Rockenhausen - city walk - experience history strolling

We begin our city walk at the train station in Rockenhausen. However, entry can also be made at any of the other stations.

The walk starts directly in front of the station building. We turn left and after a few meters, parallel to the tracks, we encounter the former water tower of the Alsenztalbahn, built in 1871. Behind the floor-to-ceiling windows in the renovated sandstone facade, a so-called Foucault pendulum swings, which could be inaugurated thanks to the voluntary commitment of the citizens. Its famous model in Paris is larger, yet the Rockenhausen pendulum is an original and unique in a German small town. Information panels in front of the tower explain the meaning of the pendulum. 

We follow the paved footpath and cross a parking lot to a sandstone wall. A sign there commemorates the former synagogue of the town. Inaugurated in August 1886, the interior of the synagogue was destroyed during the Reich pogrom night in 1938. Afterwards, the building was repurposed as an air raid shelter school. After the war, the building was used for various purposes until it was demolished in 1976. The menorah from the synagogue is located in the local history museum. On the back of the wall, a memorial plaque commemorates the Jewish population from the villages of the former Rockenhausen collective municipality who became victims of the National Socialist dictatorship.     

We continue past the memorial plaque towards Bezirksamtsstraße 7. The large building on our left houses both the municipal and the collective municipality town hall of VG Nordpfälzer Land. It was built in 1900 as a royal Bavarian district office. The opening on December 1, 1900, was celebrated with "music, decoration, salutes and distribution of pretzels for the school youth" and it has been continuously used as an administrative building. The multicolored sandstone coat of arms is characteristic of the rich architectural decoration. More information can be found at the local tourist information of the collective municipality administration. 

We cross Bezirksamtsstraße and stand in front of the Nordpfälzer Heimatmuseum. From the Donnersberg Celts, the 1848 revolution, from "potato soup and latwerge bread" to the famous "children" of the town of Rockenhausen – on two levels the Nordpfälzer Historical Association presents in a completely redesigned exhibition with audio and video stations all kinds of interesting and worth-seeing facts about local history in northern Palatinate.

We leave the entrance of the building to the left and enter the freely accessible outdoor area of the museum. The magnificent Roman fountain complex there, the Dolphin Fountain, was found near a Roman estate in the municipality of Katzenbach.  There is also the excavation site of a Roman estate there. In addition to the fountain complex, old boundary stones are displayed. We leave the park and now follow the narrow footpath behind the local history museum. After a few steps, we turn right and cross the Alsenz over the so-called "Beamtensteg" (officials' footbridge), which connects the castle park with the administrative buildings already seen.

We turn left and follow Mühlweg. Shortly after the small playground, on the left is the round foundation of an ancient Roman family tomb. It was discovered during construction work and indicates a mound-shaped burial structure based on the example of Siesbach in the Hunsrück region.

In front of us lie the castle and the castle park.  Much indicates that the facility was originally a moated castle and dates back to the Renaissance period. During the French Revolution, it became private property and was used by the town from 1956 as a town hall, senior day care center, council chamber, and library. Since 2001, it has housed a hotel with a restaurant operation.

Crossing Rognacplatz, to the right on the rear gable wall of the "Museum for Time" you can see the carillon (tower chime) with its numerous bells. Several times daily (8:35, 12:35, 15:35, 16:35, and 20:35), the graceful sound with familiar melodies brightens the town. In summer, carillon virtuosos frequently perform on this unusual instrument.

We turn left before the instrument and cross the parking lot. To our left, not far away, we see the former Lower Mill, first mentioned in 1574. The milling operation ceased in 1963.  The former millrace is now built over. We turn right into Rognacallee and follow it to the end, then turn left into Kreuznacher Straße.

Following the street to the right, we cross the road at the zebra crossing and stand in front of the district court, built in 1900 in the style of Bavarian district houses. In front of the building stands the statue of the Franconian nobleman Rocco, from whom the town name Rockenhausen originates.

We cross the street again and after a few steps stand in front of the Catholic Church of St. Sebastian. After a fire destroyed the original Catholic church in the town center (today an ice cream café at Schlossstraße 15, corner Kreuznacher Straße), it was built during World War I according to plans by the Bavarian military building inspector Rudolf von Perignon. According to him, the goal was to create a contemporary counterpart to the tomb of Theodoric the Great in Ravenna, Italy. Thus, the building made of brown Donnersberg sandstone corresponds to the late Gründerzeit attitude of using historical styles as a source for one's own design. The colorful interior decoration is notable.

After visiting the church, we turn left and after a few meters turn left again into Parkstraße. After about 120 meters, we stand at the junction with Waldbergstraße. The courses of Rognacallee, Ring-, Park-, Berg- and Alleestraße still clearly reflect the former city wall of Rockenhausen.  At the time of the fortification, the town had a diameter of 300 meters. However, with the arming of armies with cannons, the protective function was largely obsolete. The time of town expansions began. In Rockenhausen, there was a city gate, the Untertor at the transition from Luitpoldstraße to Bahnhofsstraße.

