Meisburg
Encyclopedia
Meisburg is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district
in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Daun
, whose seat is in the like-named town
. In Meisburg, a Moselle Franconian dialect is spoken.
257 between Daun
(19 km) and Bitburg
(24 km) in the middle of the Vulkaneifel
, a part of the Eifel
known for its volcanic history, geographical and geological features, and even ongoing activity today, including gases that sometimes well up from the earth.
Since opening in September 2006, the Deutsche Vulkanstraße (“German Volcano
Road”) has led by the village.
The village sits in the valley of the Dümpelbach at a mean elevation of 480 m above sea level
. The highest elevations in the area are the Daxelberg at 589 m above sea level and Rackenbach at 522 m above sea level. The Schafbach, which empties into the Lohsalm, rises in the Salmwald (forest), a water-rich area with a waterworks. From here, great parts of the Bernkastel-Wittlich
district are supplied with drinking water.
’s settlement history gives clues as to when the village of Meisburg might have arisen. Finds from the New Stone Age from about 4500 to 1800 BC and clues to Roman
settlement about AD 300 in what is now Meisburg’s municipal area bear witness to human habitation here quite early on. The municipality owns a collection of Stone-Age stone hatchets, blades, scraping tools and arrowheads.
Following the Celts were the Romans
. The Roman road known as the Weinstraße (“Wine Road”) also came through the Meisburg area, running from Kirn
in the Hunsrück
by way of Wittlich
, and then on the Rackenbacher Wies’chen (a “little meadow”) past nearby Meisburg to Prüm
and Malmedy
. The Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier has confirmed an ancient settlement in the rural cadastral area “In der Delt” from the 2nd and 3rd centuries, presumably a Roman farm.
The Romans were driven out by Germanic
tribes, and later in the course of the Migration Period
came the Franks
. In Meisburg, a Moselle Franconian dialect is still spoken today.
Although the municipality marked 750 years of existence in 1979, but it is quite a bit older than that. Meisburg was first mentioned (as “Meisbreth”) in a document of Pope Innocent II in 1140 as property of the abbey Saint Maximin
in Trier. The village probably existed around 1116, when the monks of Saint Maximin
forged several charters, wherein Meisburg is mentioned as “Meisbrath”.
In 1229 Theoderich and his wife Clarissa, the Lord and Lady of Bruch, donated the patronage and two shares of the tithes at Meisburg to Saint Thomas’s Monastery. In 1330, a church was already listed in the village and Meisburg belonged to the Electoral-Trier Amt of Kyllburg. Saint Thomas’s Monastery was in the centuries that followed Meisburg’s landholder.
When an end was put to the monastery’s landholding rights in 1794, the Amt of Kyllburg also ceased to be in force as the lands on the Rhine’s left bank were annexed by France
. Under Napoleonic
rule, Meisburg belonged to the Department of Sarre, and more locally to the canton
of Prüm. At the Congress of Vienna
in 1814 and 1815, this area was assigned to Prussia
. The district of Daun was formed and Meisburg belonged to the Bürgermeisterei (“Mayoralty”) of Weidenbach, later being reassigned to the Bürgermeisterei of Niederstadtfeld. Since 1947, it has been part of the then newly founded state
of Rhineland-Palatinate
, and the former administration in Niederstadtfeld
was absorbed into the Verbandsgemeinde of Daun
.
The centralized water supply came to the village in 1920, and electricity in 1924. The provincial road, now known as Bundesstraße
257, between Daun
and Kyllburg
was built in the 1930s.
There is one ghost village near Meisburg, named Rackenbach, and there is also a vanished village, which was called Bradscheid.
As early as 1522, a mill was mentioned. The sawmill
on the river Lohsalm is the only working, water-driven sawmill left in the Rhineland
. About 2 km up the dale, the remnants of a further mill together with a millrace may still be found.
The Schafbrück, today a hotel
, already existed in the 19th century. In the early 1950s, three outlying farms were established at Rackenbach and three more at Rascheid; all are still going concerns.
A school was first mentioned in Meisburg in 1721. This was closed in the course of school reform in 1978. The Wallenborn
primary school and the Niederstadtfeld Hauptschule
are now the schools for the municipality. A Gymnasium
and a Realschule
are to be found in Daun
and Gerolstein
. The former school building in Meisburg now houses the kindergarten
for Deudesfeld
, Meisburg, Wallenborn and Weidenbach
.
