St. Rochus, Baroque church in Wollseifen, Germany

St. Rochus is a baroque church whose outer walls and restored roof remain standing in the former village of Wollseifen within Schleiden. The building displays architectural features from different periods layered into its current structure.

A chapel in Wollseifen is documented in 1470, but the present church was built between 1633 and 1635, probably on the orders of Count Ernst von der Marck, and consecrated on 22 October 1635. It became a parish church in 1660, with Einruhr, Herhahn, Morsbach, Hühnerbusch and the Walberhof belonging to the parish. The village was cleared in 1946 for the Vogelsang training ground; the church burned out in 1947 and lost its interior.

The church is dedicated to Saint Roch, invoked against plague, and the parish celebrated its Rochus festival each year; a Mass for the feast marked the end of the restoration on 17 August 2008. Inside, three simple wooden benches and a plain wooden cross stand in the choir, the only furnishings left after the 1947 fire.

The ruin stands in the open area of the former Wollseifen village, reachable on foot or by bicycle from the Vogelsang area; the site was reopened to the public only after the Belgian forces left in December 2005. The nave and choir were given a new slate roof and windows by August 2008, and the rubble from the collapsed vault was cleared to expose the old floor. The central aisle is paved with rare slate; three plain wooden benches stand in the choir.

The original wooden Stations of the Cross from this church survived a fire in 1947 and are now kept in a neighboring parish church. These preserved objects tell a story of survival that many visitors discover only when exploring the wider area.