Tinkel-Chapel Bernkastel-Kues

The Maria Hilf Chapel (Tinkelkappel) is located in Tiefenbachtal, not far from Landshut Castle.

Many years ago, a scholar at the time, Professor Dr Steiner from the Trier Provincial Museum, described this rock as an ancient Germanic cult or sacrificial site. Similar sites and isolated stones can be found in the region around Trier. They are called Hinkelsteine (Hinkelstein and Hinkelhaus in the Ruwer Valley). In the vernacular, the rock in the Tiefenbachtal valley was therefore called ‘det Hinkel’, and the convenience of pronunciation led over time to ‘’t Hinkel’ or “Thinkel”. Gradually, the ‘h’ was also dropped as superfluous, leaving only today's ‘Tinkel’. This is how the chapel got its new name in the vernacular.