The Eifel (; , ) is a low

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...

in western

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, eastern

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and northern

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

. It occupies parts of southwestern

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, northwestern

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

and the southern area of the

German-speaking Community of Belgium The German-speaking Community (, , DG), also known as East Belgium ( ), is one of the three Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, federal communities of Belgium. The community is composed of nine municipalities in Liège Province, ...

. The Eifel is part of the

Rhenish Massif The Rhenish Massif, Rhine Massif or Rhenish Uplands (, : 'Rhenish Slate Uplands') is a geologic massif in western Germany, eastern Belgium, Luxembourg and northeastern France. It is drained centrally, south to north by the river Rhine and a few ...

; within its northern portions lies the

Eifel National Park The Eifel National Park () is the 14th national park in Germany and the first in North Rhine-Westphalia. The park was founded in 2004, and is classified as a "national park in development". Eifel National Park is part of the much larger High ...

. The

Eifelian The Eifelian is the first of two faunal stages in the Middle Devonian Epoch. It lasted from 393.3 ± 1.2 million years ago to 387.7 ± 0.8 million years ago. It was preceded by the Emsian Stage and followed by the Givetian Stage. North American ...

stage in geological history is named after the region because rocks of that period reach the surface in the Eifel at the Wetteldorf Richtschnitt outcrop. The inhabitants of the Eifel are known as Eiflers or Eifelers.

Geography

Location

The Eifel lies between the cities of

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

to the north,

Trier Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...

to the south and

Koblenz Koblenz ( , , ; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz'') is a German city on the banks of the Rhine (Middle Rhine) and the Moselle, a multinational tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman military p ...

to the east. It descends in the northeast along a line from Aachen via

Düren Düren (; Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: Düre) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, between Aachen and Cologne, on the river Rur (river), Rur. History Roman era The area of Düren was part of Gallia Belgica, more specifically the ter ...

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

into the

Lower Rhine Bay The Lower Rhine Bay (), sometimes called the Lower Rhine Bight,Luttig, G.W. (ed.), ''General Geology of the Federal Republic of Germany'', Nagel u. Obermiller, 1980, pp. 29 and 44. is a lowland plain in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia t ...

. In the east and south it is bounded by the valleys of the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

and the

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; ; ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A sm ...

. To the west it transitions in Belgium and Luxembourg into the geologically related

Ardennes The Ardennes ( ; ; ; ; ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, extending into Germany and France. Geological ...

and the Luxembourg Ösling. In the north it is limited by the Jülich-Zülpicher Börde. Within Germany it lies within the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia; in the

Benelux The Benelux Union (; ; ; ) or Benelux is a politico-economic union, alliance and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighbouring states in Western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The name is a portma ...

the area of

Eupen Eupen (, , ; ; ; former ) is the capital of German-speaking Community of Belgium and is a city and municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Belgium, Belgian Liège Province, province of Liège, from the Germany, German border (Aachen ...

St. Vith St. Vith ( ; ; ; ) is a city and municipality of East Belgium located in the Walloon province of Liège. It was named after Saint Vitus. The majority language is German, as in the rest of the German-speaking Community of Belgium. On January ...

and Luxembourg. Its highest point is the volcanic cone of the

Hohe Acht The Hohe Acht () is the highest mountain () in the Eifel mountains of Germany. It is located on the boundary between the districts of Ahrweiler and Mayen-Koblenz in Rhineland-Palatinate. Geography and geology The Hohe Acht is located in the H ...

(746.9 m). Originally the Carolingian

Eifelgau The Eifelgau was a Franks, Frankish ''Gau (territory), gau'' in the region of the present day Limestone Eifel in Germany. Location and history The Eifelgau derives its name from the Eifel mountains between the Rhine, Ahr, Rur (river), Rur, Our ...

only covered the smaller region roughly around the sources of the rivers

Ahr Ahr () is a river in Germany, a left tributary of the Rhine. Its source is at an elevation of approximately above sea level in Blankenheim in the Eifel, in the cellar of a timber-frame house near the castle of Blankenheim. After it crosses f ...