The municipality’s arms
might in English heraldic
language be described thus: Per fess argent a cross gules and sable a bend countercompony of the first and second.
The cross above the line of partition is Electoral Trier’s old armorial bearing and represents Meisburg’s allegiance to Trier in feudal
times. The bend countercompony (that is, slanted stripe chequered in two rows) is the charge
borne by the Cistercians. This stands for the village’s former landholder, Saint Thomas’s Monastery, which held Meisburg from 1229 to 1794.
, Liège
, Belgium
since 1967.
Schoppen is a village within the municipality of Amel (or Amblève in French
), and it lies in Belgium’s eastern German
-speaking region.
Notable structures in Meisburg include the following:
Spangdahlem Air Base
.
Municipalities of Germany
Municipalities are the lowest level of territorial division in Germany. This may be the fourth level of territorial division in Germany, apart from those states which include Regierungsbezirke , where municipalities then become the fifth level.-Overview:With more than 3,400,000 inhabitants, the...
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
Verbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde is an administrative unit in the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt.-Rhineland-Palatinate:...
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district
Districts of Germany
The districts of Germany are known as , except in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein where they are known simply as ....
in Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Daun
Daun (Verbandsgemeinde)
Daun is a collective municipality in the Vulkaneifel district of Rhineland-Palatinate. The seat of the Daun Verbandsgemeinde is in the municipality of Daun.- Constituent municipalities:# Betteldorf# Bleckhausen# Brockscheid...
, whose seat is in the like-named town
Daun, Germany
Daun is a town in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the district seat and also the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Daun.- Location :...
. In Meisburg, a Moselle Franconian dialect is spoken.
Location
The municipality lies on BundesstraßeBundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
257 between Daun
Daun, Germany
Daun is a town in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the district seat and also the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Daun.- Location :...
(19 km) and Bitburg
Bitburg
Bitburg It is situated approx. 25 km north-west of Trier, and 50 km north-east of Luxembourg . One American airbase, Spangdahlem Air Base, is located nearby.-History:...
(24 km) in the middle of the Vulkaneifel
Vulkan Eifel
The Vulkan Eifel is a region in the Eifel Mountains in Germany, that is defined to a large extent by its volcanic geological history. Characteristic of the Vulkan Eifel are its typical explosion crater lakes or maars, and numerous other signs of volcanic activity such as volcanic tuffs, lava...
, a part of the Eifel
Eifel
The Eifel is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the south of the German-speaking Community of Belgium....
known for its volcanic history, geographical and geological features, and even ongoing activity today, including gases that sometimes well up from the earth.
Since opening in September 2006, the Deutsche Vulkanstraße (“German Volcano
Volcano
2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...
Road”) has led by the village.
The village sits in the valley of the Dümpelbach at a mean elevation of 480 m above sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
. The highest elevations in the area are the Daxelberg at 589 m above sea level and Rackenbach at 522 m above sea level. The Schafbach, which empties into the Lohsalm, rises in the Salmwald (forest), a water-rich area with a waterworks. From here, great parts of the Bernkastel-Wittlich
Bernkastel-Wittlich
Bernkastel-Wittlich is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Vulkaneifel, Cochem-Zell, Rhein-Hunsrück, Birkenfeld, Trier-Saarburg and Bitburg-Prüm.- History :...
district are supplied with drinking water.
Neighbouring municipalities
All the following are Meisburg’s immediate neighbours:
|
Schutz, Germany Schutz is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany... Wallenborn Wallenborn is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Daun, whose seat is in the like-named town... Weidenbach, Vulkaneifel Weidenbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Daun, whose seat is in the like-named town... |
History
The EifelEifel
The Eifel is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the south of the German-speaking Community of Belgium....
’s settlement history gives clues as to when the village of Meisburg might have arisen. Finds from the New Stone Age from about 4500 to 1800 BC and clues to 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....
settlement about AD 300 in what is now Meisburg’s municipal area bear witness to human habitation here quite early on. The municipality owns a collection of Stone-Age stone hatchets, blades, scraping tools and arrowheads.
Following the Celts were the Romans
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....
. The Roman road known as the Weinstraße (“Wine Road”) also came through the Meisburg area, running from Kirn
Kirn
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....
in the Hunsrück
Hunsrück
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...
by way of Wittlich
Wittlich
The town of Wittlich is the seat of the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, and thereby the middle centre for a feeder area of 56 municipalities in the Eifel and Moselle area with its population of roughly 64,000...
