Church in the rocks-Idar Oberstein
The Felsenkirche — or Church in the Rock — sits about 200 feet above the valley inside a niche in a towering rock face. It was built in the late 1400s as penance for fratricide, according to a city guidebook. Legend has it that two noble brothers who lived on the cliff-top castle above Idar-Oberstein were in love with a princess named Bertha. One brother got the girl. The jilted brother, in a jealous fit of rage, threw his sibling off the cliff to his death. To atone for his bad deed, the murderous brother built the chapel by hand on the spot where his brother died.
Church in the rocks-Idar Oberstein
The Felsenkirche — or Church in the Rock — sits about 200 feet above the valley inside a niche in a towering rock face. It was built in the late 1400s as penance for fratricide, according to a city guidebook. Legend has it that two noble brothers who lived on the cliff-top castle above Idar-Oberstein were in love with a princess named Bertha. One brother got the girl. The jilted brother, in a jealous fit of rage, threw his sibling off the cliff to his death. To atone for his bad deed, the murderous brother built the chapel by hand on the spot where his brother died.