Westerburg
Encyclopedia
Westerburg is a small town of roughly 6,000 inhabitants in the Westerwaldkreis
in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany. The town is named after the castle
built on a hill above the mediaeval town centre (Burg is German
for “castle”)
. It is the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Westerburg
– a kind of collective municipality – which administers the town and 24 surrounding municipalities.
– of Gershasen, Wengenroth and Sainscheid belong to the town of Westerburg.
s performed here about 700 BC.
The earliest documentary mention of the constituent community of Wengenroth is dated 9 November 879 from the time when Gebhard, Count of the Lahngau
donated holdings here to the St. Severus Monastery
in Gemünden.
The first time that Westerburg was named in a document came in 1209 when Siegfried III of Runkel
acquired Westerburg by marrying a countess from the House of Leiningen and thereafter began calling himself Siegfried von Runkel und von Westerburg. Two of his sons had bequests from him: Siegfried IV of Runkel, whose seat was in Westerburg, and Dietrich I of Runkel, whose seat was in Runkel. Family squabbles began about 1250 and under Siegfried’s grandsons led to a permanent rift between the lordly houses of Westerburg and Runkel by 1288. Dietrich’s son Siegfried V of Runkel drove his cousin Heinrich out of Runkel, whereupon Siegfried, who was Siegfried IV’s son, began calling himself Heinrich I of Westerburg. There are express indications of settlement next to the castle for the first time in 1270.
On 7 July 1292, Westerburg was raised to town at the same time as Wetzlar
by King Adolf of Nassau, who also granted both towns the same town rights. In 1303, a jurymen’s court (Schöffengericht) was approved in the town. Later these jurymen, whose number soon became fixed at eight, took turns serving as the town’s mayor. No later than 1304, there were individual fortification works. Later, the town was divided into the upper town (Oberflecken) within the ring of walls finished by 1400 and the unwalled lower town (Unterflecken). There are known to have been 20 Burgmann
houses in the upper town, but only from documents; archaeology
has yielded no confirmation. In 1514, the first townsman’s house (Bürgerhaus) is mentioned, and in 1560, a new building. In 1630, a prison
is avouched.
In 1448 and 1534, great fires beset the town. After the unification of the County of Leiningen-Dagsburg with the Lordly Domain of Westerburg in 1467, Reinhard IV of Westerburg, who as of 1481 began calling himself Count Reinhard I at Leiningen-Westerburg, moved his seat to the County of Leiningen. Only as of 1557 was Westerburg once again a seat for sidelines of the once more sundering House of Leiningen or its family branch, Leiningen-Westerburg. Westerburg townsmen (Bürger) had at their disposal several privileges, in particular blood court
jurisdiction (Halsgerichtsbarkeit) at their jurymen’s court. Moreover, taxation privileges and laying out economic estates about the town time and again put the townsmen at loggerheads with the lords of the day.
In 1806, Westerburg passed to the Duchy of Berg. After 1815, the town was assigned to the Duchy of Nassau. On 2 September 1814, the lower town burnt down, and likewise the upper town on 13 October 1819. As of 1866, Prussia
held sway. From 1866 to 1885, Westerburg belonged to the Amt of Rennerod and thereby also to the newly formed district of Oberwesterwaldkreis, whose seat was in Bad Marienberg. District reform in 1885 brought Westerburg a broader administrative function once again as it became the seat of a like-named district, which was in force until 1932. In that year, the Oberwesterwaldkreis was newly founded and Westerburg became its seat. In 1974, however, the two districts of Oberwesterwaldkreis and Unterwesterwaldkreis were amalgamated, and since then, Westerburg has no longer been a district seat.
Ecclesiastically, Westerburg was assigned to the St. Severus Monastery at Gemünden. The Late Romanesque
tower of what is now an Evangelical
church might stem from the first church building next to the castle chapel
. A further chapel stood in the lower town by 1350. It is believed that shortly after 1560, the Reformation
was introduced into Westerburg. Jews are first mentioned in 1616. In 1760, the Jewish community comprised 75 persons with one rabbi
, and by 1754, there was a Jewish school. Public schooling is first known to have been instituted in 1557. Later, the school was also run temporarily as a Latin school
.
The oldest census
, from 1540, shows 124 assessable inhabitants. Eighty-six households are witnessed in 1607, and 39 in 1656. In 1760, 1,144 inhabitants were counted, and in 1807, 1,245.