, Kyll,

Urft Kall () is a municipality in the district of Euskirchen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the Eifel hills, approximatively 20 km south-west of Euskirchen Euskirchen (; Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Öske ...

and Erft. Its name was more recently transferred to the entire region.

Topography

The Eifel belongs to that part of the Rhenish Massif whose rolling plateau is categorised as

peneplain In geomorphology and geology, a peneplain is a low-relief plain formed by protracted erosion. This is the definition in the broadest of terms, albeit with frequency the usage of peneplain is meant to imply the representation of a near-final (or ...

highland (''Rumpfhochland''), which was formed by the

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

of the ancient mountains of the Variscan mountain building phase and subsequent further uplifting. Individual mountain chains, up to 700 m, such as the Schneifel and

High Fens The High Fens (; ; ), which were declared a Nature reserve, nature reserve in 1957, are an upland area, a Plateau, plateau region in Liège Province, in the east of Belgium and adjoining parts of northwestern Germany, between the Ardennes and the ...

, run through the western part of the plateau. In the eastern part, in the High Eifel and Volcanic Eifel, individual

cinder cone A cinder cone or scoria cone is a steep, volcanic cone, conical landform of loose pyroclastic rock, pyroclastic fragments, such as volcanic ash, clinkers, or scoria that has been built around a volcanic vent. The pyroclastic fragments are forme ...

s and basalt ''

kuppe A ''Kuppe'' is the term used in German-speaking central Europe for a mountain or hill with a rounded summit that has no rock formation, such as a tor, on it. A range of such hills is called a ''Kuppengebirge''. In geology the term also refers t ...

n'', like the

and the Ernstberg, emerged as a result of volcanicity in the

Tertiary Tertiary (from Latin, meaning 'third' or 'of the third degree/order..') may refer to: * Tertiary period, an obsolete geologic period spanning from 66 to 2.6 million years ago * Tertiary (chemistry), a term describing bonding patterns in organic ch ...

and

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

periods and rise above the undulating countryside. The rivers draining into the

and

Meuse The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of . History From 1301, the upper ...

, such as the

Our Our or OUR may refer to: * The possessive form of " we" Places * Our (river), in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany * Our, Belgium, a village in Belgium * Our, Jura, a commune in France Other uses * Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), a governm ...

, Kyll,

, Brohlbach and Rur, have cut deep into the edge of the Eifel and formed larger valleys. The Eifel covers an area of 5,300 km² and is geographically divided into the North and South Eifel. It is further divided into several natural regional landscapes, some with further subdivisions.

National and nature parks

Since 2004, part of the North Eifel has been designated as the

. There are also four

nature park A nature park, or sometimes natural park, is a designation for a protected area by means of long-term land planning, sustainable resource management and limitation of agricultural and real estate developments. These valuable landscapes are pres ...

s in the Eifel (from north to south):

Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...

, High Fens-Eifel, Volcanic Eifel, and South Eifel, although the first extends only partly into the northern foothills of the Eifel.

Divisions

Overview

There are several distinct chains within the Eifel. * The northernmost parts are called North Eifel ("Nordeifel") including Rur Eifel the origin of the river Rur,

("Hohes Venn") and the Limestone Eifel (''Kalkeifel''). * The northeastern part is called

Ahr Hills The Ahr HillsElkins, T.H. (1972). ''Germany'' (3rd ed.). London: Chatto & Windus, 1972. . ( or ''Ahreifel'' ) are a range of low mountains and hills up to and long in the Eifel region of Germany, which lie roughly southwest of Bonn on the borde ...

Elkins, T.H. (1972). ''Germany'' (3rd ed.). London: Chatto & Windus, 1972. . () and rise north of the

river in the district of

Ahrweiler Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler () is a spa town in the German Bundesland of Rhineland-Palatinate that serves as the capital of the Ahrweiler district. The A61 motorway connects the town with cities like Cologne and Mainz. Formed by the merging of the ...

