Easy hikes and walks around Windbergen

In the Windbergen pilgrimage center there is a toilet which is accessible at all times during the day, and there is an e-bike charging station with 4 sockets in the church car park, which are available free of charge....

After the discovery of a brass figure of the crucified Jesus Christ in the field, the chapel "to the Holy Cross" was built at the site in 1495, which became a pilgrimage chapel. The brass cross has since been dated to the year 1000 and is still in the now larger church.

Cozy, very friendly country inn with delicious warm food throughout.

A document dated May 7, 1495 reports that the figure of the crucified Jesus Christ was found in a field in Windbergen and the small church was built. The Hamburg cathedral chapter took offense at the fact that the Windbergers began construction without permission, "paid homage to the brass figure found as a picture of the crucified and kneeled before him" and built a stone church. https: //kirchenschätze.de/kirche-zum-heiligen-kreuz-windbergen/

Windbergen originally belonged to the parish of Meldorf. After a brass figure of the crucified Jesus Christ was found in the field, a small stone church was built at the site in the spring of 1495. A document from the Hamburg Cathedral Chapter to the Archbishop of Bremen from May 7, 1495, which is preserved in the Hamburg State Archives, reports on the find. The pilgrimage to the Holy Cross was very popular until the Dithmarsch Reformation in 1533. The old church was demolished in 1742 and rebuilt and larger in the same place. The Heid carver Jürgen Heidtmann the Younger made the altar around 1650 in the cartilage baroque style. In the center is the relief of Holy Communion. The altarpiece and the pulpit, also a work of the 17th century, were combined to form a pulpit altar in line with the fashion of the times around 1740, painted in green and partly bronzed. The restoration in 1999 and 2000 restored this color version. It is probably unique in Schleswig-Holstein and is reminiscent of the ambience of palace chapels from the 18th century. Windbergen has been an independent church since 1495. The place also became known through the "Windberg Wedding": This incident from the days before the Battle of Hemmingstedt in February 1500 tells of the train of the royal army that comes through Windbergen on its way to Meldorf, where a wedding is currently being celebrated. Detlef von Liliencron wrote a poem about it. The Holy Cross is in the 11th / 12th Dated century. After the Dithmarsch Reformation in 1533 it was used as an altar cross. Since 2014, the figure has been presented above the altar in an immaterial cross, a work by the Bavarian artist Matthias Gangkofner, and thus also symbolizes the risen Christ. https://www.echt-dithmarschen.de/typisch-dithmarschen/sehenswuerdheiten/details/kirche-zum-heiligen-kreuz/

The Holy Cross Church was rebuilt in 1742, but dates back to the 12th century.

The Francis beech stands on a small, very overgrown path. It is part of a spiritual hiking trail through the forest area of the Windberger Heese.

The church was first mentioned as a pilgrimage church on May 7, 1495, but it has probably existed in a different form since the 11th century. The figure of the altar, which is placed on the altar for every service, comes from this period. It was a popular pilgrimage church until 1533 and became Protestant after the Reformation. After the expansion in 1742, the church was restored in 2000.