The Jungfernsprung, is a precipitous rock formation in the small German town of

Dahn Dahn is a municipality in the Südwestpfalz district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Palatinate Forest, approximately 15 km southeast of Pirmasens, and 25 km west of Landau. It is part of the ''Verbandsgemeind ...

in the county of

Südwestpfalz Südwestpfalz is a district (''Kreis'' or more precise ''Landkreis'') in the south of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from west clockwise) Saarpfalz, the district-free city Zweibrücken, the districts Kaiserslautern and Ba ...

. The rocks tower above the town by around 70 metres and are crowned by a type of

summit cross A summit cross (german: Gipfelkreuz) is a cross on the summit of a mountain or hill that marks the top. Often there will be a summit register (''Gipfelbuch'') at the cross, either in a container or at least a weatherproof case. Various other form ...

at a height of . The rocks is the symbol of the town and the subject of an ancient

legend A legend is a Folklore genre, genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human valu ...

from which it derives its name: Jungfernsprung means "maiden's leap".

Location and structure

The Jungfernsprung lies in the eastern part of the borough. Its west and north faces rise, steep and ruggedly, from the slopes on the left-hand side of the

Wieslauter The Lauter (in its upper course also: ''Wieslauter'') is a river in Germany and France. The Lauter is a left tributary of the Rhine. Its length is , of which 39 km is in France and on the France–Germany border. It is formed by the confluence of ...

valley, whilst the residential area of Dahn spreads out southwest of the rocks on both sides of its base. The rocks belong to the many

bunter sandstone The Buntsandstein (German for ''coloured'' or ''colourful sandstone'') or Bunter sandstone is a lithostratigraphic and allostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) in the subsurface of large parts of west and central Europe. The Buntsands ...

formations, typical of the

Wasgau The Wasgau (german: Wasgau, french: Vasgovie) is a Franco-German hill range in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the French departments of Bas-Rhin and Moselle. It is formed from the southern part of the Palatine Forest and the north ...

region, the southern part of the Palatine Forest in Germany and the northern part of the

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...

in France. Because the area around Dahn is especially rich in such rock features it is also called the

Dahner Felsenland The Dahner Felsenland, also referred to as the Dahn Rockland, is a landscape in the county of Südwestpfalz in the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is located in the middle section of the Wasgau, which in turn forms the southern ...

("Dahn Rock Country"). The Jungfernsprung – like other rock formations in the region – is a harder rock that has withstood

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

better than the surrounding softer material.

Legend of the Jungfernsprung

The legend, whose most common version comes from local author,

August Becker August Becker (17 August 1900 – 31 December 1967) was a mid-ranking functionary in the SS of Nazi Germany and chemist in the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). He helped design the vans with a gas chamber built into the back compartment u ...

(1857), goes like this: :''Once a young maiden ventured into the Forest of Dahn to pick berries. When she was far away from home, a man suddenly burst out of the thicket, probably the robber baron, Hans Trapp from

Berwartstein Castle Berwartstein Castle (German: Burg Berwartstein) is a castle in the Wasgau, the southern part of the Palatinate Forest in the state Rhineland-Palatinate in southwestern Germany. It was one of the rock castles that were part of defences of the Pal ...

. The man clearly intended to rob the

virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

of her

innocence Innocence is a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, or wrongdoing. In a legal context, innocence is to the lack of legal guilt of an individual, with respect to a crime. In other contexts, it is a lack of experience. In relation ...

. So the young maiden gathered up her skirts and took to flight, but the

villain A villain (also known as a "black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character a ...

came ever closer to her. In her

panic Panic is a sudden sensation of fear, which is so strong as to dominate or prevent reason and logical thinking, replacing it with overwhelming feelings of anxiety and frantic agitation consistent with an animalistic fight-or-flight reactio ...

, the young lass failed to watch where she was going. All of a sudden she found herself, panting for breath, at the edge of the precipice with the houses of the town far below. Without stopping to think, the young maiden fell over the abyss. And now the

miracle A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divin ...

happened: because her skirts ballooned out and let her float down gently, she survived the leap entirely unhurt. And ever since, at the spot where her foot landed, a

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...

has flowed.'' More about the fate of the maiden and villain is not recorded, however this story was sufficient for the time to explain the steepness of the rock and the existence of the spring. Artists have occasionally been inspired to portray the dramatic "maiden's leap". In doing so they clearly always used the idea of someone parachuting as a model, the outspread skirts of the maiden enabling a visual interpretation of the miracle and at the same time representing an attractive artistic subject.

Hiking destination and climbing rocks

The Jungfernsprung is accessible to hikers from the rear; the access footpath being part of the premier hiking trail, the Felsenland Legend Trail (''Felsenland Sagenweg''). In summer the rocks are part of the

South Palatinate Climbing Area South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

and thus a popular destination for

sport climber Sport climbing (or Bolted climbing) is a form of rock climbing that relies on permanent anchors (or bolts), permanently fixed into the rock for climber protection, in which a rope that is attached to the climber is clipped into the anchors to ...

s. The spectacular Franz Seiler Memorial Route (''Franz-Seiler-Gedächtnisweg'') rates as climbing grade VII+ (UIAA). it runs up the vertical face of the rock and is visible from the town.

References

Literature

* {{citation, surname1=

, title=Die Pfalz und die Pfälzer , edition=7th , publisher=Plöger Medien, publication-place=Gräfenhausen, isbn=978-3-89857-193-7, date=2005 , language=German (topographical, cultural, historical monograph, reprint of the 1st edition of 1857) Rock formations of Rhineland-Palatinate Climbing areas of Germany Dahn Heritage sites in Rhineland-Palatinate Geography of the Palatinate (region) Natural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate