Emmelshausen
Encyclopedia
Emmelshausen is a town in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district
) in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde
, to which it also belongs. Emmelshausen is a state-recognized climatic spa (Luftkurort), and in state planning is set out as a lower centre
.
roughly 6 km from the Rhine, south of Boppard
and west of Sankt Goar
.
. It is the town’s oldest centre. There is another Stadtteil called Basselscheid.
to the Electorate of Trier, but the pledge was never redeemed. Beginning in 1794, Emmelshausen lay under French
rule. In 1815 it was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia
at the Congress of Vienna
.
After the First World War, the municipalities of Liesenfeld, Basselscheid and Halsenbach
ceded parts of their municipal areas so that the new railway station could be built in Emmelshausen. Emmelshausen became self-administering only in 1935; Liesenfeld and Basselscheid were amalgamated with the new municipality, which since 1946 has been part of the then newly founded state
of Rhineland-Palatinate
. In response to an application made by the Ortsgemeinde of Emmelshausen, the State Government of Rhineland-Palatinate decided on 1 September 2009 to designate Emmelshausen as a Stadt (“city”). The official act of conferral took place on 27 June 2010.
is made up of 20 members, two less than at the previous election in 2004. The honorary mayor is chair of the council.
The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 produced the following results:
The town’s arms
might in English heraldic
language be described thus: Per fess, in chief per pale argent a cross gules and sable a lion rampant Or armed, langued and crowned of the second, and in base gules three winged petasuses of the fourth.
Fifteen years after its modern founding, Emmelshausen was granted a coat of arms. It symbolizes the merger of the two centres of Basselscheid and Liesenfeld into the much newer railway centre of Emmelshausen. The two fields in the upper part of the escutcheon each refer to one of the older centres. The red cross on the silver field on the dexter (armsbearer’s right, viewer’s left) side stands for Basselscheid by referring to its former mediaeval
allegiance to the Electorate of Trier, which bore this armorial device. Likewise, the charge
on the sinister (armsbearer’s left, viewer’s right) side, the lion rampant, was the armorial device borne by Electoral Palatinate, to which Liesenfeld belonged until the 18th century. Indeed, the Trier Cross and the Palatine Lion are to be found in many modern German coats of arms in regions where these two bodies held sway. Below the line of partition stands a charge that is symbolic of not only the merger of the three centres, but also of this young town’s quick development. It is three petasuses
such as the one worn by the Roman god
Mercury
, complete with wings. Mercury is also not only a reference to the swiftness of the town’s economic growth and steadily rising population, but also a reference to how these things came about, namely through the location of trade and industry in the town, rather than the practice of agriculture
and handicraft industries that characterized so many other small places in the Hunsrück.
The arms have been borne since 1950.
, Nièvre
, France
since 1985
, a group known as die Wiebelsborner is very active.
’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
. Passenger transport is operated by Rhenus Veniro GmbH & Co. KG.
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 is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde
Emmelshausen (Verbandsgemeinde)
Emmelshausen is a Verbandsgemeinde in the Rhein-Hunsrück district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Its seat is in Emmelshausen....
, to which it also belongs. Emmelshausen is a state-recognized climatic spa (Luftkurort), and in state planning is set out as a lower centre
Central Place Theory
Central place theory is a geographical theory that seeks to explain the number, size and location of human settlements in an urban system. The theory was created by the German geographer Walter Christaller, who asserted that settlements simply functioned as 'central places' providing services to...
.
Location
The City lies in the HunsrückHunsrück
The Hunsrück is a low mountain range in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the river valleys of the Moselle , the Nahe , and the Rhine . The Hunsrück is continued by the Taunus mountains on the eastern side of the Rhine. In the north behind the Moselle it is continued by the Eifel...
roughly 6 km from the Rhine, south of Boppard
Boppard
Boppard is a town in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, lying in the Rhine Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It belongs to no Verbandsgemeinde. The town is also a state-recognized tourism resort and is a winegrowing centre.-Location:Boppard lies on the upper Middle...
and west of Sankt Goar
Sankt Goar
Sankt Goar is a town on the left bank of the Middle Rhine in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Sankt Goar-Oberwesel, whose seat is in the town of Oberwesel....
.
Constituent communities
The Stadtteil of Liesenfeld lies on Emmelshausen’s western town limit, on Landesstraße (State Road) 206 towards GondershausenGondershausen
Gondershausen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
. It is the town’s oldest centre. There is another Stadtteil called Basselscheid.
History
The earliest written documents date the founding of the settlement of Liesenfeld to the 15th century. As early as the 13th century, there was within what are now Emmelshausen’s limits a settlement of the same name, which over time was forsaken. In the forest east of Emmelshausen was the Gallenscheid Court’s execution place. The Court’s administrative seat was Castle Schöneck. In 1314, the Court was pledged by the EmpireHoly Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
to the Electorate of Trier, but the pledge was never redeemed. Beginning in 1794, Emmelshausen lay under 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...
rule. In 1815 it was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
at the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
.
After the First World War, the municipalities of Liesenfeld, Basselscheid and Halsenbach
Halsenbach
Halsenbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
ceded parts of their municipal areas so that the new railway station could be built in Emmelshausen. Emmelshausen became self-administering only in 1935; Liesenfeld and Basselscheid were amalgamated with the new municipality, which since 1946 has been part of the then newly founded state
States of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...
of 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 ....
. In response to an application made by the Ortsgemeinde of Emmelshausen, the State Government of Rhineland-Palatinate decided on 1 September 2009 to designate Emmelshausen as a Stadt (“city”). The official act of conferral took place on 27 June 2010.
Town council
The present council , elected on 7 June 2009 using 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...
is made up of 20 members, two less than at the previous election in 2004. The honorary mayor is chair of the council.