Most inhabitants of course worked at agriculture
or market gardening
in the Middle Ages
and on into early modern times, but they were hardly townsman farmers (Ackerbürger). Westerburg seems much more to have been a craft centre for the surrounding region in which even such rare crafts as arrow
smithing and crossbow
making were settled. Also showing this are the many traders’ markets held in the town. Several guild
s formed in this comparatively small town: in 1581 the bakers’
guild, which joined with the brewers’
guild in 1657, in 1532 the wool
weavers’ and clothmakers’ guild (dissolved in 1710), in 1574 the tanners’
and shoemakers’ guild, in 1611 the linen
weavers’ guild, and by 1658 also the tailor
s’ and merchant
s’. The woolweavers are known to have had their own hall, "Westerburger Hall" in Frankfurt am Main in 1605. Furthermore, it has been established that there were several mills, a forest smithy
, a limekiln
(mentioned in 1537) and a brick
works (built in 1612).
By 1518 there was also a sickhouse, and the town had an apothecary
by 1697.
, Northamptonshire
, England, United Kingdom
Le Cateau-Cambrésis
, Nord, France Nowa Wieś Wielka
, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship
, Poland
Złotoryja, Lower Silesian Voivodeship
, Poland
of Rhine-Main and Cologne
-Düsseldorf
-Ruhr
, great appeal (according to a self-description at its website)
To ensure it, the municipality and the chamber of commerce (Verein für Handel, Handwerk, Industrie und Gewerbe e.V.) undertook in early 2005 to work on professional local marketing for Westerburg and the Westerburger Land (the outlying countryside), in which all fields of economic and political endeavour in the town and the area took part.
–Frankfurt), A 45
(Dortmund
–Gießen
) and A 48 (Montabaur–Trier
) each lie roughly 20 km away.
Westerburg lies on the Oberwesterwaldbahn (railway) to Limburg and Au (Sieg). From there, the cities of Cologne
, Koblenz
, Frankfurt am Main and Wiesbaden
may be reached directly.
The opening of InterCityExpress
service on the new Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line with its Montabaur
and Limburg
stations with bring strengthened impetus to growth and development in the Westerburger Land.
Near Westerburg lies Ailertchen airport (ICAO code
: EDGA).
, this was the training facility used by the Czech Republic national football team
, who stayed in a sport hotel at the Wiesensee
(lake) in the Verbandsgemeinde of Westerburg.
Furthermore, Westerburg has a heated swimming pool
at its disposal with a sunbathing field. This is run by a private club and is open in the summer months, from about May to September.
The castle, Schloss Westerburg, was first mentioned in 1192, and together with the castle church from the 16th century it is the town's landmark.
Westerwaldkreis
The Westerwaldkreis is a district in the east of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
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. The town is named after the 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...
built on a hill above the mediaeval town centre (Burg is 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....
for “castle”)
Location
The town lies in easternmost Rhineland-Palatinate, 4 km from the boundary with HesseHesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
. It is the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Westerburg
Westerburg (Verbandsgemeinde)
Westerburg is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Westerwaldkreis, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Westerburg....
– a kind of collective municipality – which administers the town and 24 surrounding municipalities.
Constituent communities
The former Ortsgemeinden – communities belonging to a VerbandsgemeindeVerbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde is an administrative unit in the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt.-Rhineland-Palatinate:...
– of Gershasen, Wengenroth and Sainscheid belong to the town of Westerburg.
History
The earliest witnesses to human beings settling in what is now Westerburg are some urns that point to cremationCremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
s performed here about 700 BC.
The earliest documentary mention of the constituent community of Wengenroth is dated 9 November 879 from the time when Gebhard, Count of the Lahngau
Gebhard, Count of the Lahngau
Gebhard was a mid-9th-century count in the Lahngau and the first documented ancestor of the dynasty later known as the Conradines. He was a "leading man of the [East] Franks" and a brother-in-law of Ernest, margrave of the Bavarian Nordgau...
donated holdings here to the St. Severus Monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
in Gemünden.
The first time that Westerburg was named in a document came in 1209 when Siegfried III of Runkel
Runkel (state)
Runkel was a County of mediæval Germany. The County of Runkel held a territory extending from the Lahn river at the town of Runkel northwards past Schupbach...
acquired Westerburg by marrying a countess from the House of Leiningen and thereafter began calling himself Siegfried von Runkel und von Westerburg. Two of his sons had bequests from him: Siegfried IV of Runkel, whose seat was in Westerburg, and Dietrich I of Runkel, whose seat was in Runkel. Family squabbles began about 1250 and under Siegfried’s grandsons led to a permanent rift between the lordly houses of Westerburg and Runkel by 1288. Dietrich’s son Siegfried V of Runkel drove his cousin Heinrich out of Runkel, whereupon Siegfried, who was Siegfried IV’s son, began calling himself Heinrich I of Westerburg. There are express indications of settlement next to the castle for the first time in 1270.
