The road from Oppertshausen leads to the town of Ravengiersburg. When
you leave the forest, you are abruptly met with a view into Simmerbach
Valley and of Hunsrück Cathedral, St. Christopher, which towers quite
powerfully over the densely packed houses of
the small village. The two five-story towers of the west part with
their diamond-shaped roofs —originally built as a massive defense system—
impress less by their height of 42 meters, than by their square
design with a width of 8 meters each, so that with the connecting
structure between the two the overall width of the west section is 22
meters. The integrity and compactness of the architecture of Hunsrück
Cathedral makes it one of the most important structures of the 12th and
13th Centuries between the Nahe, Mosel and the central Rhine Rivers.
The originally Romanesque church was erected around 1160 and must have
had a three-nave basilica. It had approximately the same length as today's
church and was annexed to the double tower of the west works. Under the
choir section a four-nave Romanesque crypt with three apsides from the first
half of the 12th Century was found (apsis: a semicircular or polygonal
termination in a building with a vaulted half-dome).
Photo: The Hunsrück Cathedral St. Christophorus stands quite massive
on a rock spur above the village of Ravengiersburg.
The two five-story towers of the cathedral with their diamond-shaped roofs
were originally constructed as a strong standing fortification.