The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 produced the following results:
| SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
CDU | FWG Free Voters Free Voters is a German concept in which an association of persons participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party. Usually it is a locally organized group of voters in the form of a registered association . In most cases, Free Voters are active only at the... |
Total | |
| 2009 | 5 | 11 | 4 | 20 seats |
| 2004 | 5 | 13 | 4 | 22 seats |
Mayor
Emmelshausen’s mayor is Norbert Monnerjahn, and his deputies are Petra Busch, Franz-Josef Möwis and Günter Petry.Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: In geteiltem, oben gespaltenem Schild oben rechts in Silber ein durchgehendes rotes Kreuz, oben links in Schwarz einen rotbewehrten, rot gekrönten goldenen Löwen, unten in Rot drei (2:1) goldene Merkurhüte.The town’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, in chief per pale argent a cross gules and sable a lion rampant Or armed, langued and crowned of the second, and in base gules three winged petasuses of the fourth.
Fifteen years after its modern founding, Emmelshausen was granted a coat of arms. It symbolizes the merger of the two centres of Basselscheid and Liesenfeld into the much newer railway centre of Emmelshausen. The two fields in the upper part of the escutcheon each refer to one of the older centres. The red cross on the silver field on the dexter (armsbearer’s right, viewer’s left) side stands for Basselscheid by referring to its former mediaeval
Middle 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...
allegiance to the Electorate of Trier, which bore this armorial device. Likewise, 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 sinister (armsbearer’s left, viewer’s right) side, the lion rampant, was the armorial device borne by Electoral Palatinate, to which Liesenfeld belonged until the 18th century. Indeed, the Trier Cross and the Palatine Lion are to be found in many modern German coats of arms in regions where these two bodies held sway. Below the line of partition stands a charge that is symbolic of not only the merger of the three centres, but also of this young town’s quick development. It is three petasuses
Petasos
A petasos or petasus is a sun hat of Thessalian origin worn by the ancient Greeks, often in combination with the chlamys cape. It was usually made of wool felt, leather or straw, with a broad, floppy brim. It was worn primarily by farmers and travellers, and was considered characteristic of rural...
such as the one worn by the Roman god
Roman mythology
Roman mythology is the body of traditional stories pertaining to ancient Rome's legendary origins and religious system, as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans...
Mercury
Mercury (mythology)
Mercury was a messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. His name is related to the Latin word merx , mercari , and merces...
, complete with wings. Mercury is also not only a reference to the swiftness of the town’s economic growth and steadily rising population, but also a reference to how these things came about, namely through the location of trade and industry in the town, rather than the practice of 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...
and handicraft industries that characterized so many other small places in the Hunsrück.
The arms have been borne since 1950.
Town partnerships
Emmelshausen fosters partnerships with the following places: LuzyLuzy
Luzy is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France.-Geography:The village is located in the middle of the commune, on the right bank of the river Alène.-Demographics:...
, Nièvre
Nièvre
Nièvre is a department in the centre of France named after the Nièvre River.-History:Nièvre is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
, France
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...
since 1985
Culture and sightseeing
In the field of culture, the Verbandsgemeinde of Emmelshausen is a centrepoint for the whole Rhine-Moselle Triangle. More than 20,000 spectators visit the Zentrum am Park (“Centre at the Park”) each year. The Kulturkreis Region Emmelshausen is with more than 2,200 members Rhineland-Palatinate’s biggest cultural club, and its seat is in Emmelshausen. In the field of visual artsVisual arts
The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...
, a group known as die Wiebelsborner is very active.
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:
Emmelshausen (main centre)
- Bahnhofstraße 12 – railway station on the Hunsrückbahn, 1908; reception building, partly quarrystone, one-and-a-half-floor storage and loading hall, 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...
, railway facilities and tracks - Simmerner Straße 15 – one-floor wood-sided house, 20th century; whole complex of buildings with garden
- Hunsrückbahn (monumental zone) – part of the line built between 1906 and 1908, one of the Prussian State Railway’s steepest stretches of line
Basselscheid
- Saint LucySaint LucySaint Lucy , also known as Saint Lucia, was a wealthy young Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint by Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Orthodox Christians. Her feast day in the West is 13 December; with a name derived from lux, lucis "light", she is the patron saint of those who are...
’s Catholic 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,...
(Kapelle St. Lucia), Kapellenweg 2 – brick 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...
, marked 1896 - Baybachstraße 8 – estate complex, mid 19th century, whole complex of buildings; timber-frame house, partly slated, timber-frame barn
Liesenfeld
- Rhein-Mosel-Straße 107 – Quereinhaus (a combination residential and commercial house divided for these two purposes down the middle, perpendicularly to the street), about 1860
- Chapel, north of Liesenfeld, near the Baunhöllermühle (mill) – aisleless church, 19th century
Clubs
About 100 clubs make for a great number of local festivals and events, thereby contributing to social coöperation and the practice of customs.Transport
Emmelshausen is the terminus of the Hunsrückbahn (railway), which begins in BoppardBoppard
Boppard is a town in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, lying in the Rhine Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It belongs to no Verbandsgemeinde. The town is also a state-recognized tourism resort and is a winegrowing centre.-Location:Boppard lies on the upper Middle...
. Passenger transport is operated by Rhenus Veniro GmbH & Co. KG.
External links
- http://www.swr.de/landesschau-rp/hierzuland/-/id=100766/nid=100766/did=4346386/2ibu3h/index.htmlBrief portrait of Emmelshausen with film at SWR FernsehenSWR FernsehenSWR Fernsehen is a German regional television channel targeting the states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. It is produced by Südwestrundfunk and is one of eight regional "third channels" broadcast by the ARD members....
] - Town’s official webpage