Inauguration of the Cultural Pathway Heigenbrücken /Spessart
The Heigenbrückener formation defines a geological partition of the lower red sandstone. From this formation stones were quarried since the middle of the 19th century. This special variety of the typical Spessart sandstone is aponymos for this cultural path. But originally Heigenbrucken was a village of glass-makers, mentioned as early as 1477 in a document. When the glass production in the Spessart was limited by the state of Mayence during the 18th century, the inhabitants were soon stricken by poverty. Only quarrying - and more important, the construction of the railway since 1850 - improved the living standard of the people of Heigenbrücken. The railway connection to the Rhein-Main area brought early ramblers to Heigenbrücken and it developed into one of the first centre of tourism in the Spessart.
The cultural path of about 6 kms length will lead you up to the "Pollasch" crowned by a memorial of the Spessartbund. At the crossroad called "Hirschhorner" (stags) you will find the cross of Sternheim, which commemorates the raid on French soldiers in 1796. Downhill you will pass the railway tunnel and the quarry of red sandstone in the "Heigenbruckener formation" and arrive back at the village place. Please follow the sign of the yellow EU-ship on blue.
The district governor at the inauguration ceremony in Heigenbrücken
Impression on the border of the pathway
Explanations to the medieval glass production at the Spessart
Pathway between meadow and forest
Memorial of the Spessartbund" from 1927
Explanation sat the Cross of Sternheim
At the crossroad called "Hirschhörner" (stags)
Quarry of red sandstone, called the "Heigenbrückener formation"
Spessart Tastescapes: Anything basically with potatoes
Recreation in the fire station