, and then on the Rackenbacher Wies’chen (a “little meadow”) past nearby Meisburg to Prüm
Prüm
Prüm is a town in the Westeifel , Germany. Formerly a district capital, today it is the administrative seat of the Verbandsgemeinde Prüm.-Geography:...
and Malmedy
Malmedy
Malmedy is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region, Province of Liège. It belongs to the French Community of Belgium, within which it is French-speaking with facilities for German-speakers. On January 1, 2006 Malmedy had a total population of 11,829...
. The Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier has confirmed an ancient settlement in the rural cadastral area “In der Delt” from the 2nd and 3rd centuries, presumably a Roman farm.
The Romans were driven out by 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...
tribes, and later in the course of the Migration Period
Migration Period
The Migration Period, also called the Barbarian Invasions , was a period of intensified human migration in Europe that occurred from c. 400 to 800 CE. This period marked the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages...
came the Franks
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
. In Meisburg, a Moselle Franconian dialect is still spoken today.
Although the municipality marked 750 years of existence in 1979, but it is quite a bit older than that. Meisburg was first mentioned (as “Meisbreth”) in a document of Pope Innocent II in 1140 as property of the abbey Saint Maximin
St. Maximin's Abbey, Trier
St. Maximin's Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Trier in the Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-History:The abbey, traditionally considered one of the oldest monasteries in western Europe, was held to have been founded by Saint Maximin of Trier in the 4th century. Maximin St. Maximin's Abbey was a...
in Trier. The village probably existed around 1116, when the monks of Saint Maximin
St. Maximin's Abbey, Trier
St. Maximin's Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Trier in the Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-History:The abbey, traditionally considered one of the oldest monasteries in western Europe, was held to have been founded by Saint Maximin of Trier in the 4th century. Maximin St. Maximin's Abbey was a...
forged several charters, wherein Meisburg is mentioned as “Meisbrath”.
In 1229 Theoderich and his wife Clarissa, the Lord and Lady of Bruch, donated the patronage and two shares of the tithes at Meisburg to Saint Thomas’s Monastery. In 1330, a church was already listed in the village and Meisburg belonged to the Electoral-Trier Amt of Kyllburg. Saint Thomas’s Monastery was in the centuries that followed Meisburg’s landholder.
When an end was put to the monastery’s landholding rights in 1794, the Amt of Kyllburg also ceased to be in force as the lands on the Rhine’s left bank were annexed by 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...
. Under Napoleonic
Napoleon I
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
rule, Meisburg belonged to the Department of Sarre, and more locally to the 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 Prüm. 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 1814 and 1815, this area was assigned to 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...
. The district of Daun was formed and Meisburg belonged to the Bürgermeisterei (“Mayoralty”) of Weidenbach, later being reassigned to the Bürgermeisterei of Niederstadtfeld. Since 1947, it 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 ....
, and the former administration in Niederstadtfeld
Niederstadtfeld
Niederstadtfeld is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
was absorbed into the Verbandsgemeinde of Daun
Daun (Verbandsgemeinde)
Daun is a collective municipality in the Vulkaneifel district of Rhineland-Palatinate. The seat of the Daun Verbandsgemeinde is in the municipality of Daun.- Constituent municipalities:# Betteldorf# Bleckhausen# Brockscheid...
.
The centralized water supply came to the village in 1920, and electricity in 1924. The provincial road, now known as Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
257, between Daun
Daun, Germany
Daun is a town in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the district seat and also the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Daun.- Location :...
and Kyllburg
Kyllburg
Kyllburg is a town in the district Bitburg-Prüm, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Eifel, on the river Kyll, approx. 10 km north-east of Bitburg.Kyllburg is the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde Kyllburg....
was built in the 1930s.
There is one ghost village near Meisburg, named Rackenbach, and there is also a vanished village, which was called Bradscheid.
As early as 1522, a mill was mentioned. The sawmill
Sawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....
on the river Lohsalm is the only working, water-driven sawmill left in the Rhineland
Rhineland
Historically, the Rhinelands refers to a loosely-defined region embracing the land on either bank of the River Rhine in central Europe....
. About 2 km up the dale, the remnants of a further mill together with a millrace may still be found.
The Schafbrück, today a hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
, already existed in the 19th century. In the early 1950s, three outlying farms were established at Rackenbach and three more at Rascheid; all are still going concerns.
