mosaic of Christ the King in the choir. The 32 square meter mosaic was created in October 1956 by the Munich artist Wilhelm Braun. It is composed of over 30,000 pieces of Italian marble and glass tiles. Some of the glass flux pieces were fused with real gold leaf. The motif depicts Christ as King of Heaven and Earth enthroned on an implied globe. The altar mosaic is the largest of its kind in the Palatinate. The 40 stained glass windows in blue, green, yellow and red with figurative and motivic depictions are also of particular artistic quality. Five bells with a total weight of around 4.5 tons hang in the 29 m high bell tower.

(5) Rödelbrunnen fountain

The Rödelbrunnen had a central function for the water supply of the municipality of Brücken. The first well pipeline was built by the municipality in 1818. It ran from the source of the Rödelbrunnen over a distance of 600 meters to today's Glanstraße. The pipeline consisted of wooden pipes, the so-called"Deicheln". They were laid about 1.50 meters deep in the ground. Until the central water supply network was built in 1934, numerous municipal and private wells were used to supply water. The Rödelbrunnen was also the Brücker children's fountain. According to tradition, this is where all the people of Brücken originated. It was not the stork that provided the offspring in Brücken, but the Rödelbrunnen. The "Ammebas" gave birth to the little ones here.

In 1996, the Rödelbrunnen was redesigned and the Rödelbach stream renaturalized as part of the village renewal project.

(6) Westwall bunker

In 1935, planning began for the construction of the Westwall along the border with France. In 1938, around 6,000 bunkers and fortifications were built in the Palatinate region by the Reich Labor Service.

At that time, 350,000 men from the "Organization Todt" (OT), 100,000 men from the Reich Labour Service (RAD) and the same number of men from the army's fortress pioneers were employed on the Siegfried Line. During this time, 12 bunkers were also built around bridges. The most striking one is on the 341 m high "Borsten", which offers a wide panoramic view. A small Wehrmacht unit was stationed here for a short time in 1939. This bunker was demolished in 1947. Today, only the mound of rubble remains as a reminder of this fortification.

The "Borsten" served as a military base two centuries ago. French revolutionary troops used the hilltop several times as a base in 1793/94. On July 26, 1794, the French General Renauld and his troops set off from here to Kusel and reduced the town to rubble.

(7) The old Lichtenberg high road

The old Lichtenberger Hochstraße, which came from Sand, always stayed on the ridge between the Ohmbach and Kohlbach valleys and continued from here in the direction of Frohnhofen, where it met the "Lichtenberger Straße" at a right angle at the Zolleiche.

It has several characteristics of an old high route: it avoids the formerly marshy valley lowlands, bypasses the villages and offers a good view.

This road was already known in the Middle Ages as the "old Lichtenberger Straße" and probably dates back to Roman times. In Sand, it branches off from the old"Reichswälder Hauptstraße" and leads over the Brücker Ziegelberg and the Borsten, via Wartenstein and Schloßberg to the Frohnhofer Kaiserberg. In 1585 it is said of it: "allhier gehet die Landstraß vorbei aus dem Bereich von Kaiserslautern und Kübelberg heraus gen Oberkirchen, St. Wendel und auf die Oster".

This old road was used until the late 18th century and only fell into disuse when today's St. Wendel road through the Kohlbach valley was built in the 1830s.

(8) Wartturm

The 7.50 m high replica of a medieval watchtower in the Ohmbach district was erected in 2005 below the 375 m high "Wartenstein" viewing mountain. According to tradition, an old stone lookout tower is thought to have stood on the prominent hilltop between the Ohmbach and Kohlbach valleys. Waiting towers were used as guard and reporting posts in the Middle Ages. From the high location of Wartenstein, one had a wide view. Approaching dangers could be reported in good time. There was also a line of sight from here to the nearby Reichsburg castle in Kübelberg. Today, the topographical advantages of the mountain peak are also used. In addition to an elevated water tank, a mobile phone transmitter has been located on the Wartenstein for a few years now.

(9) The legendary Rennweiler hill

There are many legends surrounding the Rennweiler hill. People in the village used to say that it was not a safe place at night. For example, there are reports of a ghostly procession with a priest and altar boys walking around Rennweiler. Another legend tells of a lost castle with immeasurable treasures in dark vaults and of a ghostly black dog guarding the riches. Finally, Rennweiler is also said to have been the site of a monastery that was destroyed during the Thirty Years' War. Since then, a monk has wandered around at dusk. Others tell of the village lords' "Zehntelscheuer", which is said to have stood here and from which an underground passage leads down into the valley.

The Rennweiler is indeed steeped in history. In 1826, an excavation brought to light the remains of a Roman wall. In 1961 and 1968, further archaeological excavations brought to light finds from Roman times.

(10) Ohmbach Protestant church

There is evidence of a chapel in Ohmbach as early as 977. There was already a parish in 1108. The tower of today's church dates back to the 12th century. It is one of the oldest remnants of sacred architecture in the district of Kusel. The nave was built in 1870-85. The tower originally stood on the north side of an adjoining choir room to the south. The greater width of the wall at the lowest tower storey still indicates this today. The organ in the gallery dates from the last third of the 18th century and came to Ohmbach from Oppau in 1920.

A Roman relief stone of the gods was walled into the churchyard wall. The stone has been in the Historical Museum in Speyer since 1911. Until well into the 20th century, people in Ohmbach still talked about mysterious passages under the church. In fact, two underground passages were uncovered beneath the church in the 1890s. They suggest that the church served as a fortified church in the Middle Ages.

