Loreley

The steep rock and the narrow valley, the Rhine with its whirlpools and shoals means even in modern times now and then still serious danger for the Rhine navigation. No wonder that in the past numerous skippers had accidents here and gave the rock room for myths and legends. The legend of the Loreley is probably the most important and is more closely associated with Rhine Romanticism than any other. It was Brentano who created the figure of the singing maiden on the rock in his ballad "Zu Bacharach am Rheine..." (At Bacharach on the Rhine...) and Heinriche Heine who wrote one of the most famous songs about it. Since then, the legend of the Loreley has been sung about in various languages all over the world.

According to legends, the Loreley is a mermaid who sat on this very rock and combed her long golden hair. With her beautiful song she distracted the skippers so much that they no longer paid attention to the course in the dangerous current and the ships were wrecked on the rocky reefs.