Borler
Encyclopedia
Borler is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district
in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Kelberg
, whose seat is in the like-named municipality
.
in the Vulkaneifel
, a part of the Eifel
known for its volcanic history, geographical and geological features, and even ongoing activity today, including gases that sometimes well up from the earth.
and people from the German urban agglomerations, such as the Ruhr area
.
Once, agriculture
shaped village life. By means of the Marshall Plan
, a grassland and research institute was established in Borler. In the course of time, the institute, which was run by the Chamber of Agriculture, was abandoned. Until the 1980s, dairy cattle characterized the agriculture. The fodder was grown on the neighbouring meadows and cropfields around the village. There still is agriculture, but it is now commercially quite secondary.
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
The municipality’s arms
might in English heraldic
language be described thus: Per fess Or a demi-eagle bicapitate sable armed gules and gules five annulets argent, two, one and two.
One might add the words “and langued” after “armed”, but the German blazon mentions nothing about the tongue’s tincture
.
On the Heyerberg near the village once stood a castle with a chapel and also an estate. Their owner was St. Maximin’s Abbey
in Trier
, but the Abbey had enfeoffed the Knights of Heyer with them. History mentioned them with Wilhelm, Burgmann
of Daun
in 1359. The Knights’ arms showed the five rings, or annulets, in the quincunx pattern, and in Borler’s arms, they appear in Electoral-Trier tincture
s beneath the line of partition. Set into the chapel above the portal is a Rococo
cartouche bearing St. Maximin’s arms. These show the two-headed (“bicapitate”) eagle above and a chalice below, along with three stars. The arms come from the former estate building, now no longer standing, and the eagle now appears in Borler’s arms above the line of partition.
chapel built in 1875 some 1 200 m southeast of the village on the wooded Heyerberg (mountain). Before today’s chapel, the old Heyerkirche (church) once stood on this same spot, even before 1600. It was a castle chapel and the gravesite for the Lords of Heyer. Right nearby stood the Electoral-Cologne Haus Heyer and the Electoral-Trier Hof Heyer. In the chapel, Saint Leonard
, Saint Pancras and John the Baptist
, whose statues are still preserved today, were revered. In the early 19th century, the chapel was first closed, and then in the years that followed, it was removed. Even the graveyard was closed in 1805, as Borler was part of the parish of Nohn
, where the dead were thereafter buried.
In 1874, on Borler citizens’ initiative and with their donations, the new Heyerbergkapelle was built. The Romanesque Revival building with its semicircular apse was dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows
. At the church, restored in 1952, is a Way of the Cross, created in 1878, with 14 stations laid out with the distances proportional to the ones on the Via Dolorosa
in Jerusalem.
Municipalities of Germany
Municipalities are the lowest level of territorial division in Germany. This may be the fourth level of territorial division in Germany, apart from those states which include Regierungsbezirke , where municipalities then become the fifth level.-Overview:With more than 3,400,000 inhabitants, the...
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
Verbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde is an administrative unit in the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt.-Rhineland-Palatinate:...
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district
Districts of Germany
The districts of Germany are known as , except in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein where they are known simply as ....
in Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Kelberg
Kelberg (Verbandsgemeinde)
Kelberg is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Vulkaneifel, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Kelberg....
, whose seat is in the like-named municipality
Kelberg
Kelberg is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the like-named Verbandsgemeinde, and is home to its seat...
.
Location
The municipality lies some 14 km from the NürburgringNürburgring
The Nürburgring is a motorsport complex around the village of Nürburg, Germany. It features a modern Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a much longer old North loop track which was built in the 1920s around the village and medieval castle of Nürburg in the Eifel mountains. It is located about...
in the Vulkaneifel
Vulkan Eifel
The Vulkan Eifel is a region in the Eifel Mountains in Germany, that is defined to a large extent by its volcanic geological history. Characteristic of the Vulkan Eifel are its typical explosion crater lakes or maars, and numerous other signs of volcanic activity such as volcanic tuffs, lava...
, a part of the Eifel
Eifel
The Eifel is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the south of the German-speaking Community of Belgium....
known for its volcanic history, geographical and geological features, and even ongoing activity today, including gases that sometimes well up from the earth.
History
The village’s street layout was extensively remodelled in 2006. The costs were to a great extent borne by Borler’s citizens. All streets and paths were newly expanded. Streets with sidewalks, or pavements, on both sides were changed so that there was only one sidewalk. Leftover bits of land were given over to drought-resistant plants. The big playground in the middle of the village was converted to building land and replaced by a smaller playground behind the fire station. Today, many weekenders can be found in the village, including BelgiansBelgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
and people from the German urban agglomerations, such as the Ruhr area
Ruhr Area
The Ruhr, by German-speaking geographers and historians more accurately called Ruhr district or Ruhr region , is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With 4435 km² and a population of some 5.2 million , it is the largest urban agglomeration in Germany...
.
Once, agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
shaped village life. By means of the Marshall Plan
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was the large-scale American program to aid Europe where the United States gave monetary support to help rebuild European economies after the end of World War II in order to combat the spread of Soviet communism. The plan was in operation for four years beginning in April 1948...
, a grassland and research institute was established in Borler. In the course of time, the institute, which was run by the Chamber of Agriculture, was abandoned. Until the 1980s, dairy cattle characterized the agriculture. The fodder was grown on the neighbouring meadows and cropfields around the village. There still is agriculture, but it is now commercially quite secondary.
Municipal council
The council is made up of 6 council members, who were elected by majority votePlurality voting system
The plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies...