. * South of the Ahr is the High Eifel (''Hohe Eifel''), with the

(747 m) being the highest mountain of the Eifel. * In the west, on the Belgian border, the hills are known as Schneifel (part of the ''Schnee-Eifel'' or "Snowy Eifel"), rising up to 698 m. Also in the west, by the Belgian and

border, the region is known as Islek (Aquilania). * The southern half of the Eifel is lower. It is cut by several rivers running north-south towards the Moselle. The largest of these is the Kyll, and the hills on either side of this river are called the Kyllwald. * In the south the Eifel is concluded by the

Voreifel The Voreifel ("Fore-Eifel" or "Pre-Eifel") is the name of a settlement area in the southern part of the Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a term that grew out of the local speech. The region of the Voreifel includes the tow ...

above the Moselle. Since 2004, about 110 km² of the Eifel within the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia have been protected as the

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

Natural regional divisions

Up to 1960, the German part of the Eifel, which belonged to the natural region of the

, was, according to the Handbook of the Natural Region Divisions of Germany, divided into three major unit (i.e. two-digit) groups and these were subdivided into (three-digit) major natural units.E. Meynen, J. Schmithüsen et al.: '' Handbook of the Natural Region Divisions of Germany'' Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde, Remagen/Bad Godesberg, 1953–1962 (9 issued in 8 books, 1:1,000,000 scale map with major units, 1960). These divisions were subsequently refined in the ''individual map sheets'' ''Trier/Mettendorf'', ''Cochem'' (both 1974) and ''Cologne/Aachen'' (1978) as follows;Ewald Glässer: ''Geographische Landesaufnahme: the natural regional units on map sheet 122/123 Cologne/Aachen.'' Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde, Bad Godesberg, 1978. →&nbs
online map
(pdf; 8.7 MB)Heinz Fischer, Richard Graafen: ''Geographische Landesaufnahme: the natural regional units on map sheet 136/137 Cochem.'' Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde, Bad Godesberg, 1974. →&nbs
online map
(pdf; 5.6 MB)Otmar Werle: ''Geographische Landesaufnahme: the natural regional units on map sheet 148/149 Trier/Mettendorf.'' Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde, Bad Godesberg, 1974. →&nbs
online map
(pdf; 4.5 MB) for the most detailed natural region divisions in Rhineland-Palatinate, fact files were produced by the state information system of the conservation administration (LANDIS): * 56 '' Venn Foreland'' ** 560 Venn Foothills *** 560.0 Kornelimünster Venn Foreland ** 561 Aachen Hills *** 561.0 Stolberg Valley *** 561.1 Aachen Bowl *** 561.2 Aachen Forest *** 561.3 Vaals Hills * 28 '' West Eifel'' ** 280 Islek and Ösling (Designation in the map sheets of Cochem and Trier; Handbook: ''Islek'') *** 280.0 Eastern Islek **** 280.00 Lascheid Plateau **** 280.01 Middle Prüm Valley *** 280.1 Central Islek **** 280.10 Arzfeld Plateau **** 280.11 Neuerburg Enz Valley **** 280.12 Karlshausen Plateau *** 280.2 Western Islek **** 280.20 Leidenborn Plateau **** 280.21

Winterscheid Winterscheid is a municipality in the district of Bitburg-Prüm, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Se ...

Plateau *** 280.3 Middle Our Valley **** 280.30 Urb-Vianden Our Valley (Cochem map sheet; Trier map sheet: ''Vianden Our Valley'') **** 280.31 Genting Our Valley *** 280.4 Southern Schneifel Foreland *** 280.5 Islek Foothills ** 281 Western High Eifel *** 281.0 Schneifel Ridge *** 281.1 Northern Schneifel Foreland **** 281.10 Brandscheid Schneifel Foreland **** 281.11 Manderfeld Schneifel Foreland *** 281.2 Grenzwald Ridge **** 281.20 Ommerscheid **** 281.21 Losheim Forest *** 281.3 Oberes Kyll Valley *** 281.4 Duppach Ridge ** 282 Rur Eifel *** 282.0 Düren Eifel Foothills *** 282.1 Hürtgen Plateau *** 282.2

Monschau Monschau (; , ; ) is a small resort town in the Eifel region of western Germany, located in the Aachen district of North Rhine-Westphalia. Geography The town is located in the hills of the North Eifel, within the Hohes Venn – Eifel Nature ...

