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.