Embark on the "Hildegard von Bingen Pilgrimage Trail" and follow the footsteps of the saint through the land of Hildegard. This 137-kilometer pilgrimage trail starts in Idar-Oberstein and goes through the most important stations in Hildegard's life, including Disibodenberg, Sponheim, and Bingen on the Rhine. 

While walking this pilgrimage, you will not only learn about Hildegard but also feel her presence as you visit places and museums dedicated to her. 

This pilgrimage aims to help you walk and live in harmony with God and learn to see the "living sparks" of God's love in all that you come across.

As part of our pilgrimage, we will pass 59 information and meditation boards. These boards will provide information about Hildegard of Bingen, her life, and her work during the Middle Ages. The meditation boards will help pilgrims connect with the spiritual side of Hildegard by following her visionary images from her main work "Scivias - Know the Ways", and provide stimuli for meditation. These boards are written in both German and English.

Abbess, artist, author, composer, mystic, pharmacist, poet, preacher, theologian—where to begin in describing this remarkable woman?

She wrote over 300 letters to people who sought her advice; she also composed short works on medicine and physiology and sought advice from contemporaries such as Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.

Hildegard’s visions caused her to see humans as “living sparks” of God’s love, coming from God as daylight comes from the sun. 

Like all mystics, Hildegard saw the harmony of God’s creation and the place of women and men in that.

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We plan to meet at noon. Once we check into our accommodation, you will still have plenty of time to explore this beautiful city. With so much to see in this town, you may wish to arrive a day early. 

Idar-Oberstein is a town known for its gemstones. It has been mining and processing gemstones for centuries, which has earned it international recognition. Various museums in the town invite visitors to see the gemstones. 

As for Hildegard, she was an expert in natural medicine, she did not write about stones as such. Instead, she wrote about the healing effect of stones on people. Let us learn more. 

We will make our way out of Idar-Oberstein on the footpath to the rock church, you will find the first of around 26 meditation boards entitled “The Seer”. After a few hairpin bends and through dense forest, we reach Oberstein Castle and Bosselstein Castle high above the old town of Oberstein.

On a natural section with beautiful quiet stream valleys, old forests, and crossing mountain ranges with magnificent views, the Hildegard of Bingen Pilgrimage Trail reaches Fischbach in the Fischbach Valley of the same name after an easy descent.

At the end of the stage, we reach medieval Herrstein with its numerous half-timbered houses and romantic alleys.

Today we encounter the longest and steepest part of the pilgrimage. 

Today will lead us to Hildegard's roots. Medieval impressions characterize it. 

After our lovely evening in Herrstein, with its enchanting alleys and charming corners, we will continue towards Niederhosenbach, which is believed to be Hildegard's birthplace. We enjoy small villages and a varied landscape as we make our way to Kirn.

Once in Kirn, there is plenty to see. Many half-timbered houses, the Protestant church, the town hall - formerly built as a Piarist monastery, the Salm-Kyrburg winery, and the Kyrburg, the city's landmark. 

Today Kirn is known far beyond the borders of Rhineland-Palatinate thanks to the Kirner private brewery Ph. & C. Andres. For this reason, an information board on the market square is dedicated to the topic “Beer and other drinks at Hildegard”. 

Today the path is characterized by forest, unobstructed views, and the thrill of the Nahe Skywalk in St. Johannisberg as well as the wine landscape of the upper Nahe. A total of nine information boards provide information on the stage about Hildegard, her work, and life in the Middle Ages.

Monzingen our resting place is over 1200 years old and one of the oldest wine towns on the Middle Nahe. The old town center with its beautiful half-timbered houses, narrow streets, and corners has retained its charm to this day. A small herb garden has been lovingly set up in the church, in which some "Hildegard herbs" thrive.

Photo: S.Siegel

Today leads us to the center of the pilgrimage route, the impressive Disibodenberg monastery ruins. This scenic day is lined with vineyards and offers beautiful views of the Nahe Valley. 

