N02 Benediktweg: Reichenfels - Gräbern - Wolfsberg

In the footsteps of Paracelsus and Wilhelm, Hemma's husband

You first go through the town to the southern exit of Reichenfels – cross the federal road (B78) and follow the "Goldbründelweg" (red-white-red marking) to Lichtengraben Castle. From there, go right down to Wisperndorf and across the street ("Moosweg") into the center of Bad St. Leonhard/Kunigund Church (approx. 7.5 km).

From the church, follow the path Q6 through Postgasse to the left into Herrengasse. In Reckturmgasse, turn right onto Weihbrunnweg, follow this under the bypass road and continue to the Hofbauersiedlung – cross Klippitztörlstrasse and go briefly downhill, right over the small bridge and the gravel road winding uphill to the farmstead Haselbauer. Above the house, there is a narrow gap in the fence that leads further over the meadow/pasture to the farmstead Lindner. From there, take the paved farm drive or cross the meadow uphill on the forest path until on the left a partly dilapidated building complex with a chapel appears. Straight ahead over the meadow downhill or right along the road leads to the Paracelsus spring (Preblauer Sauerbrunn – bottling plant) – (approx. 6 km).

Walk up the street towards Prebl and after approx. 1.5 km reach the fork Prebl/Gräbern, keep left (sign: Gräbern). Through the forest and uphill, you reach the church Gräbern with the sarcophagus of Count Wilhelm (approx. 6.5 km).

From Gräbern, walk always downhill on the street, past the junction right to Wolfsberg-Auen, straight to the large linden tree, and around the left curve to the forest edge. Here turn right onto the hiking trail 330 (Hennereck) and walk along the fence and then under the power line slightly uphill, along the forest edge to the abandoned farmstead and the asphalt road. There turn right, always straight through the forest, downhill to the farm passage vlg. Bernsteiner with the "Homecomers' Chapel".

In switchbacks, it goes steeply downhill from Vorderwölch to Weinzedlei, through Weinzedleistraße to Auenstraße opposite the tennis hall. Turn left and walk along Auenstraße up to about 100 meters before the Wolfsberg North motorway roundabout exit, turn left into Maderspergerweg and find a crossing over the railway straight ahead, then follow parallel to the railway line, turn left back into Auenstraße, follow Triesterstraße to the roundabout, then left onto Stadthammerstraße and before the Lavant bridge turn right into the old town, over Bürgergasse, Kreuzgasse or Gassersteig, district court, Lavantkai and Kapuzinergasse to Haus St. Benedikt (former Capuchin church) (approx. 10 km).

Paracelsus examined healing waters of Bad St. Leonhard …

Settled since Roman times due to the convenient location, the town developed under the rule of the Bishops of Bamberg. Bishop Otto consecrated the church named after St. Benedictine Abbot Leonhard at the beginning of the 12th century. The town was first mentioned in documents in 1287 and developed under the protection of Gomarn Castle into a market. Already before 1311, St. Leonhard received city rights. Like all Bamberg possessions, St. Leonhard was sold to the Habsburgs in 1759. The town experienced its heyday in the 15th and 16th centuries thanks to the gold and silver mining in the nearby "Klieniger Graben." Even the famous Augsburg merchant family Fugger followed the "Klieniger gold rush." At that time, the famous doctor and naturalist Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, known as Paracelsus, is said to have come to the mining area and examined the healing power of the sour water sourced south in Preblau. Incidentally, Paracelsus also received his training in St. Paul.