(11) Ohmbach lime tunnel

Lime was mined here near the Kellerwieserheck forest on the municipal boundary between Ohmbach and Krottelbach. As early as 1824 there is a note about a limestone quarryin the municipality of Ohmbach, but without a more detailed description of the location. After the Ohmbach lime quarryhad initially only been in operation for a few years, Karl Müller from Ohmbach began mining again in 1875. He restored the old, dilapidated tunnel and built lime kilns for the production of quicklime. Müller operated the mine until 1896.

On the Krottelbach side, a limestone quarrynear the rice mill is mentioned in 1846. The "lime house" built in 1857 directly on the country road to Herschweiler is a reminder of the operation. In 1906, a serious accident occurred in the lime minewhen an Ohmbach manfell into the 20-metre-deep winding shaft and died. Until the Second World War, lime was mined here underground and burned in lime kilns. The lime from the Ohmbachand Krottelbach quarries was used as quicklime in the construction industry and as fertilizer in agriculture.

(12) Stone slab quarry

In the Ohmbach stone slab quarry, first mentioned in 1824, so-called "Leien" - sandstone for floor slabs - was quarried. The natural stratification of the rock was particularly suitable for quarrying large sandstone slabs. The Ohmbach stone slabs were highly valued in the region as flooring material. Stone slabs from the Ohmbach "Leienbruch" were also initially laid in the Ohmbach church and the old Catholic parish church of Brücken, built in 1836-38. Apparently, sandstone for grinding stones was also quarried here, as can be seen from a description from 1836/37. Quarrying of the solid gray-yellow stone had already been abandoned before the First World War. Towards the end of the Second World War, the people of Ohmbach sought shelter from air raids in the "Leienkaut". Decades of mining had created a large underground hall. A so-called "Wasserseih" was created in the tunnel for dewatering. The groundwater collected here to form a small lake.

(13) Hühnerwiese leisure facility

In the Middle Ages, the Marbach, which flows directly past here, was the border stream between Oberohmbach in Palatinate and Zweibrücken and Steinbach in Leyland. At its lower reaches, shortly before it joins the Ohmbach, the district of Niederohmbach in the Palatinate was added. Three sovereignties thus came together in the meadows of the Ohmbach valley. There were occasional disputes about the exact course of the border in these meadows. The surrounding meadows were therefore also called "In den Streitwiesen". This name is documented in the records as early as 1587. In later times, a boundary stone with the coats of arms of the three territorial lordswas erected. It marked the border triangle until shortly after the Second World War.

(14) The golden cradle

There is an old legend about the origins of the two villages of Brücken and Steinbach. In the valley floor next to the road from Brücken to Steinbach, there used to be numerous hewn stones lying around. They are said to have been the remains of a castle that stood here and protected the nearby village of Steinbrück. When the castle was besieged and the lord of the castle saw no way to save his family, he sank the golden cradle that had rocked his entire family in the castle well. The valuable family heirloom was not to fall into enemy hands. The few inhabitants who had survived the destruction of their village in the nearby woods split up and founded new settlements to the north and south of the old village, which they called Brücken and Steinbach, derived from the old place name Steinbrück. Sunday children can see the golden cradle rise from the well at certain times. This legend certainly has its origins in the fact that near the old path that runs between Brücken and Steinbach, farmers repeatedly came across the remains of walls while plowing. Several field names are reminiscent of these finds. In the Steinbach district, for example, there are the fields "In der Mauer", "In der untersten Mauer" and "Auf den Burgwiesen".

(15) Westwall bunker on the Krämel

There were seven bunkers in the immediate vicinity on the Krämel. They were built within sight of the bunker on the "Borsten". They formed the northern end of the Siegfried Line in the Kusel district. The bunkers were intended to monitor the important Brücken - Kusel and Brücken - Glan-Münchweiler country roads. In the immediate vicinity of this bunker, the so-called Flak Hall was also built in 1938 to house an anti-aircraft gun . The hall burned down in 1959.

The bunker at Krämel, built in 1938, is now the best-preserved Westwall bunker in Brücken. At that time, the bunkers were built according to standard construction drawings. The bunkers were designed as combat posts for individual troops with machine gun and PAK weapons. The bunkers usually had one or two ready rooms for the crew and an attached fighting compartment. One or two machine gun positions could be set up in the fighting compartment.

(16) Lutheran chapel

A small Lutheran congregation developed in Brücken in the 18th century. A chapel was built in 1741/42 "with a small tower on top". The chapel was looked after by the Steinwenden pastor. Services were held in the little church every three to four weeks. The chapel thus became the ecclesiastical center of the Luteran people in the Kübelberg court. At the beginning of the 19th century, the little church fell into disrepair. The last wedding ceremony took place in the church in 1828. It was demolished in 1836.

Just a stone's throw from the former Lutheran church stands the present-day Protestant Gustav Adolf Church. It was built in the years 1952-54. For the consecration of the church on May 30, 1954, the then Federal President Theodor Heuß donated a Bible. An association had already been founded in 1905 with the aim of raising funds for the construction of a Protestant church.

Directions

BAB 6 exit Bruchmühlbach-Miesau or Waldmohr, direction Schönenberg-Kübelberg, then Brücken.

BAB 62 exit Konken, direction Konken, then direction Brücken.

BAB 62 exit Glan-Münchweiler, direction Glan-Münchweiler, then direction Brücken.

Parking

Directly at the Diamond Cutter Museum

Hauptstraße 47, 66904 Brücken.

Coordinates: Longitude 7° 21' 35'' / Latitude 49° 25' 55''

Parking lot at the Sparkasse

Glanstraße 2, 66904 Brücken.

Coordinates: Longitude 7° 21' 38'' / Latitude 49° 25' 56''

Coordinates

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