On 7 July 1292, Westerburg was raised to town at the same time as Wetzlar
Wetzlar
Wetzlar is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany. Located at 8° 30′ E, 50° 34′ N, Wetzlar straddles the river Lahn and is on the German Timber-Framework Road which passes mile upon mile of half-timbered houses. Historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Lahn-Dill-Kreis on the north edge of...
by King Adolf of Nassau, who also granted both towns the same town rights. In 1303, a jurymen’s court (Schöffengericht) was approved in the town. Later these jurymen, whose number soon became fixed at eight, took turns serving as the town’s mayor. No later than 1304, there were individual fortification works. Later, the town was divided into the upper town (Oberflecken) within the ring of walls finished by 1400 and the unwalled lower town (Unterflecken). There are known to have been 20 Burgmann
Burgmann
A Burgmann was a member of the low aristocracy in the Middle Ages who guarded and defended castles. They were hired by a lord of the castle to take on the burghut, the guarding and defense of a castle....
houses in the upper town, but only from documents; archaeology
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...
has yielded no confirmation. In 1514, the first townsman’s house (Bürgerhaus) is mentioned, and in 1560, a new building. In 1630, a prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
is avouched.
In 1448 and 1534, great fires beset the town. After the unification of the County of Leiningen-Dagsburg with the Lordly Domain of Westerburg in 1467, Reinhard IV of Westerburg, who as of 1481 began calling himself Count Reinhard I at Leiningen-Westerburg, moved his seat to the County of Leiningen. Only as of 1557 was Westerburg once again a seat for sidelines of the once more sundering House of Leiningen or its family branch, Leiningen-Westerburg. Westerburg townsmen (Bürger) had at their disposal several privileges, in particular blood court
Blood court
Blood Court or high justice in the Holy Roman Empire referred to the right of a Vogt to hold a criminal court inflicting bodily punishment, including the death penalty.Not every Vogt held the blood court...
jurisdiction (Halsgerichtsbarkeit) at their jurymen’s court. Moreover, taxation privileges and laying out economic estates about the town time and again put the townsmen at loggerheads with the lords of the day.
In 1806, Westerburg passed to the Duchy of Berg. After 1815, the town was assigned to the Duchy of Nassau. On 2 September 1814, the lower town burnt down, and likewise the upper town on 13 October 1819. As of 1866, 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...
held sway. From 1866 to 1885, Westerburg belonged to the Amt of Rennerod and thereby also to the newly formed district of Oberwesterwaldkreis, whose seat was in Bad Marienberg. District reform in 1885 brought Westerburg a broader administrative function once again as it became the seat of a like-named district, which was in force until 1932. In that year, the Oberwesterwaldkreis was newly founded and Westerburg became its seat. In 1974, however, the two districts of Oberwesterwaldkreis and Unterwesterwaldkreis were amalgamated, and since then, Westerburg has no longer been a district seat.
Ecclesiastically, Westerburg was assigned to the St. Severus Monastery at Gemünden. The Late Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
tower of what is now an 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 might stem from the first church building next to the castle 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,...
. A further chapel stood in the lower town by 1350. It is believed that shortly after 1560, the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
was introduced into Westerburg. Jews are first mentioned in 1616. In 1760, the Jewish community comprised 75 persons with one rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
, and by 1754, there was a Jewish school. Public schooling is first known to have been instituted in 1557. Later, the school was also run temporarily as a Latin school
Latin School
Latin School may refer to:* Latin schools of Medieval Europe* These schools in the United States:** Boston Latin School, Boston, MA** Brooklyn Latin School, New York, NY** Brother Joseph C. Fox Latin School, Long Island, NY...
.
The oldest census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
, from 1540, shows 124 assessable inhabitants. Eighty-six households are witnessed in 1607, and 39 in 1656. In 1760, 1,144 inhabitants were counted, and in 1807, 1,245.