Hedge Land *** 282.3 Rur-

- Olef Valleys **** 282.30 Monschau-Rurberg Rur Valley **** 282.31 Gemünd Urft and Olef Valleys **** 282.32 Urftsee Region **** 282.33 Rursee Region **** 282.34 Heimbach-Maubach Rur Valley *** 282.4 Monschau-Hellenthal Forest Plateau *** 282.5 Dreiborn Plateau *** 282.6 Hollerath-Broich Plateau **** 282.60 Hollerath Plateau **** 282.61 Broich Plateau *** 282.7 Wildenburg Plateau *** 282.8 Kermeter Forest ** 283

*** 283.0 Venn Plateau **** 283.00 Lammersdorf Fen Plateau *** 283.1 Northern Venn Foothills **** 283.10 Roetgen Venn Foothills *** Roer Spring Plateau (entirely in Belgium) *** Upland of the Upper Warche (''Southern Venn Foreland''; entirely in Belgium) ** Eastern High

(entirely in Belgium) *** St. Vith Plateau * 27 ''East Eifel'' ** 270

Moselle Eifel The Moselle Eifel () forms the southeastern strip of the East Eifel to the left of the Moselle from the city of Trier downstream as far as Moselkern; in the southeast it does not reach as far as the Moselle Valley. It lies exclusively within the G ...

(Lower Eifel) *** 270.0 Eastern Moselle Eifel **** 270.00 Elz Valley **** 270.01 Kaisersesch Eifel Perimeter **** 270.02 Gevenich Plateau *** 270.1 Lower Üßbach Valley *** 270.2 Kondelwald *** 270.3 Offling Plateau *** 270.4 Middle Lieser Valley *** 270.5 Southern Volcanic Eifel **** 270.50 Daun-Manderscheid Volcanic Hills **** 270.51 Dauner Maar Region *** 270.6 Wittlich Hedge Land (Cochem map sheet; Trier map sheet: ''Heckenland'') **** 270.60 Naurather Horst **** 270.61 Arenrath Plateau **** 270.62 Littgen Plateau *** 270.7 Meulenwald ** 271

Eastern High Eifel The High Eifel ( or ''Hohe Eifel'') forms part of the Eifel Mountains in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The landscape here between Adenau, Mendig and Daun rises to a height of 747 m. The region is not to be confused with the wes ...

*** 271.0 Olbrück Eifel Perimeter *** 271.1 Kempenich Tuff Plateau *** 271.2/3 Central Eastern High Eifel **** 271.2

/Nitz-Nette Upland ***** 271.20 Hohe Acht Upland ***** 271.21 Nitz-Nette Forest **** 271.3 Elzbach Heights *** 271.4 Southwest foothills of the Eastern High Eifel **** 271.40 Trierbach-Lieser Source Upland **** 271.41 Üßbach Upland **** 271.42 Müllenbach Riedelland **** 271.43 Middle Üßbach Valley ** 272 Ahr Eifel *** 272.0 Reifferscheid Upland *** 272.1 Northern

Upland *** 272.2 Middle Ahr Valley **** 272.20 Dümpelfeld Ahr Valley **** 272.21 Recher Ahreng Valley *** 272.3 Southern Ahr Upland ** 274 Münster Eifel Forest and Northeastern Foot of the Eifel (Cologne map sheet; Cochem map sheet: ''Northeastern Eifel Perimeter''; Handbook: ''Münster Eifel Forest'') *** 274.0 Münstereifel Valley *** 274.1 Münstereifel Forest (Flamersheim Forest) *** 274.2

Swist The Swist is a stream, long, in the German Rhineland. It rises on the northern edge of the Eifel at 330 metres above sea level and empties from the right and southeast into the Rhine tributary, the Erft, between Weilerswist and (a district of ...

Eifel Foothills (Rheinbach Forest) *** 274.3 Königsfeld Eifel Foothills (Cochem map sheet; Cologne map sheet and LANIS: ''Königsfeld Rhine-Eifel Foot'') ** 275

Mechernich Mechernich (, ) is a town in the district of Euskirchen in the south of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the "Naturpark Nordeifel" in the Eifel hills, approx. 15 km south-west of Euskirchen and 55 km from Co ...

