The ‘Martinsloch’ is a natural hole in the Tschingel Horns, 16 meters high and 20 meters broad at some 2’600 m above sea level. It was created by wind and weathering of rock through accelerated erosion, at the contact between a tender, horizontal marl layer and a steep fault plane.
Twice a year in spring and fall the rising sun shines through the hole and sends a shaft of light onto the church of Elm. People have been fascinated by this phenomenon for hundreds of years; even astronomers are fond of making a pilgrimage to Elm.
[This fascinating natural spectacle can be observed eight days before the astronomical start of spring, March 13 and 14, and eight days after the beginning of autumn, September 30 and October 1. The sun shines through Martin’s Hole shortly before the ‘real’ sunrise for about two and a half minutes. The moon and the planets too are visible in the hole at certain intervals.]