Holzbach - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

History

In 1346, Holzbach had its first documentary mention. Archaeological

Archaeology

Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...

finds from the New Stone Age and Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

times, however, clearly show that the land was settled long before that.

Beginning in 1794, Holzbach 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,...

. In 1921, the simultaneum

Simultaneum

A shared church, or Simultankirche, Simultaneum or, more fully, simultaneum mixtum, a term first coined in 16th century Germany, is a church in which public worship is conducted by adherents of two or more religious groups. Such churches became common in Europe in the wake of the Reformation...

at the village church was dissolved, and a new 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...

church was built in 1926.

During the Second World War, some 100 men from Holzbach were called upon for military service, of whom 25 fell. Some sensation came about from the emergency landing of a German Messerschmitt Bf 109

Messerschmitt Bf 109

The Messerschmitt Bf 109, often called Me 109, was a German World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser during the early to mid 1930s...

in 1944. On 16 March 1945, at 7 o’clock in the morning, American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

tank

Tank

A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...

s reached Holzbach. The village offered no resistance, but houses on the main street were shot up by US troops nonetheless. One person who was trying to flee was killed and one woman was wounded.

Since 1946, Holzbach 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 ....

Municipal council

The council is made up of 12 council members, who were elected by majority vote

Plurality 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.

Buildings

The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate

Rhineland-Palatinate

’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:

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...

church, Kirchstraße 6 – Baroque
Baroque architecture
Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...

aisleless church
Aisleless church
An 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 1759
Hauptstraße 4 – timber-frame
Timber framing
Timber 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, plastered and slated, stable, middle or latter half of the 19th century; whole complex of buildings
Kirchstraße – cast-iron
Cast iron
Cast 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...

fountain basin with relief; Stromberg
Stromberg
-People:*Lyndon Stromberg, American sculptor and designer*Karl Stromberg, the villain in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me*Joseph R. Stromberg, historian with the Ludwig von Mises Institute*Glenn Strömberg, Swedish soccer player...

Ironworks, marked 1885
Milestone, on Landesstraße (State Road) 162 going towards Argenthal – so-called Weißer Stein (“White Stone”), 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...

n basalt
Basalt
Basalt 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...

milestone, first third of the 19th century

Other sites

On Hauptstraße (“Main Street”), which runs through the village, the municipal centre, which is equipped as a multipurpose building, is centrally located. Still standing right nearby is the old Raiffeisen warehouse, where the volunteer fire brigade, the youth fire brigade and the youth centre have set up shop.

Natural monuments

In Holzbach’s outlying countryside stand three old oaktrees, which have been designated as natural monuments.

Clubs

Holzbach has a sport club that offers various activities: football, table tennis

Table tennis

Table 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...

and aerobics

Aerobics

Aerobics is a form of physical exercise that combines rhythmic aerobic exercise with stretching and strength training routines with the goal of improving all elements of fitness...

. Even the yearly theatre evening is promoted by the club’s members. On the village’s outskirts towards Riesweiler

Riesweiler

-History:Riesweiler might have had a Roman past, for it lies on an old Roman road. In 1135, Riesweiler had its first documentary mention. According to historical researchers, though, Riesweiler must already have existed by 995, when the oldest royal estate, “Denzen” was donated by King Otto III to...

is a sporting ground with a clubhouse. Among other clubs in the municipality are the singing club and the fire brigade promotional club.

Culinary specialities

In the Holzbach area, Hoolsbacher is well known as a good fruit spirit

Distilled beverage

A distilled beverage, liquor, or spirit is an alcoholic beverage containing ethanol that is produced by distilling ethanol produced by means of fermenting grain, fruit, or vegetables...

, mainly made out of the common plum (Prunus domestica
Prunus domestica
Prunus domestica is a Prunus species with many varieties. These are often called "plums" in common English, though not all plums belong to this species. Its hybrid parentage is believed to be Prunus spinosa and Prunus cerasifera var. divaricata...

domestica). Another speciality is Hoolsbacher Beereflaare, a kind of pastry with bits of dried pear.

Transport

Running through Holzbach is Landesstraße (State Road) 108. Landesstraße 168, part of the Deutsche Alleenstraße (Germany’s longest themed holiday road, featuring many Alleen – tree-lined avenues), leads by the village, but not through it. The link to destinations farther afield is Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...

50, some 3 km from the village. 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,...

lies some 20 km west of Holzbach. The nearest Hauptbahnhöfe

Central station

A central station usually designates the principal passenger railway station of cities which have multiple stations. The central station functions as the main transport hub for rail transport, normally with interchange with other modes of public transport...

are to be 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...

, Bingen

Bingen 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...

, Bad Kreuznach

Bad Kreuznach

Bad Kreuznach is the capital of the district of Bad Kreuznach, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is located on the Nahe river, a tributary of the Rhine...

and Mainz

Mainz

Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...

Education

The village has no kindergarten

Kindergarten

A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...

of its own, but church kindergartens can be found in 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...

. The municipality lies within the school zone of the primary school in Riesweiler