Pre-Eifel *** 275.0 Wollersheim ScarplandBetween natural regions 272.0 and 272.2 on the Cologne/Aachen map sheet no boundary is shown. It probably runs from Eicks via Kommern to Firmenich. *** 275.1 Vlatten Hills *** 275.2

Uplands *** 275.3 Antweil Basin *** 275.4 Billig Ridge ** 276 Limestone Eifel *** 276.0 Sötenich Limestone Basin *** 276.1 Blankenheim and Zingsheim Forest **** 276.10 Zingsheim Forest **** 276.11 Blankenheim Forest *** 276.2 Blankenheim Limestone Ridge *** 276.3 Eichholz Ridge *** 276.4 Rohr Limestone Basin *** 276.5 Dollendorf Limestone Basin *** 276.6 Senkenbusch *** 276.7 Ahrdorf-Hillesheim Limestone Basin **** 276.70 Ahrdorf Limestone Basin **** 276.71

Hillesheim Hillesheim () is the third largest town in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It was the seat of the former ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Hillesheim. Geography Location The town lies almost in the middle, halfway between C ...

Limestone Basin *** 276.8 Northern Volcanic Eifel **** 276.80 Kyll Volcanic Eifel **** 276.81 Dockweiler Volcanic Eifel *** 276.9 Southern Limestone Basin **** 276.90

Gerolstein Gerolstein () is a town in the Vulkaneifel district of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Gerolstein is a local municipality of the ''Verbandsgemeinde Gerolstein''. It has been approved as a ''Luftkurort'' (spa town). History As early as the Stone ...

Limestone Basin **** 276.91 Prüm Limestone Basin ** 277 Kyllburg Waldeifel *** 277.0 Neidenbach Sandstone Plateau *** 277.1 Middle Kyll Valley *** 277.2

Kyllburg Kyllburg () is a town in the Waldeifel region in the district of Bitburg-Prüm, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Eifel mountains, on the river Kyll, approximately 10 km north-east of Bitburg. Kyllburg was the seat o ...

Forest Ridge **** 277.20 Prümscheid **** 277.21 Wittlich Forest *** 277.3 Salm Hills The BfN groups the 3 (two-digit) major unit groups under the combined group designated ''D45''.

Mountains and hills

Apart from its valleys, the Eifel is a gently rolling plateau from which elongated mountain ridges and individual mountains rise. The majority of these summits do not attain a great height above the surrounding terrain. Several, however, like the Schwarzer Mann in the Schnee-Eifel, stand out from a long way off as long, forested ridges or clearly isolated mountaintops. The highest mountain in the whole Eifel is the

at 746.9 m. It is the only Eifel summit above 700 m. However, many peaks, mountain ridges and large regions, such as the ''Zitterwald'' reach heights of over 600 m. These include two dozen peaks with good all-round views, of which many have an

observation tower An observation tower is a tower used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision to conduct long distance observations. Observation towers are usually at least tall and are made from stone, iron, and woo ...

. From north to south they are: the Michelsberg, Häuschen and Teufelsley in the north; the Adert, Hohe Acht and Raßberg in the northeast; the Hochkel, Nerotherkopf, Dietzenley and ruins of the Kasselburg in the central area; the Prümer Kalvarienberg, Hartkopf and Prümer Kopf in the east, the Steineberg and Mäuseberg near Daun, the Hochsimmer and Scheidkopf near Mayen; the Eickelslay and Absberg in the southeast; and the Krautscheid and Hohe Kuppe in the southwest. The mountains and hills of the Eifel include the following (in order of height in metres above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

): For a list of these and other Eifel mountains and hills see the

List of mountains and hills of the Eifel This List of mountains and hills in the Eifel contains a selection of mountains (2000 feet or higherThere is no universally agreed definition of a mountain, but Whittow (1984) suggests 2,000 feet or ~600 metres as common) and hills (below 2000 feet ...

. Many of these prominent points are linked by the Eifel-Ardennes Green Route, which crosses the east and south of the region, the German Volcano Route, the German Wildlife Route and the South Eifel Holiday Route.

