Thalfang and Dhronecken Castle
At the northern foot of Erbeskopf mountain lies Thalfang (Latin: Talavancum),
a spa resort with a particularly healthy climate. This is an area that was
already densely populated in Celtic-Roman times. First documented in 1112,
district "Mark Thalfang" is among the oldest administrative units in the region.
The church is well worth seeing with three naves from the first half of the
14th century, a Romanesque west tower from 1220-1230, a Late Gothic chancel
and a Stumm organ from 1877/78, which goes back to the famous organ-building
dynasty of Johann Michael Stumm from Sulzbach am Idarkopf. It is not
far from the eastern edge of town to the mystical Haardtwald forest,
the place where some say the grim Hagen von Tronje of the Nibelungen
song is supposed to have murdered the noble hero Siegfried by a spring.
This fiercely bubbling mineral spring is rich in carbon dioxide. It rises
quite close to the old Roman road
Via Ausonia
and is accessible in a beautiful pavilion in a forest glade (Haardtwald-spring).
On the other side of the Roman road, in the middle of the forest about a half
hour from Haardtwald-spring, is a natural monument called
Berger Wacken.
It is an impressive block of quartzite fifteen metres high, representing
the highest point of a quartzite ridge several kilometres long.
Not far from Thalfang, in the pleasant valley of the "Little Dhron"
(Kleine Dhron), lie the ruins of Dhronecken Castle. This was possibly the
ancestral seat of the hero from the Nibelungen, Hagen von Tronje. From the
14th century the "Office of Tronecken" (to which Thalfang also belonged) was
administered from here. The present structure was built around the former
castle and is used by the forestry office. The picture shows the keep of the
old castle, as it is today, viewed from within the courtyard. A visit to Dhronecken
Castle combines well with an eventful circular hike. You begin at the Thalfang
train station and climb, past Bäsch, up to Röderberg (641m), where you will
find the remains of a Celtic ring wall. From there you continue along the
ridge of the mountain to the Ausonius circular hiking path and follow this
down into the deeply cut valley of Röderbach, the so-called "singing valley",
at the foot of Erbeskopf. Follow the water down into the valley until you
reach the Röderbach forester's house then (Forsthaus Röderbach), a
short time later, cross the road along the Hunsrück ridge (Hunsrückhöhenstraße)
and you finally reach Dhronecken Castle, following the creek all the
way. The nature trail to Thalfang follows Thalfang creek, which here flows
into the Little Dhron, and returns to the starting point of this hike. From
Thalfang it is not far to the ruins of Hunolstein castle. You can reach
this from Haardtwald-spring by crossing the Roman road "Via Ausonia", and
thus arrive in the village of Gräfendhron. From there a nature trail
through the Dhron Valley, leads up to Hunolstein. The return journey can be
combined with a visit to Hölzbachklamm gorge. Here, in one of the most
pristine sections of Dhron, where the Hölzbach creek empties, steep quartzite
cliffs make an impressive sight in this narrow valley.
Note: The High Medieval Nibelungenlied, rediscovered by J.J.
Bodmer in the 18th century, consists of two originally independent parts that
were combined into a single integrated masterpiece of courtly poetry around
the year 1200 by an Austrian poet. The first part, about love, passion and
gold —the material for all great stories— is a fairy tale without any direct
historical basis. The lonely Hunsrück region, covered with dense woods, with
its autumn mists (the name "Nibelungen" is related to the German word for
fog, "Nebel", and means "the possessor of an enchanted gold hoard") is well
suited to the deliberately neutral, mystical location of the story. The second
part of the Nibelungen song, however, which is about the downfall of the Burgundian
Kingdom on the Rhine near Worms, is based on historical events. Among
these is the story of the crushing military defeat of the Burgundians Burgunden
in 435 by the Roman governor Aétius of Gaul (the "last Roman") and
by the Hunnic troops in 451, as well as, among others, the assassination of
Attila the Hun on the night of his wedding to a German princess in
453. The defeated Burgundians were exiled and later settled in Savoyen, while
the Burgundian region on the Rhine, including the Nahe Valley and the Hunsrück
region, were occupied by the Alemanni.