Hunsrück Cathedral in Ravengiersburg

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.