Water bodies

Due to its moist and mild Atlantic climate, the Eifel is bisected by numerous streams and small rivers. Impoundment of these streams, especially in the North Eifel has led to the creation of very large

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

, such as the Rursee, which is the second largest in Germany by volume, and the Urftsee. A feature of the Eifel are its natural lakes of volcanic origin. The largest, the

Laacher See Laacher See (), also known as Lake Laach or Laach Lake, is a volcanic Volcanic crater lake, caldera lake with a diameter of in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, about northwest of Koblenz, south of Bonn, and west of Andernach. It is in the Eifel ...

, is a collapsed, water-filled

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

, whilst the many

maar A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot lava or magma). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow ...

s are water-filled volcanic eruption bowls. The largest maar lake is the Pulvermaar. The Meerfelder Maar has an even bigger basin, but three-quarters of it has silted up.

Rivers and streams

The many rivers and streams of the Eifel drain into the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

via the great rivers outside of the Eifel: the

(and its tributary, the

) and the

(with its tributaries, the Rur and

Ourthe The Ourthe (; Walloon: ''Aiwe d' Oûte'') is a long river in the Ardennes in Wallonia, Belgium. River It is a right tributary to the river Meuse. The Ourthe is formed at the confluence of the ''Ourthe Occidentale'' (Western Ourthe) and the '' ...

). The rivers and streams within the mountain range, together with their larger tributaries, are as follows:

tributaries: *

(outside of the Eifel) **

Sauer The Sauer ( German and Luxembourgish, , ) or Sûre ( French, ) is a river in Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. A left tributary of the Moselle, its total length is . Rising near Vaux-sur-Sûre in the Ardennes in southeastern Belgium, the Sauer f ...

***

Prüm Prüm () is a town in the Westeifel (Rhineland-Palatinate), Germany. Formerly a district capital, today it is the administrative seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Prüm (Verbandsgemeinde), Prüm. Geography Prüm lies o ...

**** Nims **** Enz **** Alfbach **** Mehlenbach ***

Our (river) The Our (; , ) is a river in Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. It is a left-hand tributary of the river Sauer, Sauer/Sûre. Its total length is . The source of the Our is in the High Fens in southeastern Belgium, near Büllingen, Manderfeld. It ...

**** Irsen **** Ihrenbach ** Kyll ** Salm ** Lieser *** Kleine Kyll ** Alf *** Üßbach *** Sammetbach ** Elzbach * Nette ** Nitzbach * Brohlbach * Vinxtbach *

** Schaafbach ** Ahbach ** Trierbach ** Dreisbach ** Armuthsbach ** Adenauerbach ** Liersbach ** Sahrbach ** Vischelbach ** Leimersdorfer Bach * Erft **

*** Eulenbach ** Veybach ''(Feybach)'' *** Krebsbach *** Kühlbach

tributaries: * Rur ** Perlenbach **

*** Olef **** Platißbach ***** Prether Bach **** Reifferscheider Bach **** Diefenbach **** Rosselbach *** Genfbach *** Gillesbach *** Kuttenbach *** Laufbach *** Wisselsbach ** Inde *** Vichtbach *

(outside Eifel) **

Amel Amel (; , ) is a Belgian municipality in the Walloon province of Liège, and is part of the German-speaking Community of Belgium (). On 1 January 2013, the municipality of Amel had a total population of 5,466. The total area is 125.15 km ...

***

Warche The Warche is a river in eastern Belgium (province of Liège). From its source at Losheimergraben on the Belgian- German border, it flows roughly west about , across the south of the Hautes Fagnes region. It passes through the town of Malmedy, ...

**** Warchenne **** Bayehon **

Vesdre The Vesdre (), Weser () or Vesder () is a river in Liège Province, eastern Belgium. River A few kilometres of the upper reaches also flow through the German municipality Roetgen and form part of the Belgian–German border. The Vesdre's total l ...

''(Weser)'' ***

Hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit, and is usually applied to peaks which are above elevation compared to the relative landmass, though not as prominent as Mountain, mountains. Hills ...

Lakes and reservoirs

Reservoirs * Bitburg Reservoir * Weilerbach Reservoir ( Freilinger See) * Kronenburg Reservoir ( Kronenburger See) * Olef Reservoir * Gileppe Reservoir * Rur Reservoir * Urft Reservoir * Wehebach Reservoir * Weser Reservoir (

Weser The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports o ...

