Olpe Heritage Trail

The village of Olpe has always been spared from busy main roads and, with its surrounding hamlets and farmsteads, is a particularly idyllic and peaceful place. Olpe lies at the foot of a side valley of the Olpebach valley and is part of the Bergisches Land Nature Park. Originally, the village had a predominantly agricultural character. Today, it is home to commuters, most of whom work in the surrounding towns and cities.

The village of Olpe was first documented in 1171 and boasts one of the longest histories of the individual villages in the present-day municipality of Kürten. The village church, the wayside cross chapel, and the castle "Haus Olpe" have always been defining features of the village. In the surrounding hamlets and farmsteads, chapels and wayside crosses bear witness to a popular piety that was particularly pronounced between the 16th and 19th centuries.

It is becoming increasingly popular to dedicate hiking trails to a specific theme. Therefore, it seemed natural to create a hiking trail in Olpe focused on monuments and to highlight these historical landmarks. Along the approximately 7 km long "Olpe Monument Trail," hikers encounter almost half of the roughly 100 cultural and historical monuments of the former municipality of Olpe. These monuments, along with all those of the present-day municipality of Kürten, were compiled in a "guiding principle" and published in 2009 by the Historical Society for the Municipality of Kürten and Surrounding Area under the title "Of Wayside Crosses, Mills, and Sinkholes - Cultural and Historical Monuments in the Municipality of Kürten."

Some of the listed buildings in the village are marked with information panels. A QR code printed on the panel leads to the website "dorf-olpe.de" with further explanatory texts. There you will also find a list of other listed buildings, some links, and GPX files for download.

Of the 44 wayside crosses, 7 are located directly on the route and 5 more are within sight. Of the remaining 55 monuments, 26 are located directly on the route and 9 are within sight.