Most inhabitants of course worked at 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...
or market gardening
Market gardening
A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. It is distinguishable from other types of farming by the diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, typically, from under one acre ...
in the Middle Ages
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...
and on into early modern times, but they were hardly townsman farmers (Ackerbürger). Westerburg seems much more to have been a craft centre for the surrounding region in which even such rare crafts as arrow
Arrow
An arrow is a shafted projectile that is shot with a bow. It predates recorded history and is common to most cultures.An arrow usually consists of a shaft with an arrowhead attached to the front end, with fletchings and a nock at the other.- History:...
smithing and crossbow
Crossbow
A crossbow is a weapon consisting of a bow mounted on a stock that shoots projectiles, often called bolts or quarrels. The medieval crossbow was called by many names, most of which derived from the word ballista, a torsion engine resembling a crossbow in appearance.Historically, crossbows played a...
making were settled. Also showing this are the many traders’ markets held in the town. Several guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
s formed in this comparatively small town: in 1581 the bakers’
Baking
Baking is the technique of prolonged cooking of food by dry heat acting by convection, and not by radiation, normally in an oven, but also in hot ashes, or on hot stones. It is primarily used for the preparation of bread, cakes, pastries and pies, tarts, quiches, cookies and crackers. Such items...
guild, which joined with the brewers’
Brewing
Brewing is the production of beer through steeping a starch source in water and then fermenting with yeast. Brewing has taken place since around the 6th millennium BCE, and archeological evidence suggests that this technique was used in ancient Egypt...
guild in 1657, in 1532 the wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
weavers’ and clothmakers’ guild (dissolved in 1710), in 1574 the tanners’
Tanning
Tanning is the making of leather from the skins of animals which does not easily decompose. Traditionally, tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound from which the tanning process draws its name . Coloring may occur during tanning...
and shoemakers’ guild, in 1611 the linen
Linen
Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....
weavers’ guild, and by 1658 also the tailor
Tailor
A tailor is a person who makes, repairs, or alters clothing professionally, especially suits and men's clothing.Although the term dates to the thirteenth century, tailor took on its modern sense in the late eighteenth century, and now refers to makers of men's and women's suits, coats, trousers,...
s’ and merchant
Merchant
A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
s’. The woolweavers are known to have had their own hall, "Westerburger Hall" in Frankfurt am Main in 1605. Furthermore, it has been established that there were several mills, a forest smithy
Smithy
Smithy may refer to:* Forge, also called a smithy, the workplace of a smith or a blacksmith* Smith , sometimes referred to as a smithy, a person involved in the shaping of metal objects...
, a limekiln
Limekiln
A lime kiln is used to produce quicklime through the calcination of limestone . The chemical equation for this reaction is...
(mentioned in 1537) and a brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
works (built in 1612).
By 1518 there was also a sickhouse, and the town had an apothecary
Apothecary
Apothecary is a historical name for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses materia medica to physicians, surgeons and patients — a role now served by a pharmacist and some caregivers....
by 1697.
Community council
Town council is made up of 24 council members, as well as the honorary and presiding mayor (Stadtbürgermeister), who were elected in a municipal election on 13 June 2004.| SPD | CDU | WuB | FWG | Total | |
| 2004 | 5 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 24 seats |
Mayor
Since 2007, Ralf Seekatz (CDU) has been the town’s mayor, succeeding Helmut Schönberger (CDU).Town partnerships
Westerburg has partnership arrangements with the following places: DaventryDaventry
Daventry is a market town in Northamptonshire, England, with a population of 22,367 .-Geography:The town is also the administrative centre of the larger Daventry district, which has a population of 71,838. The town is 77 miles north-northwest of London, 13.9 miles west of Northampton and 10.2...
, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
, England, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Le Cateau-Cambrésis
Le Cateau-Cambrésis
Le Cateau-Cambrésis is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.The term Cambrésis indicates that it lies in the county of that name which fell to the Prince-Bishop of Cambrai.-History:...
, Nord, France Nowa Wieś Wielka
Gmina Nowa Wies Wielka
Gmina Nowa Wieś Wielka is a rural gmina in Bydgoszcz County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland...
, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship
Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship
-Transportation:Transportation infrastructure is of critical importance to the voivodeship's economy. Kuyavia-Pomerania is a major node point in the Polish transportation system. Railway lines from the South and East pass through Bydgoszcz in order to reach the major ports on the Baltic Sea...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Złotoryja, Lower Silesian Voivodeship
Lower Silesian Voivodeship
Lower Silesian Voivodeship, or Lower Silesia Province , is one of the 16 voivodeships into which Poland is currently divided. It lies in southwestern Poland...
, Poland
Economy and infrastructure
The Westerburg countryside has at its disposal, by reason of its lying between the urban agglomerationsMegalopolis (city type)
A megalopolis is typically defined as a chain of roughly adjacent metropolitan areas. The term was used by Oswald Spengler in his 1918 book, The Decline of the West, and Lewis Mumford in his 1938 book, The Culture of Cities, which described it as the first stage in urban overdevelopment and...
of Rhine-Main and 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...
-Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf 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...
-Ruhr
Ruhr Area
The Ruhr, by German-speaking geographers and historians more accurately called Ruhr district or Ruhr region , is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With 4435 km² and a population of some 5.2 million , it is the largest urban agglomeration in Germany...
