Bundenbach
Encyclopedia
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 Birkenfeld
Birkenfeld (district)
Birkenfeld is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Sankt Wendel , Trier-Saarburg, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Rhein-Hunsrück, Bad Kreuznach and Kusel.- History :...
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 Rhaunen
Rhaunen (Verbandsgemeinde)
Rhaunen is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district of Birkenfeld, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Rhaunen....
, whose seat is in the like-named municipality
Rhaunen
Rhaunen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde.-Location:...
.
For its roughly 400,000,000-year-old fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
s of Placodermi
Placodermi
Placodermi is a class of armoured prehistoric fish, known from fossils, which lived from the late Silurian to the end of the Devonian Period. Their head and thorax were covered by articulated armoured plates and the rest of the body was scaled or naked, depending on the species. Placoderms were...
and other creatures from the Devonian
Devonian
The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic Era spanning from the end of the Silurian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya , to the beginning of the Carboniferous Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya...
, Bundenbach is said to be a world-class fossil Lagerstätte
Lagerstätte
A Lagerstätte is a sedimentary deposit that exhibits extraordinary fossil richness or completeness.Palaeontologists distinguish two kinds....
.
Location
The municipality lies on the Hunsrück Schiefer- und Burgenstraße (“Hunsrück Slate and Castle Road”).Neighbouring municipalities
The nearest major towns are KirnKirn
Kirn is a town in the district of Bad Kreuznach, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the river Nahe, roughly 10 km north-east of Idar-Oberstein and 30 km west of Bad Kreuznach....
, Idar-Oberstein
Idar-Oberstein
Idar-Oberstein is a town in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. As a Große kreisangehörige Stadt , it assumes some of the responsibilities that for smaller municipalities in the district are assumed by the district administration...
and Simmern
Simmern
Simmern is a town of 8,000 inhabitants in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, the district seat of the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, and the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde...
. Neighbouring municipalities are Rhaunen
Rhaunen
Rhaunen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde.-Location:...
, Bollenbach
Bollenbach
Bollenbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
, Schneppenbach
Schneppenbach
Schneppenbach is a municipality in the district of Bad Kreuznach in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany. Schmidtburg Castle, one of the biggest ruins of a medieval castle in Rhineland-Palatinate, is located near Schneppenbach....
and Bruschied
Bruschied
Bruscheid is a municipality in the district of Bad Kreuznach in Rhineland-Palatinate in western Germany....
.
Constituent communities
Also belonging to Bundenbach are the outlying homesteads of Neumühle and Reinhardsmühle.History
That the area was settled in antiquity is clear from digs undertaken by the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier (TrierTrier
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....
Rhenish State Museum) from 1971 to 1974 at the Altburg (“Old Castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
”) on a mountain spur near Bundenbach, inside a bow in the Hahnbach. Standing there from about 170 to 50 BC was a Late Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
, Late Celtic fortification complex, or castellum
Castellum
A castellum is a small Roman detached fort or fortlet used as a watch tower or signal station. The Latin word castellum is a diminutive of castra , which in turn is the plural of castrum ; it is the source of the English word "castle".The term castellum was also used to refer to a settling or...
, of the Treveri
Treveri
The Treveri or Treviri were a tribe of Gauls who inhabited the lower valley of the Moselle from around 150 BCE, at the latest, until their eventual absorption into the Franks...
, a people of mixed Celtic and Germanic
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
stock, from whom the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
name for the city of 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....
, Augusta Treverorum
History of Trier
Trier in Rhineland-Palatinate, whose history dates to the Roman Empire, is often claimed to be the oldest city in Germany. Traditionally it was known in English by its French name of Treves.- Prehistory :...
, is also derived. This hill castle was first laid out as a lightly fortified settlement on the heights and only later given strong walls. The last traces of human presence there vanished in the mid 1st century BC. It is said to be the most thoroughly explored complex of its kind.
