Bad Münster am Stein

No album or calendar of the Nahe is complete without a picture of the Rheingrafenstein. What other landscape can offer a symbol comparable to the Rheingrafenstein at Bad Muenster am Stein? The bubbling salt-water springs there were already used as a "Badebronnen" (bathing spring) before the year 1500, long before the little city developed into a world famous spa. Before that, the saltwater was a source of cooking salt. The extraction of which was carried out in several steps. Although the water tastes very salty when it emerges from the spring, it actually contains only 1.3 percent of salt. This was too little for direct extraction of it. Therefore, it was pumped several times through a "graduation house" where it trickled down the layered spiny walls. Each time the water ran through this process, a little of it evaporated and the amount of salt contained in it increased. When a salt content of between 15 and 20 percent was attained, it was put into extraction pans where it was boiled until the salt crystals were completely deposited on the bottom.

35 million years ago in the Oligocene period, the Rheingrafenstein and the Rotenfels were the highest hills of an archipelago not far from the shore. Its subtropical coastline ran along the bay of Kreuznach. A few kilometers up the Nahe near Oberhausen, the Lemberg mountain formed a peninsula belonging to the mainland. Between Rheingrafenstein and Lemberg, was the shallow saltwater bay of Feilbingert. Today, this area is a large nature reserve, with 100,000 hectares of land. Similar to the Hellberg near Kirn, the Lemberg was formed 285 million years ago in the Permian period as an immense intrusion block. This intrusion block was exposed by weather over the ensuing millions of years and exists today as a so-called monadnock. Its hard stone is composed of dacite, which is somewhat darker than the rhyolite of the Rheingrafenstein, and which is very slowly deteriorating into a huge mass of scree.

The special microclimate of the Lemberg —warm with low precipitation— allows southern European vegetation to thrive. Among the seldom seen plants are Bergsteinkraut, Goldlack, Felsenfingerkraut, Mauerpfefferarten, Felsenahorn, Blutroter Storchenschnabel, Alpenhellerkraut, Diptam, Florentiner, Habichtskraut and Grasnelke. On the steep north side, the flora shows it's most beautiful side with unique mosses, lichen and orchids. When the weather is clear, there is an incomparable view down into the Nahe valley with Böckelheim castle (first recorded in the year 824) and the Disibodenberg, as well as large areas of the Hunsrück, all the way to the Erbeskopf.