At the end of Waldbergstraße, we turn briefly left into Schulstraße and stand unexpectedly in front of an impressive building, the so-called "Jägersche Haus".  The house, with the interesting, colorfully painted frieze on the front showing biblical motifs, originally served the Lutherans as a prayer house.  A few steps further left at Pulvergässchen 16 is a relief from the 18th century on the house facade. The biblical motif shows two men carrying a huge vine: Kaleph and Joshua with the cluster from the 4th Book of Moses, chapter 13. Originally, the city's powder tower stood in this narrow alley. This historically dangerous residential area was once inhabited by the poorest, often legally only considered tenants. They lived in small, unheated shepherd houses often built leaning against the inner city wall.

We return to Schulstraße and turn right. Then we follow Kreuznacher Straße about 50 m to the right and then turn left into Schlossstraße. After a few steps, a cobblestone courtyard opens on the right. At the end of the three-sided building complex stands an impressive half-timbered tower with an astronomical clock of the same type. The "Museum for Time" invites us to visit. Thanks to collector Knut Deutschle, this technical-historical gem is located in Rockenhausen. His collecting passion is large clocks and historical timekeeping instruments from several centuries. The range extends from water clocks from antiquity, over tower clock works and tower clocks to modern large clocks. It is exciting to listen to the explanations of the expert staff. Plan to spend about an hour here.

Leaving the museum courtyard a few meters to the right, we go left through a small short alley leading to the marketplace. It is the historic center of the town. The gable end is dominated by the Protestant parish church from the 16th century. Inside, the pulpit decorated with acanthus carvings from the 18th century and the choir stalls are worth seeing.  The organ is dated 1788. The marketplace is characterized by lively activity. In good weather, the outdoor dining invites you to linger.

The babbling of an artificial stream, which "springs" at the marketplace, recalls the historically common free watercourses in towns. However, these were rarely as clean as today in the "good old days." Another eye-catcher at the market is the fountain made of blue-glazed ceramics by the artist Stefan Engel.

Directly in front of the church stands the Napoleon bench by the well-known Palatinate artist Gernot Rumpf. As the name suggests, they originally date from the time after the French Revolution when Napoleon's revolutionary armies pushed the German-French border to the Rhine. They were intended to offer travelers a place to rest along paths, often after difficult ascents. The upper beam served as a shelf for carried goods or luggage. The bench is flanked by bronze statues of a couple in Biedermeier costume. It is often used as a backdrop by wedding couples. A bronze hare serves as a symbol of luck. The bronze mice typical for Gernot Rumpf should not be missing either. Have you found them?

We reach Luitpoldstraße again and turn left. At the corner of Speyerstraße stands the former residence of the Kahnweiler family. Daniel Henry Kahnweiler, Picasso's gallerist and discoverer of the Cubists, spent carefree childhood days here. On the Luitpoldstraße side facing the market are some beautiful half-timbered buildings reflecting a wealthy citizenry of past times.

We follow Speyerstraße to the right. There, in a former town farmer's estate, is the "Museum for Art Rockenhausen".  It shows a permanent exhibition of 20th-century paintings and regular special exhibitions of contemporary art. A special treasure is the German-language library as well as two lithographs by Picasso and numerous original posters from Daniel Henry Kahnweiler's Paris gallery. He is considered the discoverer of the Cubists and Picasso – in short, a pioneer of classical modernism. As the grandson of a Jewish merchant family, he spent much of his childhood in Rockenhausen and bequeathed the mentioned objects to the town in gratitude. In memory of Kahnweiler, the town awards the Kahnweiler Prize for Visual Arts every two years, endowed with 10,000 euros.

We follow Speyerstraße in a right curve to the intersection Bahnhof-/Luitpoldstraße. At this intersection on the left is the Old Post building. It is a typical functional building from the 1920s with a sandstone relief above the portal.

On the small square to the right in front of the Old Post stands a so-called Freedom Linden tree, named after a freedom fighter of the 1848 revolution, Robert Blum. The pre-March revolutionary was executed in Vienna in 1848 and is considered an early figurehead of the labor movement, after whose execution there were also riots in Rockenhausen. The fountain next to the linden tree recalls the former cattle watering place at this spot.

If you follow Mühlweg just a few meters, you can see the sandstone building of the former tannery, oriented towards the eaves. It was built in 1828 and operated until 1892.

Then we turn around and follow Bahnhofstraße to the right over a bridge across the Alsenz, cross the street, and thus reach the end of Bahnhofstraße, where we started our city walk.

We hope Rockenhausen has enchanted you with the historic charm of a rural small town. Come back soon!