Exploring the museum at the foot of the mountain and the monastery ruins with the white Hildegard Chapel visible from afar takes time and invites you to reflect. Information boards in the ruins explain the location and function of the buildings. Hildegard's time on the Disibodenberg is clearly described on the “Disibodenberg” information board of the same name. From here there are wonderful views in all directions, of the Nahe and Glan valleys and of Odernheim on the south side. There is an information board on the subject of “Elements”, in which Hildegard also describes the water of the Glan.

Today we will see more vineyards. The Schlossböckelheimer Kupfergrube area is among the best vineyard sites in Germany. 

We will also see the landmark of Oberhausen on the Nahe which is the Luitpold Bridge. The Bavarian Prince Regent Luitpold had this historic sandstone bridge built in 1889 to make it easier for winegrowers with their grapes and wines to reach the trading houses in Bad Kreuznach. The Luitpold Bridge separated the Kingdom of Bavaria (more precisely the Bavarian Palatinate) from Prussia.  

Our resting place Schlossböckelheim is from the 12th century where world politics took place in 1106. Emperor Henry V held his father, Emperor Henry IV, prisoner at Böckelheim Castle for a few days to force him to abdicate.

We will walk through vineyards, forests, and small valleys that lead us through a landscape that appears untouched by the hustle and bustle of everyday life. One village we will walk through is Sponheim.

Jutta von Sponheim played an important role in Hildegard of Bingen's life: she was a relative of Hildegard and Hildegard's teacher and confidant from 1106 or at the latest from 1112 until her death.

 Jutta von Sponheim is said to have been born at Sponheim Castle, the ancestral seat of the Counts of Sponheim. Today's castle ruins are supported by the approximately 130-meter-long tip of a mountain spur, which is surrounded by the Ellerbach on the south and east sides. Hildegard was brought to Jutta when she was eight years old.

In the 12th century, the people of Sponheim founded the Sponheim Monastery. The humanist and abbot Johannes Trithemius von Sponheim (1462-1516) is remembered here, who repeatedly referred in his historical writings to Hildegard von Bingen, whom he admired, and who contributed significantly to her fame. 

A total of six information boards accompany the route to Braunweiler, a small wine-growing town in the southern foothills of the Soonwald-Nahe Nature Park.

Mary, venerated as the Mother of God, is the special theme of this stage. Of the 77 songs in her Symphonia harmoniae caelestium revelationum, Hildegard dedicated 21 songs to Mary, the mother of Jesus. 

Today we will have many opportunities to pause. As we walk as “real” pilgrims.

At the foot of the Dalburg, we come across the Marian Column, and in the pilgrimage site of Spabrücken with the Spabrücken monastery church we will see the famous “Black Madonna of Soon”.  Finally, the “Three Madonna Trail” invites us to further engage with Mary, which begins with the Black Madonna of Spabrücken, leads past the Hermit Madonna of Hergenfeld, and ends in Schöneberg with the “Madonna of Stalingrad”.

Stromberg's landmark, the Stromburg, which Johann Lafer made famous, can be seen from afar. 

Our final day begins at the St. James Church in Stromberg, and thus also on the Way of St. James. Here, pilgrims can engage with the vision of the third book of Scivia at the “End of Times” meditation board. This vision made Hildegard famous as an apocalyptic seer. Via Warmsroth with the St. Pankratius Chapel we go into the Binger Forest and to the last mediation board on the pilgrimage route. 

Our final day and time to see In Bingen. We will explore the Binger Hildegardweg and find out about the life and work of the visionary in the Museum am Strom, in a large Hildegard von Bingen exhibition. A ferry will take us to the other side of the Rhine, to Rüdesheim. This is where today's pilgrimage church of St. Hildegard Rüdesheim-Eibingen stands, a former monastery in which the Hildegard shrine is located. The Rüdesheim Hildegard Trail leads through the vineyards and past the pilgrimage church to the Benedictine Abbey of St. Hildegard in Rüdesheim-Eibingen.

Time to explore Bingen on your own as well.

Today we will say our goodbyes to our newfound friends!