Ehrenbürg, Double summit mountain in Kirchehrenbach, Germany.
The Ehrenbürg is a double-peaked butte in the Franconian Jura, rising to 532 m at the Rodenstein in the south and 522 m at the Geierswandkopf in the north. The Walberla, a 513 m subordinate summit with the Walburgis-Kapelle, lies 270 m southwest of the northern peak. The two main peaks are 750 m apart, separated by a broad saddle, and the hill is about 1,500 m long and 300 m wide.
The hill was settled from the early Neolithic, around 4000 BCE, until the end of the Roman period in the 5th century CE. A chapel dedicated to St Walburga on the north peak is first recorded in 1360; the present building dates to the 16th–17th century. The name Walberla appears in an 18th-century document about Erlangen students going up the mountain.
The name Walberla, first recorded in 1768 in connection with Erlangen students going up the hill, probably derives from St Walburga, to whom the chapel on the north peak is dedicated; a chapel there is first mentioned in 1360. Local legends tell of witches, hidden treasure and a fish in an underground lake so large it must swallow its own tail.
Several walking paths connect the mountain to surrounding villages and offer different routes for visitors of various experience levels. It is best to bring sturdy footwear and enough water to walk the trails safely.
The 1.55 km² Ehrenbürg nature reserve, designated in 1987, protects dry grassland where orchids grow on the hill's upper slopes. The hill also lies within the EU Habitats Directive protected areas of Ehrenbürg and Katzenköpfe.
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