Herschbach, Selters
Encyclopedia
Herschbach is a state-recognized “air” health resort (Luftkurort) in the Westerwaldkreis
and the biggest Ortsgemeinde – a community belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
– in the Verbandsgemeinde of Selters
, in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
.
halfway between Cologne
and Frankfurt am Main. The municipal area is home to three conservation areas (Naturschutzgebiete) as well as an 800-ha community forest
. Right nearby is the Westerwald Lake Plateau on which rises the Holzbach, which also flows through the municipal area.
(3 km), Schenkelberg
(3 km), Hartenfels
(3 km), Rückeroth
(1 km), Marienrachdorf
(3 km) and Freirachdorf
(2 km). The nearest towns are Selters
(6 km to the south), Dierdorf
(7 km to the west) and Hachenburg
(14 km to the north). Koblenz
(35 km to the southwest), Siegen
(51 km to the northeast) and Bonn
(60 km to the northwest) are the nearest cities.
Chronicle from 963. Moreover, the find of a “west German beaker adorned with band”, a replica of which is exhibited at the Landschaftsmuseum Westerwald in Hachenburg
, bears witness to a human presence in the area some 4,000 years ago.
In 1343, Emperor Karl IV
granted Herschbach town rights, although these were withdrawn 14 years later. At this time, the mediaeval
settlement consisted of the moat
ed castle
(Arx Hergispach, first documentary mention in 1320), which belonged to the Counts of Isenburg
.
In 1371, Herschbach was conquered by Kuno II of Falkenstein, Archbishop of Trier
.
Herschbach was mostly spared the Thirty Years' War
’s ravages, but the villages of Überherschbach and Dorfborn, even to the Oberherschbach chapel
, were destroyed so that their inhabitants would seek and find refuge in the fortified community of Herschbach. Today’s streets, Obertor and Untertor (meaning “Upper Gate” and “Lower Gate”), give some idea of the community’s dimensions at that time. The castle within its moat fostered handicrafts.
An especially important era in Herschbach’s economic history is said to be the quartzite
mining
. When the Siershahn
-Altenkirchen railway line opened in 1884, it also opened new perspectives on mining the valuable freshwater quartzite (also known as quartzarenitic sandstone, Skršin-type quartzite, Limnic quartzite, or by its German
name, Süßwasserquarzit), since there was favourable transport at hand. With the opening of the Kleinbahn Selters–Hachenburg, a narrow-gauge railway
whose head office was in Herschbach, began the planned mining in Herschbach’s, Rückeroth
’s, Freirachdorf
’s and Marienrachdorf
’s municipal areas in 1900. With the further upswing in the iron
industry’s development, “Herschbach quartzite” became one of the most sought-after raw materials for this industry in need of fireproof materials. Quartzite mining was for many years the community’s main livelihood. In 1939, 625 workers from Herschbach and the neighbouring communities were employed at the quarries
. In the 1950s, quartzite mining was shut down because the waning yields from the quartzite lode made recovery economically unjustifiable. What is left over from the “quartzite boom” is a far-reaching change in the look of the local landscape due to tailing
heaps, some of which are today overgrown with low forest. Many abandoned pits are used as fishponds. Unusable land, decayed loading ramps and impassable lands still recall the Herschbach Quartzite Basin. The closure also had great consequences for the narrow-gauge railway, whose tracks were torn up by 1960.
After quartzite mining ended, the community administration set about getting other industries to locate in the community, at which they had success. Deutz AG
, for instance, opened a parts factory in Herschbach.
In the course of municipal restructuring, Herschbach and 20 other communities joined together in 1972 into the Verbandsgemeinde of Selters.
On 30 June 2007, the population figures showed that there were 2,899 people whose primary residence was in the community, and another 112 who maintained a secondary residence here, for a total of 3,011. Of these, 49.5% were male and 50.5% female. The share of the population represented by foreigners was 8.4%, mostly inhabitants of Turkish origin. The biggest age group is 40- to 49-year-olds.
