One mystery I’ve had all these years is a memory of walking through the woods and coming across a medieval tower, just seemingly out by itself. I seemed to recall this was a hike that started at Heidelberg castle, but in looking at satellite views of the surrounding area I could never find anything that seemed to fit. But today I think I happened to stumble across it, and more as well. This post may not be particularly notable to any German readers or those with better memories, but I felt a bit like Indiana Jones digging all this up.
Across the Neckar River from the Königstuhl (King’s Seat), the mountain where the castle can be found, is another hill. It’s not often featured in photos, although it seems photographers often climb this hill in order to turn around and take pictures of the castle and old town. If my German-to-English translations can be trusted, this is called Michelsberg Hill and is named after an ancient civilization which once existed in the region. I’ve also seen it referred to as Heiligenberg, or Saints Mountain.
Stephanskloster
When poking around around in Google Maps I came across Stephanskloster, which is mostly ruins except for a solitary tower. My best guess is that we must have hiked around Michelsberg Hill at some point, perhaps as part of a volksmarch, and this must be the tower I’ve always vaguely remembered.
I translated its page from the German Wikipedia page and it appears this is what remains of a monastery which was founded in the year 1090. Its major donor was a Handschuhscheimer crusader which, after further digging, I think just refers to a crusader from the village of Handschuhscheim which essentially makes up the northernmost part of the Heidelberg metro area, and is right at the base of this hill. It also features the ruins of the moated Tiefburg castle, which I’m throwing in here just because castles are cool.
The Heidenloch
But there’s more hidden on Michelsberg Hill than just the tower. Just down from Stephanskloster is The Heidenloch which seems to be a bit of a local mystery. Again relying on a German Wikipedia page, It’s a deep shaft running 55 meters (180 feet) straight down and nobody knows who built it or why. It was apparently built around the year 1100. At 22 meters down, there is something carved into the wall which is called the female portrait — I get the impression it may just vaguely resemble a woman. They’ve found various objects in the shaft including horseshoes, knives, and keys. They didn’t build a covering over the shaft until 1987!
Heiligenberganlage – Thingstätte
Climbing further up the hill there is this large outdoor theater which was completed in 1935 during the pre-war Nazi era. This actually has an English Wikipedia page which says that after WWII the American occupying forces would have jazz concerts here and it was used for public events until just a few years ago.
Michaelskloster Heiligenberg
The pièce de résistance of the hill is the Monastery of St Michael, or rather its ruins, perched on the very top. In the picture at the top of this post you can just see trees at the top, but apparently it used to be cleared off and the monastery had a commanding view of the surrounding terrain. It looks like it may have been built in 1023 although there is a reference to it being as early as 870. There are also conflicting stories about it being dismantled for its stone, some of which was used to expand upon Heidelberg castle.
Here is a Youtube video of a drone exploring the monastery ruins which is worth checking out:
DJI Phantom Michaelskloster Heiligenberg (Heidelberg) – YouTube
The English Wikipedia page includes the following depiction from 1645 which appears to show it already in disrepair at that time. Notice this also features the mysterious shaft mentioned earlier!
Patrick Henry Village 