As a result of the exploratory digs, the Altburg has been partly restored to its form in the 1st century BC, and has been expanded into a unique, protohistoric
Protohistory
Protohistory refers to a period between prehistory and history, during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing, but other cultures have already noted its existence in their own writings...
open-air museum. The Freilichtmuseum Altburg was dedicated and opened to the public in 1988.
Bundenbach’s founding may be placed in the earlier half of the 10th century. It had its first documentary mention, though, in a Waldgravial
Waldgrave
The noble family of the Waldgraves or Wildgraves descended of a division of the House of the Counts of Nahegau in the year 1113....
partition document on 14 March 1283. The Waldgraves had the forest cleared and thereby gained freehold land for themselves. This was named Beunde. The settlement on the Beunde, which also lay on a brook (Bach in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
), thereby got its name: Bundenbach.
Mentioned much nearer the presumed founding date, however, was the Schmidtburg, the Waldgrave
Waldgrave
The noble family of the Waldgraves or Wildgraves descended of a division of the House of the Counts of Nahegau in the year 1113....
s’ ancestral seat in the Hahnenbach valley. This first cropped up in history in 1084. Bundenbach was always bound to the Schmidtburg, even after the childless Waldgrave Heinrich von der Schmidtburg enfeoffed Archbishop and Elector of Trier Baldwin in 1324 with the Schmidtburg and the villages belonging to it. From 1330 to 1794, Bundenbach belonged to the Electoral-Trier Amt of Schmidtburg.
The Schmidtburg, which actually lies within Schneppenbach
Schneppenbach
Schneppenbach is a municipality in the district of Bad Kreuznach in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany. Schmidtburg Castle, one of the biggest ruins of a medieval castle in Rhineland-Palatinate, is located near Schneppenbach....
’s limits, was thoroughly repaired between 1981 and 1987. It is among the Hunsrück’s oldest castles.
Politically, after the Amt of Schmidtburg was dissolved and after its short time in the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
canton
Cantons of France
The cantons of France are territorial subdivisions of the French Republic's 342 arrondissements and 101 departments.Apart from their role as organizational units in certain aspects of the administration of public services and justice, the chief purpose of the cantons today is to serve as...
of Rhaunen in Napoleonic times, Bundenbach belonged from 1817 to 1937 to the Grand Duchy and Free State of Oldenburg, and more locally to the Principality (later Province) of Birkenfeld. In the course of administrative restructuring 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 ....
, Bundenbach passed from the Amt of Herrstein to the Verbandsgemeinde of Rhaunen
Rhaunen (Verbandsgemeinde)
Rhaunen is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district of Birkenfeld, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Rhaunen....
in the Birkenfeld
Birkenfeld (district)
Birkenfeld is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Sankt Wendel , Trier-Saarburg, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Rhein-Hunsrück, Bad Kreuznach and Kusel.- History :...
district (and also in the Regierungsbezirk
Regierungsbezirk
In Germany, a Government District, in German: Regierungsbezirk – is a subdivision of certain federal states .They are above the Kreise, Landkreise, and kreisfreie Städte...
of Koblenz, although Rhineland-Palatinate abolished Regierungsbezirke in 1999) in 1970.
For its slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
mining and important fossil finds, Bundenbach is internationally known. The use of slate in the Bundenbach area has a demonstrably long history: the Celtic hill castle’s defensive wall was built of slate quarrystones. The first slate mining lease agreement is witnessed on Saint Walpurga
Saint Walpurga
Saint Walpurga or Walburga , also spelled Valderburg or Guibor, was an English missionary to the Frankish Empire. She was canonized on 1 May ca. 870 by Pope Adrian II...
’s Day 1519: The Lords of Wiltberg leased their “Laienkaul unden an Prorschitt uff der Bach gelegen” (“Laienkaul down below at Bruschied
Bruschied
Bruscheid is a municipality in the district of Bad Kreuznach in Rhineland-Palatinate in western Germany....
, lying on the brook”) for four years to, among others, the two Bundenbach residents Peter and Niklas Huppen.
In 1865 there were still 21 slate mines within Bundenbach’s limits. In 2000, open-pit slate mining came to an end at Bundenbach’s last slate pit. Since then, only slates delivered from elsewhere have been worked.