The greater part of the population belongs to the Christian faith
; 56.3% are Catholic and 19.4% are Evangelical
. Those without a faith number 12.8%. The rest are mostly Muslims
.
As for family relationships, 38.2% are single, 46.8% married, 6.1% widowed and 6.6% divorced.
Seat apportionment on elected council:
FLH (Freie Liste Herschbach)
The community’s arms
show Saint Lawrence of Rome, who is Herschbach’s patron saint
. He is shown with a grill, on which he was torture
d and martyred. The arms have a red-silver background.
, France
, since September 1979
In December 1978, a delegation from Pleudihen-sur-Rance visited the community of Herschbach. In May 1979, this was reciprocated by a delegation from Herschbach to Pleudihen-sur-Rance to seal the partnership.
In September 1979, the official partnership celebration was held in Herschbach. In an extraordinary council session, the partnership documents were signed by the then mayors Dr. E. Playoust and Franz Beuler.
In 1981, under Günter Beuler’s and Ulrike Pfeifer’s supervision, the first student and youth exchanges took place. These have been held yearly since then.
On 25 January 2001, 25 friends of the partnership met to form a club. The club supports the community’s partnership board and introduces new ideas to overcome people’s skepticism over the partnership between the Breton
community of Pleudihen-sur-Rance and Herschbach. The youth work, however, is the club’s uppermost priority, for “Youth is the guarantor for the partnership’s continuance and thereby also for peace in Europe
,” as the former club chairman once said.
Jubilees are celebrated in each community every five years, once in Pleudihen, and then a year later in Herschbach.
The Marienheim Convent
was built on the foundations of the moated castle Arx Hergispach. In 1903 the first Dernbach sisters moved in. Today it houses a home for the aged for sisters of the Order of the Poor Serving Maids of Jesus Christ. In 1995, the Marienheim Convent celebrated its 100th anniversary.
St. Anna parish church
On the site of the chapel known as St. Anna since 1486 and so consecrated in 1664, court master builder Johannes Seiz built today’s Baroque
parish church between 1765 and 1768, which was consecrated by Archbishop and Elector of Trier Clemens Wenzeslaus von Sachsen. Johann Wilhelm Schöler built his great organ
works in 1773 and 1774 for the Herschbach parish church. The organ looks the same today as it did then. The St. Anna parish church is a protected monument, and along with the historic town hall and the remodelled marketplace
, forms the heart of Herschbach.
Evangelical parish house
The Evangelical parish of Andreas only had a church built in 1989, as until the Second World War was over, Herschbach was almost exclusively Catholic.
Laurentius-Kapelle
As well, there is the Laurentius-Kapelle (chapel) in the graveyard
at Oberherschbach, which was already mentioned in 1487, but from its early Gothic architecture
, it may well be about a thousand years old. The Laurentius-Kapelle in Oberherschbach is a pilgrimage
destination. In May, pilgrimages to the Dolorous Mother of God take place.
Haus Hergispach festival hall
The community of Herschbach had this built in the early 1980s. It has a seating capacity of roughly 1,000 and is used for events of all kinds.
Historic Town Hall
Herschbach’s town hall was formerly a elementary school
and was later converted into a town hall. It was renovated in the mid-1990s. It forms, with the parish church and the marketplace, the community’s historic heart.
who take part in festivals and church services and stage concerts.
s (hard-surface), an outdoor swimming pool
, a fitness path, a campground, a skating rink
, a discotheque and also some hiking
trails in the surrounding woods, parts of which belong to the Westerwald Nordic Walking
Park.
