Paulinerkloster St. Jakob

St. Jakob is an old monastery on the Donnersberg near Dannenfels in the Donnersbergkreis of Rhineland-Palatinate. It stands inside a prehistoric Celtic ring-wall, high above the surrounding countryside. The site began as a small chapel in the 14th century, later enlarged by the Pauliner order of hermits. The counts of Sponheim gave the land to a Speyer priest in 1335 to build a proper monastery. The monastery is worth the journey for its early history and surviving fragments. A 1337 document records a pilgrimage to the chapel, and a 1380 indulgence helped pay for the buildings. The monks looked after the Fischbach chapel from 1400 to 1418 before moving on. After the Reformation the site became a hunting lodge, then a farm, and finally state forest. In 1855 the state cleared most ruins and planted trees. Visitors today find a quiet wooded hilltop with only one old building left. The Waldhaus inn stands on the site of the farm cottages, built in 1860. Inside, a 14th-century Gothic sacrament niche, a Romanesque stone and a patterned floor tile from the monastery are built into the walls. A small Latin inscription on the niche reads ‘hic est ver(e) deu(s)’. Nearby, the ring-wall still circles the hill, offering long views over the countryside.