Another mine, the Herrenberg slate pit near the Altburg and opposite the Schmidtburg, first mentioned in 1822, ceased operations in 1964. Eleven years later, a private initiative by some Bundenbach residents was begun to open this mine as a tourist attraction. It was dedicated and opened to the public in 1976. It was later expanded with the addition of a fossil museum that displays noteworthy pieces along with old photographs and equipment.
Municipal council
The council is made up of 12 council members, who were elected by proportional representationProportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:
| CDU | WGR | Total | |
| 2009 | 5 | 7 | 12 seats |
| 2004 | 9 | 7 | 16 seats |
Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: In gespaltenem Schild vorne in Blau ein mit drei schwarzen Kugeln belegtes silbernes Buch schräg, hinten in Silber ein rotes Balkenkreuz.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 pale azure a book bendwise argent charged with three roundels sable and argent a cross gules.
The charge
Charge (heraldry)
In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon . This may be a geometric design or a symbolic representation of a person, animal, plant, object or other device...
on the dexter (armsbearer’s right, viewer’s left) side is Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas , also called Nikolaos of Myra, was a historic 4th-century saint and Greek Bishop of Myra . Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker...
’s attribute, thus representing the municipality’s and the church’s patron saint. He was also depicted in the old court seal. The red cross on the sinister (armsbearer’s left, viewer’s right) side is a reference to the village’s former allegiance to the Electorate of Trier.
Buildings
The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-PalatinateRhineland-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 ....
’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
- Saint NicholasSaint NicholasSaint Nicholas , also called Nikolaos of Myra, was a historic 4th-century saint and Greek Bishop of Myra . Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker...
’s Catholic Parish Church (Pfarrkirche St. Nikolaus), Hauptstraße – Gothic RevivalGothic Revival architectureThe Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
slate quarrystone building, 1907-1909, architect Johann Adam Rüppel, BonnBonnBonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
; décor - Burgweg, graveyard – sandstoneSandstoneSandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
Crucifix, possibly from 1785 - Burgweg 1 – schoolSchoolA school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
house; solid building, partly 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...
(slated), 1823; characterizes village’s appearance - Burgweg 8 – former rectory; brick building with sandstone framing, 1880
- Hauptstraße – sandstone cross, cast-ironCast ironCast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
Crucifix, mid 19th century - Hauptstraße 21 – stately house, hipped mansard roofMansard roofA mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...
, Baroque Revival and Art NouveauArt NouveauArt Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
motifs, 1828 - Theresienkapelle (“Saint Teresa’s ChapelChapelA chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
”), northwest of the village – building with gable roof, 1948
Other sites
Worth seeing are the mediaevalMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
castle ruin, the Schmidtburg (the biggest Rhenish castle complex), the Herrenberg slate pit (since 1976 open to visitors as an attraction), the fossil museum, the Altburg Celtic heights settlement from La Tène times
La Tène culture
The La Tène culture was a European Iron Age culture named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland, where a rich cache of artifacts was discovered by Hansli Kopp in 1857....
and the Hahnenbach valley, which has no road traffic.
Transport
In Kirn is the nearest railway station. It lies on the Nahe Valley Railway (BingenBingen am Rhein
Bingen am Rhein is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.The settlement’s original name was Bingium, a Celtic word that may have meant “hole in the rock”, a description of the shoal behind the Mäuseturm, known as the Binger Loch. Bingen was the starting point for the...
–Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken is the capital of the state of Saarland in Germany. The city is situated at the heart of a metropolitan area that borders on the west on Dillingen and to the north-east on Neunkirchen, where most of the people of the Saarland live....
). To the north are Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
50 and Frankfurt-Hahn Airport
Frankfurt-Hahn Airport
-Cargo airlines:-Other facilities:AirIT Services AG, a subsidiary of Fraport, has its head office in Building 663 at Hahn Airport.-References:*Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982 USAF Reference Series, Office of Air Force History, United States Air Force,...
.
Sons and daughters of the town
- Wendel Schäfer (1940– ), teacher and writer