. Even if the Carnival Company (Karnevalsgesellschaft, KG) was founded “only” in 1912, stories of earlier carnivals are known. The KG and the Möhnenverein (see above) are among the clubs with the highest memberships in Herschbach. In the run-up to Rosenmontag
(Shrove Monday), some 7 Carnival events are held (such as the “sessions” mentioned above), each of which draws some 400 to 1,000 visitors to the festival hall. The yearly Rosenmontagszug (parade
) with its more than 2,000 contributors and 15,000 visitors one of the biggest in the region, which has won Herschbach the title of “the” local Carnival stronghold. For all of this, the KG maintains its own float building hall in which the parade floats
are built. A peculiarity here is the use of home-crafted paper roses used to adorn the floats, thereby doing the Rosenmontagszug literally every honour. On the “princes’ float” in 2006, for instance, 20,000 roses were used
413 to which it is linked by 3 interchange
s. Relatively nearby is Bundesstraße 8. Herschbach lies near the Autobahnen A 3 and A 48 between Cologne
, Frankfurt and Koblenz
. The nearest Autobahn interchanges are near Mogendorf
(12 km) and Dierdorf
(10 km). The mittlerweile verworfene planning for an extension to the A 48 towards Siegen (Westerwaldautobahn) would have had the highway running east of the village north-south between Herschbach and Schenkelberg. Landesstraße
292 runs through the community, and Landesstraße 305 is linked to the community by two interchanges. The nearest InterCityExpress
stop is the railway station at Montabaur on the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line. Further long-distance railway stations nearby are found in Koblenz
, Neuwied
and Ingelbach
.
Secondary schools are found in Dierdorf
(Gymnasium, Realschule
) and Selters
(Regionalschule).
built a bunker
area on Bundesstraße 8, which was abandoned a short time later. Today, the many bunkers may be rented.
E-70 wind turbine
s were put up at the Hartenfelser Kopf Windfarm. These supply roughly 12,500 households and reduce CO2
emissions by 28,500 metric tons each year. The windfarm is one of the biggest such projects in a forest that has ever been built in the Federal Republic.
Two of the wind turbines stand in Herschbach’s municipal area.
Westerwaldkreis
The Westerwaldkreis is a district in the east of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
and the biggest Ortsgemeinde – a community belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
Verbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde is an administrative unit in the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt.-Rhineland-Palatinate:...
– in the Verbandsgemeinde of Selters
Selters (Verbandsgemeinde)
Selters is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Westerwaldkreis, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Selters....
, 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...
.
Location
Herschbach is found in the Dierdorf Hollow, which is itself nestled in the hilly low mountain region of the lower WesterwaldWesterwald
The Westerwald is a low mountain range on the right bank of the River Rhine in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a part of the Rhine Massif...
halfway between Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
and Frankfurt am Main. The municipal area is home to three conservation areas (Naturschutzgebiete) as well as an 800-ha community forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
. Right nearby is the Westerwald Lake Plateau on which rises the Holzbach, which also flows through the municipal area.
Neighbouring communities
Bordering on the community are, clockwise beginning in the north, MündersbachMündersbach
Mündersbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a community belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde – in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-Location:...
(3 km), Schenkelberg
Schenkelberg
Schenkelberg is an Ortsgemeinde – a community belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde – in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-Location:...
(3 km), Hartenfels
Hartenfels
Hartenfels is an Ortsgemeinde – a community belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde – in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The community belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Selters, a kind of collective municipality.-Geography:...
(3 km), Rückeroth
Rückeroth
Rückeroth is an Ortsgemeinde – a community belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde – in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-Location:...
(1 km), Marienrachdorf
Marienrachdorf
Marienrachdorf is an Ortsgemeinde – a community belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde – in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-Location:Marienrachdorf lies 4 km northwest of Selters...
(3 km) and Freirachdorf
Freirachdorf
Freirachdorf is an Ortsgemeinde – a community belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde – in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
(2 km). The nearest towns are Selters
Selters, Rhineland-Palatinate
Selters is a town in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Selters is the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Selters, a kind of collective municipality.-Location:...
(6 km to the south), Dierdorf
Dierdorf
Dierdorf is a municipality in the district of Neuwied, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Westerwald, approx. 20 km northeast of Neuwied, and 20 km north of Koblenz....
