Manubach: Half-timbered houses, St. Oswald and hiking
Accommodation in Manubach
Manubach combines a signposted circular trail with a rich history of the village and its church. The St. Oswald Loop is a 10.7-kilometre circular hike around Manubach; at the same time, St. Oswald and historic half-timbered houses shape the village’s appearance. This makes time outdoors and impressions of architecture and local history equally important when planning a trip.
Hiking the St. Oswald Loop
The signposted St. Oswald Loop is 10.7 kilometres long. The route passes through meadows, fields, woodland, vineyards, fallow land and goat pastures. Viewpoints, benches, a shelter and a picnic area are also part of the route. The exact distance provides a practical basis for planning a day’s hike; the varied landscapes shape the trail, as do the opportunities to take breaks along the way.
The Wiesen am Hirtenborn nature reserve is also part of the area’s landscape. It covers about 253 hectares and includes parts of Manubach, Oberdiebach, Oberheimbach and Weiler bei Bingen. The area protects and develops a large, near-natural open landscape with adjoining forests in the Binger Wald as a connected biotope complex.
St. Oswald and the historic village setting
St. Oswald is a Late Romanesque church regarded as an outstanding example of an old village church. The Gothic pews were made by the woodcarver Erhard Falckener from Abensberg. The simple building is a hall church without a choir: this brings the worship space close to the congregation and gives the interior its Reformation character.
Together with St. Oswald, the old school from 1832, the old rectory from 1780 and the half-timbered houses on Schadenbach form the centre of the village. Numerous well-preserved half-timbered houses stand around the church and at the upper end of the village; they date from the mid-16th to the early 19th century. Their gables mostly face the street. The sill beams often bear mottoes, while the undersides of the projecting gables feature paintings of vines. These details give the houses individual character, while the recurring gable orientation shapes the streetscape.
Fortification remains and vineyard sites
From the 14th century onwards, Manubach was fortified with walls, towers and an outer thorn hedge. No remains of the former fortifications survive, but street and field names still refer to them. St. Oswald was also once fortified and could serve as a refuge and fortified church in times of need. Since 2003, Manubach has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Middle Rhine Valley.
Manubach is also associated with the vineyard sites St. Oswald, Mönchwingert, Heilgarten and Langgarten. Together with the historic buildings, these names connect the village’s history and viticulture as distinct facets of the destination.
The ZuckerstĂĽbbche
The ZuckerstĂĽbbche, which opened in 2017, is an unusual collection. It grew out of a 40-year passion for collecting sugar. The core collection comprises around 130,000 different sugar cubes, sugar sachets and sugar sticks. It also includes promotional items, historic sugar-making equipment, sugarloaves and stories about sugar.
Visits are possible by prior arrangement; please arrange your visit in advance. Admission is free. This makes it easy to plan a visit as a separate activity, without treating it as the same thing as a hike or a tour of the village’s history.
Discover more destinations
Discover more destinations: Ober-Hilbersheim, Trechtingshausen, Nieder-Olm, Appenheim, Hahnheim, Ingelheim Am Rhein, Stadecken-Elsheim, Grolsheim.
Go to the main travel overview: Mainz-Bingen.
