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Lower Franconia

Landkreis Rhön-Grabfeld

Willmars

Ruins of Mauerschädel Church

Discover

Places to see

Germany

Bavaria

Lower Franconia

Landkreis Rhön-Grabfeld

Willmars

Ruins of Mauerschädel Church

Recommended by 51 hikers out of 53

This Highlight is in a protected area

Please check local regulations for: Naturpark Bayerische Rhön

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Location: Willmars, Landkreis Rhön-Grabfeld, Lower Franconia, Bavaria, Germany

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Best Hikes to Ruins of Mauerschädel Church

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1. Filke Fishing Ponds – Ruins of Mauerschädel Church loop from Willmars

13.1km

03:43

280m

Intermediate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Intermediate

4.7

(3)

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2. Ruins of Mauerschädel Church – Filke Fishing Ponds loop from Oberfilke

11.4km

03:11

220m

Intermediate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Intermediate

5.0

(2)

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3. View of the Lange Rhön – Abstrunlinge Spring (Ostheim) loop from Sands

18.0km

05:06

390m

Expert hike. Very good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Tips

Söhni 🏃

July 19, 2025

This gray, age-old ruin is called "Mauerschädel," meaning "uninhabitable ruin." The people's imagination has always been preoccupied with this ruin, and in 1891, the blind legend collector Chr. Ludwig Wucke recorded the following legend: Filke was once a large town, stretching from Oberfilke to the now-vanished old St. Peter's Church and the village of Willmars. It was crossed by three streams and had over 300 bakers and the first Christian church in the area. The bishop baptized the pagans there. Its remains form the "Mauerschädel." Indeed, the legend is supported by the fact that a large number of now-vanished settlements once existed in the area around Filke. The ruin lies directly on the border between Thuringia and Bavaria.

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ANGELIKA

October 22, 2023

The Mauerschädel ruins are the ruins of a fortified church in the Rhön, located in the Rhön-Grabfeld district. The Mauerschädel church ruins are located in a gentle valley directly next to the village of Filke, a district of the municipality of Willmars. The ruins are located directly on the state border between Thuringia and Bavaria. Around the year 770 there is the first documented mention of a place called “Biscofestat” (bishop's town? - with supposedly over 300 bakers), to which the Mauerschädel church ruins are said to have originally belonged. A certain Adelher donated these estates to the Fulda monastery. In this context there were two other disappeared communities, “Solzach” and “Hoitino”.

Remains of the tower of the Mauerschädel ruins

The church is believed to have been built around the year 1000. The village of Bischofs is said to have still existed in 1334 - a hundred years later it was described as “desolate”. According to legend, invading Huns destroyed Bishop's village and caused a massacre among the Christians. The town of Filke was mentioned for the first time in 1458 – “Zum Bischof in der Filken”.

During investigations in 1903 it was said that the ruins were not - as assumed - the remains of a women's monastery, but the church of the former bishop's town. The church's courtyards can still be seen in the ruins today.

The inner-German border originally ran between the chancel and the nave. In the 1970s, the entire ruin was assigned to the Free State of Bavaria and thus the Federal Republic by the German-German Border Commission. Wikipedia

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AKKU

October 3, 2023

Through clever reasoning by the Bavarian surveyors, the wall skull, which actually stood exactly on the border line, was turned over to Bavaria... "so that Bavaria has the burden of maintaining the ruins."

Otherwise it would probably have been razed to the ground as part of the border fortifications.

Translated by Google •

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Elevation 440 m

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Saturday 27 September

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Max wind speed: 3.0 km/h

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Location: Willmars, Landkreis Rhön-Grabfeld, Lower Franconia, Bavaria, Germany

Ruins of Mauerschädel Church

1. Filke Fishing Ponds – Ruins of Mauerschädel Church loop from Willmars

2. Ruins of Mauerschädel Church – Filke Fishing Ponds loop from Oberfilke

3. View of the Lange Rhön – Abstrunlinge Spring (Ostheim) loop from Sands

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