(7 km to the west) and Hachenburg
Hachenburg
-Geography:The town lies in the Westerwald between Koblenz and Siegen, roughly 10 km west of Bad Marienberg on the river Nister. Hachenburg is the administrative seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Hachenburg, a kind of collective municipality .-The castle and the town:The castle , former seat of...
(14 km to the north). Koblenz
Koblenz
Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...
(35 km to the southwest), Siegen
Siegen
Siegen is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia.It is located in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein in the Arnsberg region...
(51 km to the northeast) and Bonn
Bonn
Bonn 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....
(60 km to the northwest) are the nearest cities.
History
Written records about Herschbach begin with its first documentary mention in 1248. It can be assumed, however, that the area had already been settled long before that, as a place named Hergispach crops up in the EngersEngers
Engers is an district of Neuwied on the right banks of the river Rhine in Germany located next to Koblenz in Rhineland-Palatinate.Engers has 5,367 inhabitants. It is highwater-endangered by its direct contact with the river Rhine.- City history :...
Chronicle from 963. Moreover, the find of a “west German beaker adorned with band”, a replica of which is exhibited at the Landschaftsmuseum Westerwald in Hachenburg
Hachenburg
-Geography:The town lies in the Westerwald between Koblenz and Siegen, roughly 10 km west of Bad Marienberg on the river Nister. Hachenburg is the administrative seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Hachenburg, a kind of collective municipality .-The castle and the town:The castle , former seat of...
, bears witness to a human presence in the area some 4,000 years ago.
In 1343, Emperor Karl IV
Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles IV , born Wenceslaus , was the second king of Bohemia from the House of Luxembourg, and the first king of Bohemia to also become Holy Roman Emperor....
granted Herschbach town rights, although these were withdrawn 14 years later. At this time, the 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...
settlement consisted of the moat
Moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...
ed 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...
(Arx Hergispach, first documentary mention in 1320), which belonged to the Counts of Isenburg
Isenburg
Isenburg was a region of Germany located in southern present-day Hesse, located in territories north and south of Frankfurt. The states of Isenburg emerged from the Niederlahngau , which partitioned in 1137 into Isenburg-Isenburg and Isenburg-Limburg-Covern...
.
In 1371, Herschbach was conquered by Kuno II of Falkenstein, Archbishop 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....
.
Herschbach was mostly spared the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
’s ravages, but the villages of Überherschbach and Dorfborn, even to the Oberherschbach chapel
Chapel
A 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,...
, were destroyed so that their inhabitants would seek and find refuge in the fortified community of Herschbach. Today’s streets, Obertor and Untertor (meaning “Upper Gate” and “Lower Gate”), give some idea of the community’s dimensions at that time. The castle within its moat fostered handicrafts.
An especially important era in Herschbach’s economic history is said to be the quartzite
Quartzite
Quartzite is a hard metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to gray, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink...
mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
. When the Siershahn
Siershahn
Siershahn is an Ortsgemeinde – a community belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde – in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-History:Clay finds from La Tène times have been unearthed here...
-Altenkirchen railway line opened in 1884, it also opened new perspectives on mining the valuable freshwater quartzite (also known as quartzarenitic sandstone, Skršin-type quartzite, Limnic quartzite, or by its 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....
name, Süßwasserquarzit), since there was favourable transport at hand. With the opening of the Kleinbahn Selters–Hachenburg, a narrow-gauge railway
Narrow gauge
A narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of between and .- Overview :...
whose head office was in Herschbach, began the planned mining in Herschbach’s, Rückeroth
Rückeroth
Rückeroth is an Ortsgemeinde – a community belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde – in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-Location:...
’s, Freirachdorf
Freirachdorf
Freirachdorf is an Ortsgemeinde – a community belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde – in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
’s and Marienrachdorf
Marienrachdorf
Marienrachdorf is an Ortsgemeinde – a community belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde – in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-Location:Marienrachdorf lies 4 km northwest of Selters...
