Hike to the Wilzenberg

Wayside shrine "Our Lady with Child"

The wayside shrine "Mother of God with child" is located on the procession route at Aberg. It was erected in 1930. The wayside shrine made of concrete blocks with a flat wooden relief of "Our Lady and Child" is surrounded by figures and religious symbols and bears the inscription: "O Mary, always help."

Station of the cross at Aberg

The Way of the Cross station at Aberg was built in 1989 by the Schmallenberg Catholic parish.

This Way of the Cross with copies of donated original station pictures by H. J. Falke (28 y. 1842) was erected in 1989 with donations from the St. Alexander parish. The lower part of its course is reminiscent of the "Seven Footfalls" on the way to Wilzenberg, a prefiguration of the Way of the Cross, which was documented by a deed of donation in 1769. The inclusion of the soldiers' graves (XIL station) is intended to commemorate suffering and death during the Second World War.

Cross with soldiers' graves

The cross with soldiers' graves "Am Aberg" was erected in 1945/46. The wayside cross with corpus, roof and back wall, including an old colorful depiction of the 12th station of the Way of the Cross Am Aberg.

The following text is inscribed on a wooden plaque:
"The whole glorious nature shows you the great God's trace.
But if you want to see him at his greatest, stay at his cross."

The names of the soldiers from the Second World War who rest here are inscribed on the adjacent soldiers' cross with roof: Josef Kohl, Hans Pesch, Jurt Eisinger 06.04.1945

Wayside shrine "Mother of Good Counsel"

The "Mother of Good Counsel" wayside shrine on the Aberg at the fork in the road was erected around 1800. It depicts the Mother of God with baby Jesus in wood and was erected by the sculptor Ignaz Hartmann from Wiedenbrück in 1956 or 1958. It is also popularly known as "Damme's holy house".

On Ascension Day, the procession stops here on the way back, prayers are said and the Marian hymn is sung.

The Wilzenberg

You can see the legendary Wilzenberg from afar. It is also known as the pilgrimage mountain or "holy mountain" of the Sauerland. There was a rampart and refuge castle on the Wilzenberg, parts of which can still be seen today.

The pilgrimage chapel in its current form dates back to 1773 (demolished in 1508 and 1732). The Stations of the Cross date from 1773.

An observation tower was built in 1895, which was renovated in 1990 and raised from 9m to 17m. From this lookout tower, you can look out over the land of 1,000 mountains and understand why our ancestors believed the seat of the gods and heroes to be in the loftiest treetops.

There is a well, also known as the Püttken, on the hill. Children used to be told that the stork brought babies from here.

The Countess Chuniza

Countess Chuniza (Kunigunde = queen) lived on the legendary Wilzenberg. She had a son "Timo" with her first husband Kuno. According to legend, she bewitched and poisoned her first husband Kuno and six other husbands/men by mixing red foxglove extract into the wine embers.

Out of remorse and penance, she donated all her monastery farms, lands, forests and estates to Grafschaft Abbey. Anno of Cologne had a monastery and a small town founded for her sins (Smalenburg, now Schmallenberg).

The Chuniza ballad, which was recorded on the occasion of the 725th anniversary celebrations in 1969 and sung by "Willi Bräutiga", better known as Tom Astor, reads:

At the castle in the Sauerland
A nefarious woman was once known
for her murderous deeds.
High on the Wilzenberg wild
there she killed seven men,
a real Satan.

When she emptied the seven men
she then gave the archbishop
the inheritance of her fathers
Anno of Cologne had a monastery and a small town founded for the sins
.
But that was a little later.

Grafschaft Monastery

Ora et labora is the motto of the Benedictine monks, "pray and work", and that is exactly what the hard-working monks did when Archbishop Anno of Cologne founded Grafschaft Monastery in 1072. The place was subsequently to become the cultural center of the Sauerland and the nucleus of the town of Schmallenberg. Grafschaft Monastery experienced its heyday in the course of the 12th century. Later, discipline and order must have suffered, as the number of brothers fell to seven. This explains why the abbey joined the Bursfeld Congregation in 1508, a movement that emphasized Benedict's strict religious rule and intensive scientific study.

The monastery owned almost all the forests and fields in the Sauerland region of Electoral Cologne and beyond, most of which were leased out. The tenants, mainly farmers, had to pay their "tithe". This usually took place on Martini (11.11.).

The monastery experienced a renewed upswing, at least in economic terms, in the 17th and 18th centuries. The iron industry in the Sauerland began to develop and the monastery supported this movement on its land. In 1729, the parts of the building that can still be seen today were rebuilt. The magnificent gatehouse in particular catches the eye, suggesting a castle rather than a monastery behind the walls.

In 1827, the monastery became the property of the von Fürstenberg family, who are still the main owners today.

In 1948, the sisters of the Order of the Borromean Sisters came to Grafschaft to continue their monastic life here. The nuns, who had been expelled from Silesia, rebuilt the convent, investing a considerable amount of time and labor. The buildings must have been in a pitiful state at the time.

In May 1997, Grafschaft Monastery celebrated the 925th anniversary of its foundation (1072). To mark the occasion, a museum on the "Art and History of Grafschaft Monastery" was opened in the monastery. Liturgical instruments, writings and relics can be seen in the monastery museum.