Secret passages, gossipy vicars and a poisoned elector

On the half-timbered adventure tour, Montabaur's town history(s) is on your ears: Scan the QR code and listen

Montabaur is full of history(s). If only the historic buildings could tell you everything they have already seen... Now they do just that. Nine buildings in the town centre invite you to take part in the "Half-timbered Experience Tour". If you scan the QR codes on the façades with your mobile phone, you will hear exciting stories. To ensure that the walk is also suitable for family or class outings, there is a version for children in addition to the text for adults.

The concept and implementation were supported by the state project KuLaDig-RLP (Digital Recording and Presentation of Cultural Landscapes in Rhineland-Palatinate). Its aim is to record objects in selected model municipalities, make them visible and make them accessible to as many people as possible through multimedia. Montabaur successfully applied with its Fachwerk trademark and now benefits from financial subsidies and scientific advice from the University of Koblenz-Landau. A great success is that the town is now part of the German Half-Timbered House Route.

Town mayor Gabi Wieland was now able to open the adventure tour in time for the summer season. "Our tourist offer is enriched in a new way," she is pleased to say. "Anyone who wants to know how things used to be in Montabaur does not necessarily have to book a guided tour, but can set off at any time and immerse themselves in past centuries. This is not only interesting for out-of-town guests, but certainly for the locals as well."   

The selected half-timbered houses bear plaques with their name and address, the town coat of arms and QR codes behind which the stories await. They are the result of teamwork: input was provided by Bernd Schrupp, former employee of the city archive with historical facts, and Ingeborg Schevior, crime writer from Welschneudorf, who contributed amusing anecdotes behind the facts. A group of students led by Fiona Stolle from the University of Koblenz-Landau's Department of Cultural Studies also researched the details of the houses and supplemented the Fachwerk project with sound recordings and video clips.

Journalist Jutta Klöckner has written the texts for young and old listeners. Adults can listen to the voice of speaker Thomas Marz. For the young audience, the listening pleasure comes from the mouths of children: 7 girls of primary school age read aloud seriously and conscientiously.

Against a historical backdrop, old Montabaur comes to life again: Pilgrims, traders, farmers, merchants and onlookers stream into the town from the Peterstor. Carts full of goods bump along Kirchstraße to the markets, where an unbelievable noise strains the nerves of the residents: Horses neigh, pigs grunt, sheep bleat, chickens cluck - and people haggle loudly for the best price.

But even behind the walls things are lively and not always tranquil. Murder and manslaughter in the family lead to the division of a house. Young men are made unconsciously drunk in the inn and wake up as forcibly recruited soldiers. People dig underground passages out of cellars in order to be able to flee the town during wartime sieges. The vicars of the parish church, who also teach the youth, are no role models, but run around and disrupt the masses with their chatter.

And then there are rumours: is it true that the Holy Rock of Jesus is hidden in the wall of a Montabaur half-timbered house during the French Revolution, before finally being safely stored in Trier Cathedral?  And what happened to Richard von Greifenklau, archbishop and elector? Allegedly, he fell ill after drinking a cold drink from a Westerwald spring. A few months later he is dead...    

And these are the nine stations of the tour, which can also be found in KulaDig:

• Judengasse No. 20 - "Alte Kellerei" (Old Cellar)
• Großer Markt 16/18 Melchior House
• Kirchstraße 16 "Freiherr vom Stein House
• Kirchstraße 18, "Hotel Schlemmer" - Gasthaus zur Goldenen Krone, Victor's Restaurant
• Kirchstraße No. 48 Corner of Obere Plötzgasse
• Kirchstraße 58 "Girls' school
• Small market 13
• Half-timbered building complex "Fuhrmannskapelle" "Presence house, Vicarage, St. Anne's Chapel".
• Werbhausgasse No.1 "Inn to the Holy Spirit".

A flyer is available at the Tourist Information Office at the Grosser Markt next to the Old Town Hall. Opening hours:

Monday-Friday from 09:00 to 16:00, Saturday from 10:00 to 15:00.

The project was supported with 1,000 € start-up funding by the Ministry of the Interior and Sport. Information on this and all previous objects can be found on the information portal "KuLaDig - Kultur.Landschaft.Digital" www.kuladig.de and on https://kuladigrlp.net.