’s municipal areas in 1900. With the further upswing in the iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
industry’s development, “Herschbach quartzite” became one of the most sought-after raw materials for this industry in need of fireproof materials. Quartzite mining was for many years the community’s main livelihood. In 1939, 625 workers from Herschbach and the neighbouring communities were employed at the quarries
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
. In the 1950s, quartzite mining was shut down because the waning yields from the quartzite lode made recovery economically unjustifiable. What is left over from the “quartzite boom” is a far-reaching change in the look of the local landscape due to tailing
Tailings
Tailings, also called mine dumps, slimes, tails, leach residue, or slickens, are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction of an ore...
heaps, some of which are today overgrown with low forest. Many abandoned pits are used as fishponds. Unusable land, decayed loading ramps and impassable lands still recall the Herschbach Quartzite Basin. The closure also had great consequences for the narrow-gauge railway, whose tracks were torn up by 1960.
After quartzite mining ended, the community administration set about getting other industries to locate in the community, at which they had success. Deutz AG
Deutz AG
Deutz AG is an engine manufacturer, based in Cologne, Germany.-History:The company was founded by Nikolaus Otto, inventor of the four-stroke internal combustion engine, in 1864 as N. A...
, for instance, opened a parts factory in Herschbach.
In the course of municipal restructuring, Herschbach and 20 other communities joined together in 1972 into the Verbandsgemeinde of Selters.
Population
The greater part of the population belongs to the Christian faith
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
; 56.3% are Catholic and 19.4% are Evangelical
Evangelical Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
. Those without a faith number 12.8%. The rest are mostly Muslims
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
.
As for family relationships, 38.2% are single, 46.8% married, 6.1% widowed and 6.6% divorced.
Population development
Population development over the years runs as follows (counting only those with primary residence)::| Year | 1815 | 1871 | 1939 | 1950 | 1965 | 1975 | 1985 | 1990 | 1995 | 1999 | 2001 | 2003 | 2005 | 2006 |
| Population | 888 | 1009 | 1476 | 1545 | 1845 | 2221 | 2330 | 2425 | 2605 | 2764 | 2843 | 2912 | 2872 | 2882 |
Community council
The council is made up of 20 council members, as well as the honorary and presiding mayor (Ortsbürgermeister), who were elected in a municipal election on 7 June 2009.Seat apportionment on elected council:
| SPD | CDU | FLH | Total | |
| 2004 | 3 | 11 | 6 | 20 seats |
FLH (Freie Liste Herschbach)
Coat of 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...
show Saint Lawrence of Rome, who is Herschbach’s patron saint
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...
. He is shown with a grill, on which he was torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
d and martyred. The arms have a red-silver background.
Town partnerships
Pleudihen-sur-RancePleudihen-sur-Rance
Pleudihen-sur-Rance is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department of Brittany in northwestern France.It is most famous for the production of apples and Breton champagne ....
, 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 September 1979
In December 1978, a delegation from Pleudihen-sur-Rance visited the community of Herschbach. In May 1979, this was reciprocated by a delegation from Herschbach to Pleudihen-sur-Rance to seal the partnership.
In September 1979, the official partnership celebration was held in Herschbach. In an extraordinary council session, the partnership documents were signed by the then mayors Dr. E. Playoust and Franz Beuler.
In 1981, under Günter Beuler’s and Ulrike Pfeifer’s supervision, the first student and youth exchanges took place. These have been held yearly since then.
On 25 January 2001, 25 friends of the partnership met to form a club. The club supports the community’s partnership board and introduces new ideas to overcome people’s skepticism over the partnership between the Breton
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
community of Pleudihen-sur-Rance and Herschbach. The youth work, however, is the club’s uppermost priority, for “Youth is the guarantor for the partnership’s continuance and thereby also for peace in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
,” as the former club chairman once said.
Jubilees are celebrated in each community every five years, once in Pleudihen, and then a year later in Herschbach.
Buildings
ConventThe Marienheim Convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
was built on the foundations of the moated castle Arx Hergispach. In 1903 the first Dernbach sisters moved in. Today it houses a home for the aged for sisters of the Order of the Poor Serving Maids of Jesus Christ. In 1995, the Marienheim Convent celebrated its 100th anniversary.
