The Baroque organ built in 1772 by the Stumm family of organ builders, a crime fiction house with more than 30,000 volumes, and geological evidence of the area’s history of fire and water: Hillesheim offers several distinct ways to explore its culture and local history. The organ is played at concerts in Hillesheim; at the Crime House, literature and board games come together. This lets you choose a destination based on specific interests rather than limiting your stay to a single theme.
Culture and history in Hillesheim
The Church of St. Martin houses a Baroque organ dating from 1772, built by the Stumm family of organ builders. The instrument is played at concerts in Hillesheim. This connects a specific example of Baroque organ building with the city’s musical events. For travelers interested in organ music or historic instruments, it is a distinctive feature of Hillesheim’s culture.
The Crime House combines an archive of crime fiction with more than 30,000 volumes and over 70 crime-themed board games. It also includes the Lesezeichen bookshop and Café Sherlock. Those who prefer reading crime fiction or are interested in board games will find two different sides of the genre here; the bookshop and café round out the themed collection. This gives the venue a different focus from the church organ and the historical documents on Burgstraße.
At Burgstraße 27, visitors can explore geological evidence of the area’s history of fire and water and view documents about Hillesheim’s past. Two scales meet here: Hillesheim’s history as told through documents and the geological history of the area. This complements music and crime fiction with a look at the town’s past and the region’s geological traces.
A broader look at the Volcanic Eifel
Those looking at the Volcanic Eifel as a wider travel destination will find a distinct geological theme there. So far, 77 maars have been identified in the Volcanic Eifel. In addition, 350 eruption centers have been counted, about 270 of them from the more recent phase. The Ulmen Maar marks the most recent volcanic eruption in the Volcanic Eifel, which occurred around 10,900 years ago.
The museums in the Volcanic Eifel also each have a different focus. The Eifel Volcano Museum in Daun displays three-dimensional landscape models of cinder cones, maars and mineral springs, along with exhibits on western Eifel volcanism. The Strohn Volcano House is an interactive museum; among its geological features is a lava fissure wall around 30,000 years old, about six meters long and four meters high. The Natural History Museum in Gerolstein displays stone records from the region’s geological history across three floors. It is considered the largest and oldest geomuseum in the Eifel. The options range from landscape models and volcanism exhibits to an interactive presentation and a geomuseum with exhibitions across several floors.
For hiking in the Volcanic Eifel, the Volcanic Eifel Trails offer half-day hikes, full-day hikes and multi-day hikes; they are marked and signposted. The Vulcano Trail is a 26.2-kilometer circular route east of Schalkenmehren. The tour categories let you narrow down your options by time commitment, while the Vulcano Trail is described by a specific distance. Before setting out on a particular hike, it is a good idea to check current trail conditions.
Discover more destinations
Discover more destinations: Oberbettingen, Wiesbaum, Ăśxheim, Kerpen, Oberehe-Stroheich, Bolsdorf, Walsdorf, Dohm-Lammersdorf, Loogh, Zilsdorf, Berndorf, Basberg.
For the broader travel overview: Volcanic Eifel.
