The Peterskopf, near the Palatine county town of Bad Dürkheim in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, is a 487-metre-high hill in the

Haardt The Haardt () is a range of wooded, sandstone hills in the state of Rhineland Palatinate in southwestern Germany. The range is some long and lies within the Palatinate Forest (''Pfälzerwald''). Its highest point is the Kalmit, near Maikammer ...

mountains. On its summit is the

Bismarck tower A Bismarck tower (german: Bismarckturm) is a specific type of monument built according to a more or less standard model across Germany to honour its first chancellor, Otto von Bismarck (d. 1898). A total of 234 of these towers were inventoried b ...

Geography

Location

The hill lies 3 km northwest of Bad Dürkheim on the eastern edge of the Palatine Forest on the forest estate of the municipality of

Kallstadt Kallstadt () is a village in the Palatine part of Rhineland-Palatinate, one of Germany's 16 federal states. It is part of the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region whose largest city is Mannheim, Germany's 22nd largest city. During much of the 19th ce ...

; the actual village being in the northeast, 4 km away. On the southeastern slope of the hill, 700 metres from the summit, are the ruins of the Weilach farmstead, first mentioned in 1381. The River

Isenach The Isenach is a left tributary of the Rhine in the northeastern Palatine region of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is nearly long. Course The Isenach rises in the northern Palatinate Forest, southwest of Carlsberg Hertlingshausen. Its source in ...

flows past the Peterskopf to the southwest before entering the town of Bad Dürkheim.

Accessibility

A tarmac road runs to the Peterskopf from Leistadt, the distance to the car park by Forsthaus Lindemannsruhe (470 m) being 2.5 km. From there the summit may be reached on foot in about ten minutes.

Surrounding area

In the area around the Peterskopf there is a host of historic sites: the Teufelsstein hill to the southeast with its eponymous rock formation, which was a cult site in

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

times; and a Celtic circular rampart, the Heidenmauer and the Roman quarry of

Kriemhildenstuhl The ''Kriemhildenstuhl'', more rarely ''Krimhildenstuhl'' (short i), in the forests around the Palatine county town of Bad Dürkheim in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, is an old Roman quarry, which was worked by the 22nd Legion of ...

on the ''Kästenberg'', a southeastern spur of the Teufelsstein. On the far side of the Isenach valley lie the medieval ruins of

Limburg Abbey Limburg Abbey is a ruined abbey near Bad Dürkheim, at the edge of the Palatinate Forest in Germany. In the 9th century, the Salian Dukes from Worms built a fortress on the ''Linthberg'' as their family seat. In the early 11th century, the fortr ...

and the castle of Hardenburg.

Summit

On the summit plateau of the Peterskopf the good 30-metre-high Bismarck tower offers a panoramic view of the Upper Rhine Plain, 400 metres below to the east, the Palatine Forest to the west and its eastern ridge, the Haardt, which runs from north to south. There is a restaurant on the lower floor of the tower. On 27 May 1925 the concrete ceiling of the second viewing platform collapsed whilst a school class was visiting the tower. One schoolboy was killed and several children were injured.Bismarcktürme: ''Bad Dürkheim''

Sport

The Peterskopf is the finish of the annual Bade Durkheim Hill Race (''Bad Dürkheimer Berglauf'') in October. The route is 8,700 metres long and involves 510 metres of overall climbing, making it the longest and steepest element of the Palatine Hill Running Cup. the hill and its environs are also suitable for

mountain bike A mountain bike (MTB) or mountain bicycle is a bicycle designed for off-road cycling. Mountain bikes share some similarities with other bicycles, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain, which ...

tours.

External links

Peterskopf cycle tour
nbsp;Peterskopf-Radtour: The sections referring to the Bad Durkheim Hill Race (''Bad Dürkheimer Berglauf'', see Sport) are erroneously described as relicts of a local cycle race.

References

{{reflist Mountains and hills of Rhineland-Palatinate Mountains and hills of the Palatinate Forest Bad Dürkheim (district)