St. Anna parish church
On the site of the chapel known as St. Anna since 1486 and so consecrated in 1664, court master builder Johannes Seiz built today’s Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
parish church between 1765 and 1768, which was consecrated by Archbishop and Elector of Trier Clemens Wenzeslaus von Sachsen. Johann Wilhelm Schöler built his great organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
works in 1773 and 1774 for the Herschbach parish church. The organ looks the same today as it did then. The St. Anna parish church is a protected monument, and along with the historic town hall and the remodelled marketplace
Marketplace
A marketplace is the space, actual, virtual or metaphorical, in which a market operates. The term is also used in a trademark law context to denote the actual consumer environment, ie. the 'real world' in which products and services are provided and consumed.-Marketplaces and street markets:A...
, forms the heart of Herschbach.
Evangelical parish house
The Evangelical parish of Andreas only had a church built in 1989, as until the Second World War was over, Herschbach was almost exclusively Catholic.
Laurentius-Kapelle
As well, there is the Laurentius-Kapelle (chapel) in the graveyard
Graveyard
A graveyard is any place set aside for long-term burial of the dead, with or without monuments such as headstones...
at Oberherschbach, which was already mentioned in 1487, but from its early Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
, it may well be about a thousand years old. The Laurentius-Kapelle in Oberherschbach is a pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
destination. In May, pilgrimages to the Dolorous Mother of God take place.
Haus Hergispach festival hall
The community of Herschbach had this built in the early 1980s. It has a seating capacity of roughly 1,000 and is used for events of all kinds.
Historic Town Hall
Herschbach’s town hall was formerly a elementary school
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
and was later converted into a town hall. It was renovated in the mid-1990s. It forms, with the parish church and the marketplace, the community’s historic heart.
Music
In Herschbach there are a music club, a band, a men’s singing club, a singing club and a church choirChoir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
who take part in festivals and church services and stage concerts.
Sport and leisure
Herschbach has at its disposal a sporting ground (hard-surface), tennis courtTennis court
A tennis court is where the game of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the center. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles.-Dimensions:...
s (hard-surface), an outdoor swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
, a fitness path, a campground, a skating rink
Ice rink
An ice rink is a frozen body of water and/or hardened chemicals where people can skate or play winter sports. Besides recreational ice skating, some of its uses include ice hockey, figure skating and curling as well as exhibitions, contests and ice shows...
, a discotheque and also some hiking
Hiking
Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...
trails in the surrounding woods, parts of which belong to the Westerwald Nordic Walking
Nordic walking
Nordic walking, originally known as ski walking, is a physical activity and a sport consisting of walking with poles similar to ski poles.-Origin:...
Park.
Regular events
- Herrensitzung der Närrischen Ritter (Gentlemen’s session of the “Clownish Knights”)
- Local Carnival (Shrovetide)
- Carnival company’s gala session
- Carnival company’s children’s session
- Rosenmontagszug (Shrove Monday parade)
- Princes’ ball
- Möhnensitzung des Möhnenvereins (“Clownish Women’s” session)
- Großer Bunter Abend des Spielmannszuges (“Band’s Great Colourful Evening”)
- Ball der Schautänze (exhibition dance ball)
- Music club’s gala concert
- Frühjahrsmarkt (“Early-year Market”)
- Große Zeltkirmes (“Great Tent Kermis”)
- Rot-Weiße Rocknacht (“Red-White Rock Night”)
- Parish festival
- Autumn market
- Martinsfeier
- Prinzenproklamation (“Princes’ proclamation”)
- Nostalgic Christmas market
Clubs and groups
- Amazonen-Tanzgruppe Herschbach (Amazon Dance Troupe)
- Brieftaubenzuchtverein "Auf zum Westerwald" (carrier pigeonCarrier pigeonA carrier pigeon is a homing pigeon that is used to carry messages. Using pigeons to carry messages is generally called "pigeon post". Most homing or racing type varieties are used to carry messages. There is no specific breed actually called "carrier pigeon"...
raising) - Deutsches Rotes Kreuz-Ortsverein Herschbach (German Red CrossGerman Red CrossThe German Red Cross , or the DRK, is the national Red Cross Society in Germany.With over 4.5 million members, it is the third largest Red Cross society in the world. The German Red Cross offers a wide range of services within and outside Germany...