, great appeal (according to a self-description at its website)
To ensure it, the municipality and the chamber of commerce (Verein für Handel, Handwerk, Industrie und Gewerbe e.V.) undertook in early 2005 to work on professional local marketing for Westerburg and the Westerburger Land (the outlying countryside), in which all fields of economic and political endeavour in the town and the area took part.
Transport
Autobahnen A 3 (CologneCologne
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), A 45
Bundesautobahn 45
is an autobahn in Germany, connecting Dortmund in the west with Aschaffenburg in the southwest. It is colloquially known by its byname Sauerlandlinie, which derives from the Sauerland, the landscape which said autobahn is running through between the cities of Hagen and Siegen. Many people think of...
(Dortmund
Dortmund
Dortmund is a city in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 585,045 makes it the 7th largest city in Germany and the 34th largest in the European Union....
–Gießen
Gießen
Gießen, also spelt Giessen is a town in the German federal state of Hesse, capital of both the district of Gießen and the administrative region of Gießen...
) and A 48 (Montabaur–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....
) each lie roughly 20 km away.
Westerburg lies on the Oberwesterwaldbahn (railway) to Limburg and Au (Sieg). From there, the cities of 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...
, 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...
, Frankfurt am Main and Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
may be reached directly.
The opening of 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...
service on the new Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line with its Montabaur
Montabaur
Montabaur is a town and the district seat of the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. At the same time, it is also the administrative centre of the Verbandsgemeinde of Montabaur – a kind of collective municipality – to which 24 other communities belong...
and Limburg
Limburg an der Lahn
Limburg an der Lahn is the district seat of Limburg-Weilburg in Hesse, Germany.-Location:Limburg lies in western Hesse between the Taunus and the Westerwald on the river Lahn....
stations with bring strengthened impetus to growth and development in the Westerburger Land.
Near Westerburg lies Ailertchen airport (ICAO code
International Civil Aviation Organization airport code
The ICAO airport code or location indicator is a four-character alphanumeric code designating each airport around the world. These codes are defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization, and published in ICAO Document 7910: Location Indicators.The ICAO codes are used by air traffic...
: EDGA).
Education
Westerburg is a schooling centre with every kind of school. The following educational institutions are to be found here:- Konrad-AdenauerKonrad AdenauerKonrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman. He was the chancellor of the West Germany from 1949 to 1963. He is widely recognised as a person who led his country from the ruins of World War II to a powerful and prosperous nation that had forged close relations with old enemies France,...
-GymnasiumGymnasium (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... - Geschwister-SchollWhite RoseThe White Rose was a non-violent/intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany, consisting of students from the University of Munich and their philosophy professor...
-RealschuleRealschuleThe 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... - Rolf-Simon-Schaumburger-HauptschuleHauptschuleA 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...
- Regenbogenschule (“Rainbow School”, primary school)
- Berufsbildende Schule Westerburg (vocational training school) with associated economic Gymnasium
- Friedrich-Schweizer-Schule (special school for students with learning disabilities)
- Adolf-ReichweinAdolf ReichweinAdolf Reichwein was a German educator, economist, and cultural policymaker for the SPD. He was also a resistance fighter in Nazi Germany.-Biography:...
-Studienseminar for teaching office at primary schools and Hauptschulen - Volkshochschule Westerburg (folk high schoolFolk high schoolFolk high schools are institutions for adult education that generally do not grant academic degrees, though certain courses might exist leading to that goal...
)
Sport
Among sporting venues are the Westerwaldstadion and the Schulsportstadion (stadiums), competitive track type B with grass playing field, plastic running track and further competition-ready facilities for athletics. In the runup to the 2006 FIFA World Cup2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...
, this was the training facility used by the Czech Republic national football team
Czech Republic national football team
The Czech Republic national football team represents the Czech Republic in association football and is controlled by the Football Association of the Czech Republic, the governing body for football in the Czech Republic. Their current head coach is Michal Bílek...
, who stayed in a sport hotel at the Wiesensee
Wiesensee
The Wiesensee is an artificial lake, dammed up in 1971, in the Westerwald low mountain range. The lake covers about 80 hectares and lies in the area of Stahlhofen am Wiesensee's various centres on the lake's west shore, and Pottum on the north shore in the Westerwaldkreis. The community of Winnen...
(lake) in the Verbandsgemeinde of Westerburg.
Furthermore, Westerburg has a heated 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...
at its disposal with a sunbathing field. This is run by a private club and is open in the summer months, from about May to September.
Buildings