Not far from the chapel is the Ottilienfelsen rock. This once served as the quarters of „Saint Burkhardt“, a hermit monk. He was an early messenger of Christianity and fought the last vestiges of paganism in the former settlement area of Suhl in the 8th century. The Ottilien Chapel is said to have been built on a former pagan place of worship (spring, rock and tree cults). At the end of the 18th century, a doctor from Suhl discovered a mineral spring in the rock, which is now known as the Ottilienquelle.

The current chapel was rebuilt in 1843. It stands on the so-called Ottilienstein, a rock on the Domberg, Suhl's local mountain.