) - Förder- und Freundschaftskreis Herschbach-Pleudihen (Herschbach-Pleudihen promotional and friendship circle)
- Freiwillige Feuerwehr Herschbach (volunteer fire brigade)
- Frohe Sänger Westerwald (singing club)
- Kaninchenzuchtverein RN 65 Herschbach/Schenkelberg (rabbitRabbitRabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
raising) - Karnevalsgesellschaft 1912 Herschbach e.V. (Carnival company)
- Kath. Frauengemeinschaft Deutschlands 1981 Herschbach (Catholic Women’s Community of Germany)
- Kirchenchor 1881 "Cäcilia" Herschbach (church choir)
- KolpingsfamilieAdolph KolpingAdolph Kolping was a German Catholic priest.-Life:Kolping grew up as the son of a shepherd. At the age of 18 he went to Cologne as a shoemaker’s assistant. He was shocked by the living conditions of most people living there, which influenced his decision to become a priest...
Herschbach - Kur- und Verkehrsverein Herschbach
- Männergesangsverein 1904 "Frohsinn" Herschbach e.V. (men’s singing club)
- Möhnenverein "Fidelio" Herschbach e.V. (“Clownish Women”)
- Musikverein Herschbach e.V. (music club)
- Närrische Ritter Westerwald e.V. (“Clownish Knights”)
- Prinzenstammtisch 1987 (Princes’ regulars table)
- Pyramidenschieber Herschbach
- Spielgemeinschaft Herschbach/Schenkelberg e.V. (Sportverein 1920 Herschbach) (sport club)
- Spielmannszug Herschbach e.V. (band)
- Tanz-Sport-Gemeinschaft Westerwald-Mittelrhein e.V. (dancing and sport)
- Tennisclub Blau Weiß Herschbach 1978 e.V.
- Tischtennisclub Herschbach (table tennisTable tennisTable tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...
) - VDK Ortsgruppe Herschbach
Carnival
A notable highlight in Herschbach’s club life is the Herschbach CarnivalCarnival
Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...
. Even if the Carnival Company (Karnevalsgesellschaft, KG) was founded “only” in 1912, stories of earlier carnivals are known. The KG and the Möhnenverein (see above) are among the clubs with the highest memberships in Herschbach. In the run-up to Rosenmontag
Rosenmontag
Rosenmontag is the highlight of the German "Karneval" , and is on the Shrove Monday before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. The "Mardi Gras," though celebrated on Tuesday, is a similar event...
(Shrove Monday), some 7 Carnival events are held (such as the “sessions” mentioned above), each of which draws some 400 to 1,000 visitors to the festival hall. The yearly Rosenmontagszug (parade
Parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of some kind...
) with its more than 2,000 contributors and 15,000 visitors one of the biggest in the region, which has won Herschbach the title of “the” local Carnival stronghold. For all of this, the KG maintains its own float building hall in which the parade floats
Float (parade)
A float is a decorated platform, either built on a vehicle or towed behind one, which is a component of many festive parades, such as those of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, the Carnival of Viareggio, the Maltese Carnival, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Key West Fantasy Fest parade, the...
are built. A peculiarity here is the use of home-crafted paper roses used to adorn the floats, thereby doing the Rosenmontagszug literally every honour. On the “princes’ float” in 2006, for instance, 20,000 roses were used
Transport
Herschbach lies on BundesstraßeBundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
413 to which it is linked by 3 interchange
Interchange (road)
In the field of road transport, an interchange is a road junction that typically uses grade separation, and one or more ramps, to permit traffic on at least one highway to pass through the junction without directly crossing any other traffic stream. It differs from a standard intersection, at which...
s. Relatively nearby is Bundesstraße 8. Herschbach lies near the Autobahnen A 3 and A 48 between Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, Frankfurt and Koblenz
Koblenz
Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...
