St. Matthias Pilgrimage Monument (Irnicher Berg)

Holy Matthias, we come to your grave, we implore your intercession. Every Trier pilgrim who makes a pilgrimage to Trier from this direction knows this place.Source Erlebniswelt Römerstrasse.de:From the Irnicher Berg hill you have a wonderful view to the north of the Agrippastraße that leads past here. The old Roman road has been used as a pilgrimage route to the grave of St. Matthias in Trier since the 12th century. From the beginning, the monks of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Matthias looked after arriving pilgrims, accommodated and entertained them.The Irnicher Berg marks the transition between two natural areas (Cologne Bay and the foothills of the Eifel) and lies on the diocese border between Cologne and Aachen. Because of its view, it has always served as a resting place for pilgrims and hikers. In 2007 St. Matthias-Platz was built here; together with a five-meter-high basalt column made of volcanic rock, it forms an open-air chapel. The square is dedicated to the deceased pilgrims, their hosts and the monks.The column shows a representation of the Apostle Matthias and the coat of arms of the Abbey of St. Matthias with the attributes staff and ax. The surrounding square is designed according to Christian numerical symbols: the paving forms seven circles with seven benches. These are framed by seven closing stones. They stand for the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments and the seven last words of Christ.

The column is a gift from the Uedesheimer Josef Werhahn and a landmark visible from afar for the Matthias Brotherhoods, who make a pilgrimage here on their way to the apostle's grave in Trier.The 7.5-ton basalt column, which was anchored in 2007 with a great deal of effort and technical equipment on a twelve-ton foundation, is also a milestone. To the north, in the direction of Neuss, it lists the pilgrim stations up to Uedesheim, whose coat of arms this stone bears. On the south-facing side, all the stations are buried up to Trier, a good 130 kilometers away. All in all 300 letters that the sculptor Andres Medl counted. In addition to a portrait showing the saint with his attributes, the front view of St. Matthias in Trier is also shown, the actual destination of the pilgrimage.Everywhere on the Lower Rhine, on the Middle Rhine, but especially in the Eifel, you can find around 200 of these pilgrim symbols from the St. Matthias brotherhoods. They can be stelae, crosses, wayside shrines, stones or small chapels. The brotherhoods set them up on their way to St. Matthias in Trier. Some pilgrim signs are several hundred years old. The main pilgrimage season is the time between Ascension Day and Pentecost every year, when the brotherhoods travel with thousands of pilgrims on foot. They usually use ancient pilgrimage routes, some of which - like here - are Roman roads.