, near

) * Dreilägerbach Reservoir * Perlenbach Reservoir * Kall Reservoir * Lake Bütgenbach * Lake Robertville * Madbach Reservoir * Steinbach Reservoir Volcanic lakes *

* Pulvermaar * Schalkenmehrener Maar * Gemündener Maar * Holzmaar * Meerfelder Maar * Weinfelder Maar or Totenmaar * Ulmener Maar *

Eichholzmaar The Eichholzmaar is one of the smaller maars in the Volcanic Eifel and lies on the ''Landstraße'' between Steffeln and Duppach. It has a diameter of c. 120 metres. Its greatest depth is 3 metres. The circular shape of the bowl of the maar can s ...

* Windsborn Crater Lake

Geology

Despite the interesting geology of the Eifel region, only three comprehensive geological accounts have been produced. In 1822, Johann Steiniger published the first geological map of the area and, in 1853, the ''Geognostische Beschreibung der Eifel''. In 1915 Otto Follmann published a new account, adding to the extent of scientific understanding at that time, the ''Abriss der Geologie der Eifel'' ("Abstract of the geology of the Eifel region". In 1986, Wilhelm Meyer finally published the volume, ''Geologie der Eifel'' ("Geology of the Eifel"), whose fourth, revised, edition is now regarded as the standard work on the geology of the Eifel. The Eifel and its western continuation into Belgium, the

, are the remains of a

Variscan The Variscan orogeny, or Hercynian orogeny, was a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica (Laurussia) and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea. Nomenclature The name ''Variscan ...

truncated upland Truncated upland, truncated highland or bevelled upland () are the heavily eroded remains of a fold mountain range, often from an early period in earth history.Murawski, H., Meyer, W. (2004): ''Geologisches Wörterbuch.'' Spektrum Akademischer Verl ...

, much of it 400 million years old, that is part of the

(''Rheinisches Schiefergebirge''). In the area of the Stavelot-Venn Saddle ( Hohes Venn) are the oldest layers of rock, which originate from the

Cambrian The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordov ...

and are around 550 million years old. The Eifel is one of the few volcanically active areas of Germany, as is evinced by numerous discharges of

carbonic acid Carbonic acid is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . The molecule rapidly converts to water and carbon dioxide in the presence of water. However, in the absence of water, it is quite stable at room temperature. The interconversion ...

, for example into the

. The last eruptions, which gave rise to the most recent

s, occurred about 11,000 years ago. Schiefer anstehend

Basement

The

basement A basement is any Storey, floor of a building that is not above the grade plane. Especially in residential buildings, it often is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the Furnace (house heating), furnace, water heating, ...

in the Eifel, as in the other regions of the

, consists mainly of

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

s and

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

s, laid down in an ocean south of the Old Red Continent and folded and overthrust in the Variscan orogeny. Only on the northern edge of the Eifel, in the High Fens and its environs, do older rocks from the

and

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era, and the second of twelve periods of the Phanerozoic Eon (geology), Eon. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years f ...

outcrop. Rocks of the

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...

do not occur in the Eifel itself, but lie along its northern boundary in the region of

. The Devonian rocks were deposited in an

oceanic basin In hydrology, an oceanic basin (or ocean basin) is anywhere on Earth that is covered by seawater. Geologically, most of the ocean basins are large Structural basin, geologic basins that are below sea level. Most commonly the ocea ...

, in which erosion debris was washed in from the north from the great north continent of

Euramerica Laurasia () was the more northern of two large landmasses that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent from around ( Mya), the other being Gondwana. It separated from Gondwana (beginning in the late Triassic period) during the breakup of Pa ...

(''Laurussia'' or the ''Old Red Continent'') which was formed by Caledonian mountain building during the

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 23.5 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the third and shortest period of t ...

