The best city hikes and walks in Südwestpfalz

According to legend, the Iro-Scottish monk is said to have preached and built a small church. The city name Pirmasens is said to go back to this monk around 750 AD..?

Beautiful views and half-timbered houses along the Lauter river in Wissembourg.

It's worth taking a look at the Lauter from the many bridges. The perspectives are always different.

What would the (former) shoe town of Pirmasens be without the shoemaker Jean Joss? After completing his apprenticeship as a shoemaker in Paris, he settled in Pirmasens and laid the foundation for the local shoe industry. It is said that he sent his wife to the Prussian Rhine Province to sell shoes as early as the beginning of the 19th century. When other Pirmasens shoemakers saw how much money the Joss couple had earned from this trade, they too began to follow their example. And thus began the rise of the "shoe town" – or so the legend goes. Today, a bronze statue on the Shoemaker's Fountain in front of Luther Church commemorates Jean Joss. The fountain statue initially stood on the Upper Castle Square from 1921 before being moved to its permanent location here in 1981 following the construction of the pedestrian zone. Pithy sayings adorn the octagonal fountain basin, which at least in part also express the pride the people of Pirmasens have in their history. For example, one reads: "The shoe has made us great here, so don't despise the shoe and the cobbler!" or "If the shoe leaves the city limits, it shall be a praise for Pirmasens!" And then—and this is debatable— "True life is work, a German man never forgets!" Today, only a few of the shoe factories that once provided jobs for several thousand people remain. Low-cost production, initially in Southern and Southeastern Europe and now in South and East Asia, has led to the decline and to the fact that Pirmasens, as the "Shoe City of Germany," is now history. Source: https://ludwigunterwegs.wordpress.com/2019/10/27/huldigung-an-den-mit-begruender-der-pirmasenser-schuhindustrie-der-schuster-joss-brunnen/

Legend After the death of Landgrave Ludwig IX, Pirmasens faced hard times. According to legend, the former grenadier (soldier) Jean Joß sought ways to escape poverty. He came up with the idea of manufacturing "Schlappen" (shoes) and, after sending his wife to trade, succeeded in selling his products in the neighboring Rhineland. When Mrs. Joß finally returned with a handsome profit, other Pirmasens residents also took up the shoemaking trade, and thus, the "German Shoe Metropolis" gradually developed. Decision to Erect the Fountain The origins of the monument thus date back to 1809. At the city council meeting on July 12, 1910, the then mayor, Otto Strobel, announced that a gentleman, whose name shall remain unmentioned, had donated 8,000 marks to erect a fountain symbolizing the shoe industry. The mayor's office had submitted a request to the State Ministry of the Interior for Church and School Affairs in Munich (the Palatinate belonged to Bavaria from 1816 to 1946) for a grant for the construction of a fountain monument. The Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior wrote on April 10, 1913: "In the name of His Majesty the King. His Royal Highness Prince Ludwig, Regent of the Kingdom of Bavaria, has most graciously deigned to approve the allocation of 9,600 marks from the state budget for the care and promotion of art as a grant for the construction of a fountain monument in Pirmasens, subject to the following provisions: 1. The monument shall be erected as a smaller fountain monument relating to the development of the Pirmasens shoe industry on the upper Schlossplatz (market square) in Pirmasens [...]." Further provisions included the cost allocation and the announcement of an artistic competition for the monument project. .... Source: https://www.kuladig.de/Objectansicht/KLD-345956

Schuster-Joß Fountain ⛲ at night 🌜⭐ - Beginning of the local shoe industry - in front of the Luther Church - In front of the Luther Church - Pirmasens Inscription on the base: If the shoe leaves the city limits, it shall be a praise for Pirmasens

Landgrave Ludwig IX had the church built as a transverse church in 1757/1758 by the Zweibrücken master builder Schweighöfer, and he found his final resting place here in 1790. The church was called the "Lower Church" from 1818 and "Luther Church" from 1931. The church is a listed building and today serves as the deanery church of the Evangelical Church District of Pirmasens. The church is the oldest Protestant church in the city. Its furnishings include a historic altar cloth and a meditation lamp made by Erwin Würth of Petersbächel. The organ in the gallery was built by the Oberlinger company in the 1950s. The Landgrave's coat of arms is above the entrance; the tower bears a cross with a lion and a swan as heraldic animals. The church is open daily. The tower of Luther Church houses a four-part peal, supplied in 1957 by the Rincker bell foundry in Sinn/Dillkreis (Hesse). The bells are named after the four evangelists and bear their names and symbols as inscriptions: Matthew (F-sharp) – Mark (E-sharp) – Luke (C-sharp) – John (A-sharp). The peal possesses a rich sonority and surprises the unprepared listener with its depth of tone, which many cathedrals cannot match. The St. John's bell is particularly impressive, for example, when it rings solo in the Good Friday service or closes the plenary session with its solemn downward ring. Compared to other bells of this pitch, it can be considered a distinctly "lightweight," weighing 3001 kg. Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutherkirche_(Pirmasens)#cite_note-3

The Old Cemetery is an abandoned cemetery in Pirmasens that has been converted into a park. As a listed monument, the Old Cemetery includes numerous 19th-century gravestones, three war memorials, and a partially preserved Jewish section, which are part of the city's list of historical monuments. The former consecration hall is now an event venue known as the Carolinensaal. The grounds of the former cemetery are located directly outside the city center, south of Mount Horeb. The park is bordered by Friedhofstraße and Buchsweilerstraße to the south, and Ottostraße to the north. Darmstädter Straße and Strobelallee form the western and eastern boundaries, respectively. South of the park, toward Kirchberg, lies the Wilhelminian-era Landauer-Tor district, and to the west, the city center begins on Bergstraße. The cemetery was established outside the city walls around 1763. The exact year is unknown; the cemetery first appears in a drawing from 1762, albeit at a different location. There, it was intended to be located directly in front of the Buchsweiler Gate at what is now the corner of Hauptstrasse and Bergstrasse, but was ultimately laid out at a higher location at the continuation of Alleestrasse. The cemetery already existed by 1765 at the latest. The oldest surviving relics in the cemetery are the gravestones for two Prussian officers who fell in the Battle of Pirmasens in 1793, Albrecht Otto Johann von Möllendorff and Hans Friedrich Georg von Borstell. The cemetery was expanded in 1858 and 1871. From 1876 onward, a Jewish section was established to replace the fully occupied cemetery on what is now Zeppelinstrasse. Despite these expansions, space for new graves was once again running out, so plans to create a new cemetery began in 1911. It wasn't until after the First World War that the plans were realized, and the new forest cemetery was consecrated in 1924. From around 1927, burials in new graves took place only there, and the old cemetery was abandoned. However, burials in existing family graves were still possible until 1953. Under the Nazi regime, the Jewish section of the cemetery was devastated and leveled. A fire pond was built in its place for the neighboring fire station of the Pirmasens Fire Department. .... Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alter_Friedhof_(Pirmasens)