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: Im geteilten Schild oben in Gold ein wachsender, doppelköpfiger, rot bewehrter, schwarzer Adler, unten in rot 5 (2:1:2) silberne Ringe.The municipality’s arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
might in English heraldic
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
language be described thus: Per fess Or a demi-eagle bicapitate sable armed gules and gules five annulets argent, two, one and two.
One might add the words “and langued” after “armed”, but the German blazon mentions nothing about the tongue’s tincture
Tincture (heraldry)
In heraldry, tinctures are the colours used to emblazon a coat of arms. These can be divided into several categories including light tinctures called metals, dark tinctures called colours, nonstandard colours called stains, furs, and "proper". A charge tinctured proper is coloured as it would be...
.
On the Heyerberg near the village once stood a castle with a chapel and also an estate. Their owner was St. Maximin’s Abbey
St. Maximin's Abbey, Trier
St. Maximin's Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Trier in the Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-History:The abbey, traditionally considered one of the oldest monasteries in western Europe, was held to have been founded by Saint Maximin of Trier in the 4th century. Maximin St. Maximin's Abbey was a...
in Trier
Trier
Trier, historically called in English Treves is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC....
, but the Abbey had enfeoffed the Knights of Heyer with them. History mentioned them with Wilhelm, Burgmann
Burgmann
A Burgmann was a member of the low aristocracy in the Middle Ages who guarded and defended castles. They were hired by a lord of the castle to take on the burghut, the guarding and defense of a castle....
of Daun
Daun, Germany
Daun is a town in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the district seat and also the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Daun.- Location :...
in 1359. The Knights’ arms showed the five rings, or annulets, in the quincunx pattern, and in Borler’s arms, they appear in Electoral-Trier tincture
Tincture (heraldry)
In heraldry, tinctures are the colours used to emblazon a coat of arms. These can be divided into several categories including light tinctures called metals, dark tinctures called colours, nonstandard colours called stains, furs, and "proper". A charge tinctured proper is coloured as it would be...
s beneath the line of partition. Set into the chapel above the portal is a Rococo
Rococo
Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...
cartouche bearing St. Maximin’s arms. These show the two-headed (“bicapitate”) eagle above and a chalice below, along with three stars. The arms come from the former estate building, now no longer standing, and the eagle now appears in Borler’s arms above the line of partition.
Religion
The citizens of Borler are roughly 90% Roman Catholic. Borler belongs to the parish of Bodenbach. In the 1990s, the village chapel, consecrated to Saint Leonard, was extensively renovated both inside and out with the support of the Diocese of Trier and the Ortsgemeinde.Heyerbergkapelle
The Heyerbergkapelle (also known as the Borler Kapelle) is a Romanesque RevivalRomanesque Revival architecture
Romanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque architecture...
chapel built in 1875 some 1 200 m southeast of the village on the wooded Heyerberg (mountain). Before today’s chapel, the old Heyerkirche (church) once stood on this same spot, even before 1600. It was a castle chapel and the gravesite for the Lords of Heyer. Right nearby stood the Electoral-Cologne Haus Heyer and the Electoral-Trier Hof Heyer. In the chapel, Saint Leonard
Leonard of Noblac
Leonard of Noblac or of Limoges or de Noblet , is a Frankish saint closely associated with the town and abbey of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, in Haute-Vienne, in the Limousin of France.-Traditional biography:According to the romance that...
, Saint Pancras and John the Baptist
John the Baptist
John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
, whose statues are still preserved today, were revered. In the early 19th century, the chapel was first closed, and then in the years that followed, it was removed. Even the graveyard was closed in 1805, as Borler was part of the parish of Nohn
Nohn
Nohn is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
, where the dead were thereafter buried.
In 1874, on Borler citizens’ initiative and with their donations, the new Heyerbergkapelle was built. The Romanesque Revival building with its semicircular apse was dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows
Our Lady of Sorrows
Our Lady of Sorrows , the Sorrowful Mother or Mother of Sorrows , and Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours are names by which the Blessed Virgin Mary is referred to in relation to sorrows in her life...
. At the church, restored in 1952, is a Way of the Cross, created in 1878, with 14 stations laid out with the distances proportional to the ones on the Via Dolorosa
Via Dolorosa
The Via Dolorosa is a street, in two parts, within the Old City of Jerusalem, held to be the path that Jesus walked, carrying his cross, on the way to his crucifixion. The current route has been established since the 18th century, replacing various earlier versions...
in Jerusalem.
Buildings
- Saint Leonard’sLeonard of NoblacLeonard of Noblac or of Limoges or de Noblet , is a Frankish saint closely associated with the town and abbey of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, in Haute-Vienne, in the Limousin of France.-Traditional biography:According to the romance that...
Catholic Church (branch church), Hauptstraße 3, aisleless churchAisleless churchAn Aisleless church is a single-nave church building that consists of a single hall-like room. While similar to the hall church, the aisleless church lacks aisles or passageways either side of the nave separated from the nave by colonnades or arcades, a row of pillars or columns...
from 1752–1753, shaft cross from 1790, 1914-1918 warriors’ memorial - Bachgasse 3 – small timber-frameTimber framingTimber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
house, partly plastered - Hauptstraße 1 – timber-frame house, 18th-19th century, knee wall raised in 20th century
- Hauptstraße 10 – timber-frame house, partly solid, roof with half-hipped gables, latter half of 18th century
- Kapellenweg 3 – building with roof with half-hipped gables, apparently from 1825
- Heyerbergkapelle or Borler Kapelle (see above), six small basaltBasaltBasalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
crosses from 1761, 1756, 1699, 1779, 1699 and 1788