A school was first mentioned in Meisburg in 1721. This was closed in the course of school reform in 1978. The Wallenborn
Wallenborn
Wallenborn is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Daun, whose seat is in the like-named town...
primary school and the Niederstadtfeld Hauptschule
Hauptschule
A Hauptschule is a secondary school in Germany and Austria, starting after 4 years of elementary schooling, which offers Lower Secondary Education according to the International Standard Classification of Education...
are now the schools for the municipality. A Gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
and a 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...
are to be found in Daun
Daun, Germany
Daun is a town in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the district seat and also the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Daun.- Location :...
and Gerolstein
Gerolstein
Gerolstein is a town in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde. Gerolstein is headquarters to a large mineral water firm, Gerolsteiner Brunnen...
. The former school building in Meisburg now houses the 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...
for Deudesfeld
Deudesfeld
Deudesfeld is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the southwest Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Daun, whose seat is in the like-named town...
, Meisburg, Wallenborn and Weidenbach
Weidenbach, Vulkaneifel
Weidenbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Daun, whose seat is in the like-named town...
.
Municipal council
The council is made up of 6 council members, who were elected at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.Mayor
Meisburg’s mayor is Dieter Klein, and his deputies are Johannes Görgen and Berthold Rieker.Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: Von silber über schwarz geteilt, oben das kurtrierische Kreuz, unten ein rot-silber geschachtelter Schrägrechtsbalken.The municipality’s arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
might in English heraldic
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
language be described thus: Per fess argent a cross gules and sable a bend countercompony of the first and second.
The cross above the line of partition is Electoral Trier’s old armorial bearing and represents Meisburg’s allegiance to Trier in feudal
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
times. The bend countercompony (that is, slanted stripe chequered in two rows) is 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...
borne by the Cistercians. This stands for the village’s former landholder, Saint Thomas’s Monastery, which held Meisburg from 1229 to 1794.
Town partnerships
Meisburg fosters partnerships with the following places: SchoppenAmel
Amel is a Belgian municipality in the Walloon province of Liège, and is part of the German-speaking Community of Belgium .On January 1, 2006 Amel had a total population of 5,282...
, Liège
Liège (province)
Liège is the easternmost province of Belgium and belongs to the Walloon Region. It is an area of French and German ethnicity. It borders on the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and in Belgium the provinces of Luxembourg, Namur, Walloon Brabant , and those of Flemish Brabant and Limburg . Its...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
since 1967.
Schoppen is a village within the municipality of Amel (or Amblève in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
), and it lies in Belgium’s eastern 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....
-speaking region.
Culture and sightseeing
Meisburg has an old sawmill, which is driven by an overshot waterwheel seven metres in diameter. The Schneidemühle (“cutting mill”), as it is known locally, is the Rhineland’s, and the Eifel’s, last preserved sawmill. The energy needed to drive it is afforded by a 350 m-long millpond.Notable structures in Meisburg include the following:
- Saint Bartholomew’s Catholic Parish Church (Pfarrkirche St. Bartholomäus), Kirchstraße 4, aisleless churchAisleless churchAn Aisleless church is a single-nave church building that consists of a single hall-like room. While similar to the hall church, the aisleless church lacks aisles or passageways either side of the nave separated from the nave by colonnades or arcades, a row of pillars or columns...
from 1768, expanded in 1853. - Auf dem Zuckerberg 2 – house, possibly later divided, from 1791, adjoining commercial building.
- Desserather Straße 1 – former rectory, stately building with roof with half-hipped gables, about 1800.
- Desserather Straße 3 – corner estate, house from 1810, stable-barn.
- Im Dümpel 8 – three-floor, five-axis Quereinhaus (a combination residential and commercial house divided for these two purposes down the middle, perpendicularly to the street), from 1850, expanded into estate along the street, two stable-barns, one from 1887, pump well.
- Kyllburger Straße 4 – house, possibly later divided, from 1791, adjoining commercial building.
- Sawmill, south of the village on the Lohsalm, former mill building, possibly from the 19th century.
- Wayside cross, south of the village on the road to Rascheid, red 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,...
niche cross, from 1587, finial cross new. - Wayside cross, northeast of the village near the sporting ground, shaft cross from 1774.
- Wayside cross, north of the village on a farm lane, red sandstone shaft cross from 1774.
Economy and infrastructure
A significant portion of the local economy derives from the local AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Spangdahlem Air Base
Spangdahlem Air Base
Spangdahlem Air Base is a United States Air Force base located near the small German town of Spangdahlem, approximately 30 km NNE of the city of Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate.-Units:...
.