Moselkern

… is the native village of the German Wine Princess 2011/2012, Ramona Sturm.
The wine-making village with its pretty half-timbered and quarry stone houses extends from the bank of the Moselle, opposite the Druidenstein rock, all the way into the romantic Elztal valley.

The Merovingian Cross, on the forecourt of the parish church of St. Valerius, and the village hall are both worth a visit. The oldest town hall on the Moselle from the year 1535 is something very special not only because it is an impressive example of half-timbered architecture in the Moselle region. In the wall on the ground floor you can still see the iron ring which, until the French Revolution, lawbreakers were tied to and exposed to the ridicule of the public.

The so-called "Merowingerkreuz", the Merovingian Cross, is a stone memorial from around AD 700 (the original is in the Rheinsches Landesmuseum Bonn, replicas are outside the church and on the cemetery of Moselkern). It is the oldest depiction of the crucified Jesus in monumental art north of the Alps. The way it is depicted is unique and without parallel in the world of art. The image of Christ is combined with geometric motifs that symbolise the cosmos. Starting in Moselkern you can take a hike through the Elztal valley to the famous Eltz Castle. For more information visit  www.moselkern.de