. The nearest Autobahn interchanges are near Mogendorf
Mogendorf
Mogendorf is a municipality in Westerwaldkreis district, Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany....
(12 km) and Dierdorf
Dierdorf
Dierdorf is a municipality in the district of Neuwied, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Westerwald, approx. 20 km northeast of Neuwied, and 20 km north of Koblenz....
(10 km). The mittlerweile verworfene planning for an extension to the A 48 towards Siegen (Westerwaldautobahn) would have had the highway running east of the village north-south between Herschbach and Schenkelberg. Landesstraße
Landesstraße
Landesstraßen are roads in Germany and Austria that are, as a rule, the responsibility of the respective German or Austrian federal state. The term may therefore be translated as "state road". They are roads that cross the boundary of a rural or urban district...
292 runs through the community, and Landesstraße 305 is linked to the community by two interchanges. The nearest InterCityExpress
InterCityExpress
The Intercity-Express or ICE is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany and neighbouring countries. It is the highest service category offered by DB Fernverkehr and is the flagship of Deutsche Bahn...
stop is the railway station at Montabaur on the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line. Further long-distance railway stations nearby are found in Koblenz
Koblenz
Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...
, Neuwied
Neuwied
Neuwied is a town in the north of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, capital of the District of Neuwied. Neuwied lies on the right bank of the Rhine, 12 km northwest of Koblenz, on the railway from Frankfurt am Main to Cologne...
and Ingelbach
Ingelbach
Ingelbach is a municipality in the district of Altenkirchen, in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany....
.
Education
- Katholische Kindertagesstätte St. Anna (Catholic daycare)
- Catholic public libraryLibraryIn a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
- Herschbach primary school
Secondary schools are found in Dierdorf
Dierdorf
Dierdorf is a municipality in the district of Neuwied, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Westerwald, approx. 20 km northeast of Neuwied, and 20 km north of Koblenz....
(Gymnasium, Realschule
Realschule
The Realschule is a type of secondary school in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia , Denmark , Sweden , Hungary and in the Russian Empire .-History:The Realschule was an outgrowth of the rationalism and empiricism of the seventeenth and...
) and Selters
Selters, Rhineland-Palatinate
Selters is a town in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Selters is the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Selters, a kind of collective municipality.-Location:...
(Regionalschule).
Munitions depot
In the 1980s, the BundeswehrBundeswehr
The Bundeswehr consists of the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities...
built a bunker
Bunker
A military bunker is a hardened shelter, often buried partly or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks...
area on Bundesstraße 8, which was abandoned a short time later. Today, the many bunkers may be rented.
Windfarm
In the summer of 2006, 12 EnerconEnercon
Enercon GmbH, based in Aurich, Germany, is the fourth-largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world and has been the market leader in Germany since the mid-nineties. Enercon has production facilities in Germany , Sweden, Brazil, India, Canada, Turkey and Portugal...
E-70 wind turbine
Wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger. If the mechanical energy is used to drive machinery, such as for grinding grain or...
s were put up at the Hartenfelser Kopf Windfarm. These supply roughly 12,500 households and reduce CO2
Carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...
emissions by 28,500 metric tons each year. The windfarm is one of the biggest such projects in a forest that has ever been built in the Federal Republic.
Two of the wind turbines stand in Herschbach’s municipal area.
Sons and daughters of the town
- Alfons Eberz, operaOperaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
singer - Bernhard Hemmerle, church music director
- Christian Mehlis, historianHistorianA historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
- Herbert Schenkelberg, DüsseldorfDüsseldorfDüsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
police president - Günther Beuler, 30-year member of the Westerwaldkreis assembly, honorary judge at the Rhineland-Palatinate High Administrative Court