„Höchsten“ Chapel

In 1910, a coal miner by the name of Johann Kuhn built a small sanctuary for the Mother of God. In a dream Mary appeared to him while he was tree-felling in the Höchster Woods. Many people come to visit the sanctuary and adorn it with flowers. It is not known when exactly the chapel was built and whose idea it was, but it must have been sometime around 1928 because in March of that year, the community’s pastor was reprimanded in writing for the felling of trees. The consecration was celebrated on 15 August 1929 (Assumption Day) and it turned out to be the first big pilgrimage fest with “thousands of visitors who filled the forest” according to the pastor. The small sanctuary near the chapel still evokes the memory of Johann Kuhn, the miner. The chapel stands 405 metres ASL and can accommodate 40 persons. The pilgrim square with seating accommodations for 400 persons near the chapel was built later, as were the wayside shrines with the „seven pains of Mary“, the Saint Francis Fountain and the grotto with the statue of Mary, Mother of Jesus. The largest elevations in the Saarlouis region can be found within close proximity of the chapel: Lindenberg (460,6 metres), Höll (453,5 metres) and Donnerhübel (452,1 metres).