Top 20 Natural Monuments around Sembach

Beautiful, well-restored castle ruins with a great view. There is also a place to stop for refreshments right at the castle.

Very nice vantage point over the Mehlinger Heide, one of the largest heath landscapes in southern Germany

It is wonderful what has been created on this former military training ground. Highly Recommended!

The monastery was founded in 1241 by Count Eberhard IV. von Eberstein (earlier count Eberhard II.), lord of Stauf, and his wife Adelheid von Sayn. Eberhard von Eberstein was the brother of Speyer Bishop Konrad von Eberstein and a cousin of St. Hedwig. He was descended from the Andechser family on his mother's side and was related by marriage to the Leininger and the Raugrafen through his two sisters. His nephew Raugraf Eberhard I, Bishop of Worms, consecrated the early Gothic church of the Rosenthal monastery founded by his uncle on May 22, 1261. In October of that year, the bishop's brother Raugraf Heinrich I († 1261) was buried there; the gravestone is preserved in the church ruins. According to the Regensburg Chronicle by Carl Theodor Commoner, he was the knight who corresponded with Duchess Maria of Brabant, which is why, out of unfounded jealousy, she was beheaded in 1256 on the orders of her husband Louis the Strict of Bavaria.[1] History of the monastery The church ruins from the south (2014) Church ruins from the inside Gravestone of the monastery founder Eberhard von Eberstein in the Rosenthal church ruins Many daughters of the landed nobility entered the monastery. In 1496 it had 70 members, including 31 choir sisters, 14 lay sisters and 24 servants. The nuns brought the marriage property they were entitled to into the monastery community and other donations also fell to them. As a result, the convent had considerable property in the surrounding area and further afield, especially in Asselheim, Bechtolsheim, Breunigweiler, Göllheim, Guntheim, Hillesheim, Candlesheim, Lautersheim and in Sippersfeld. King Adolf of Nassau fell in the Battle of Göllheim on July 2, 1298 and was buried here. He was the great-nephew of the founder of the monastery and remained buried in Rosenthal for eleven years because his surviving opponent Albert of Austria refused to allow him to be buried in Speyer Cathedral. Only after his death could it be transferred to the cathedral in 1309. According to tradition, his wife Imagina von Isenburg-Limburg prayed in the Rosenthal monastery church while the battle was raging not far away. She later had the early Gothic royal cross erected at the place of her husband's death and lived to see it transferred to Speyer. In the Mainz Abbey Feud (1461/62), the convent under Abbess Anna von Lustadt († 1485) was affected. At the end of the 15th century, her successor Margaretha von Venningen († 1505) had the monastery church rebuilt in the late Gothic style, which also created the striking pinnacle tower. During the Palatinate Peasants' War, during the term of office of Abbess Barbara Göler von Ravensburg († 1535), the monastery was looted and devastated in 1525, but it was able to continue to operate; until finally in 1572 the 14th abbess, Elisabeth von Geispitzheim, ceded all rights to the then sovereign, Count Philip IV of Nassau-Saarbrücken, in the course of the Reformation. He had already banned the admission of new sisters and pushed for the convent to be closed. He dissolved the monastery, took ownership of the property and appointed a secular steward to manage and manage the property. In the period that followed, the monastery slopes served as a source of income for the changing lines of the ruling House of Nassau. Towards the end of the Thirty Years' War, Emperor Ferdinand III. restored the rights of the Cistercian Order. Under the Abbess of Königsbruck, Rosenthal was once again populated by nuns in the spring of 1646 and the complex was renovated. Citing the agreements reached in the Peace of Westphalia, the Counts of Nassau expelled the sisters from the monastery again in February 1651. It remained dissolved and was administered as a state domain. In 1794 the French confiscated the property and auctioned off parts of it. Mennonites settled there, continued to manage the former monastery property and lived in the monastery buildings, which they divided among the families. The church served as a quarry for them and they began to demolish the choir area. The Bavarian state put a stop to the work of destruction when the district administrator of the Kirchheim district office bought the church ruins in 1851 for the benefit of the Historical Association of the Palatinate and the Bavarian district government in Speyer. In 1863 it became the property of what was then the Rosenthal Association and today the Rosenthal and Surroundings Historical Association looks after the impressive complex.

Beautiful ruins of the former monastery church with an interesting history - for example, Emperor Adolph von Nassau, who fell in battle, was buried here for several years.

One of the largest heathland areas in southern Germany. During the flowering period in August and September, it is advisable not to come on the weekend as it is very crowded. If you want, you can extend the heather tour a little and make a loop in the adjacent forest, where it is very calm and cool and a nice contrast to the sunny, dry heather.

Offers a great overview of the heather. Well worth a visit. There's more to see here! https://youtu.be/6wUaKf4IO5U

The “Mehlinger Heide” is one of the largest heathlands in southern Germany! The nature and bird sanctuary is 410 hectares in size – an XL football pitch is 1.08 hectares. Formerly a forest, the area became a military training area during the First World War, then French, German again, American and finally returned in 1994. Congratulations to those who managed to return this area to nature! By the way: The summer heather (Calluna vulgaris), which characterizes the landscape of the Mehlinger Heide, is not an Erica, but forms its own genus Calluna. However, it also belongs to the heather family. Unlike most Erica species, the local heather is summer green and blooms in late summer, this year's peak is August 20th. See also www.enkenbach-alsenborn.de