. From the end of the

Lower Carboniferous Lower may refer to: * ''Lower'' (album), 2025 album by Benjamin Booker *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is sit ...

the sea basin was caught up in the Variscan mountain building process, pushed together and uplifted, and thus formed part of the Variscan mountain system that, in the Upper Carboniferous and

early Permian 01 or 01 may refer to: * The year 2001, or any year ending with 01 * The month of January * 1 (number) Music * '01 (Richard Müller album), ''01'' (Richard Müller album), 2001 * 01 (Urban Zakapa album), ''01'' (Urban Zakapa album), 2011 * ''01011 ...

, covered large areas of Europe. The Eifel geological structures like main folds and overthrusts can be traced in a southwest–northeast direction far beyond the Rhine valley.

Platform

Since that folding, the Eifel has largely remained part of the mainland. During the

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years, from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...

, after the end of the uplifting, the Variscan mountains were heavily eroded, leaving only a relatively flat, truncated upland. For a short time, and only partially, this was later flooded by the sea. Depositions from the

Triassic The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...

and

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. ...

periods have survived in the so-called Eifel North-South Zone. This is a region of

subsidence Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope mov ...

, which runs from the

Bay in the south to the

in the north. Through this zone existed at one time a sea link between north and south Central Europe. The remains of the sediments laid down at this time have survived to a greater extent in the ''Maubach-

Triassic Triangle'' in the north and in the ''Oberbettingen Triassic Graben'' in the area around

and Oberbettingen. In the Upper

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

and during the

, the Eifel was inundated mainly from the north. Remains of Cretaceous rocks were discovered on the High Fens. Scattered patches of

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

deposits can be found there and in the Western Eifel. From the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58last ice age can be traced in detail in the Eifel region.

Volcanism

Volcanic activity Volcanism, vulcanism, volcanicity, or volcanic activity is the phenomenon where solids, liquids, gases, and their mixtures erupt to the surface of a solid-surface astronomical body such as a planet or a moon. It is caused by the presence of a he ...

in the Eifel began 50 millions of years ago and continues into the geological present. It created numerous volcanic structures, lava flows and extensive layers of volcanic

ejecta Ejecta (; ) are particles ejected from an area. In volcanology, in particular, the term refers to particles including pyroclastic rock, pyroclastic materials (tephra) that came out of a explosive eruption, volcanic explosion and magma eruption v ...

made of

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock co ...

and

pumice Pumice (), called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of extremely vesicular rough-textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light-colored. Scoria is another vesicula ...

, which have formed the basis of a significant mining activity for the extraction of building materials since Roman times. Some of the hills are volcanic vents. The peculiar circle-shaped lakes (

s) of the volcanic regions formed in volcanic craters. The first volcanic eruptions took place in the early

centred in the High Eifel and even before the volcanic activity of the

Siebengebirge The (), occasionally Sieben Mountains or Seven Mountains, are a hill range of the German Central Uplands on the east bank of the Middle Rhine, southeast of Bonn. Description The area, located in the municipalities of Bad Honnef and Königswin ...

and

Westerwald The Westerwald (; literally 'Western forest') is a low mountain range on the right bank of the river Rhine in the States of Germany, German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a part of the Rhenish Ma ...

. Volcanism in the High Eifel came to an end about 15 to 20 million years ago, at the same time as that of the Siebengebirge. Volcanism in the western and eastern Eifel is, in contrast to that of the High Eifel, much more recent than that of the Siebengebirge and Westerwald. It began in the West Eifel region of Daun, Hillesheim and Gerolstein about 700,000 years ago and created a chain of ash volcanoes,

s and craters running in a chain from northwest to southeast. The youngest maars are only slightly older than 11,000 years. In the eastern Eifel, volcanism began about 500,000 years ago in the area of today's Laacher See; it extended to the Neuwied Basin to the south, and crossed the Rhine to the east. The quantity of

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

lavas, pumice tuffs and ash tuffs produced by the volcanoes was far greater here than in the western Eifel. East Eifel volcanism came to an end with a huge eruption, as a result of which the

magma chamber A magma chamber is a large pool of liquid rock beneath the surface of the Earth. The molten rock, or magma, in such a chamber is less dense than the surrounding country rock, which produces buoyant forces on the magma that tend to drive it u ...

emptied and collapsed, creating a

. Today's

formed in the caldera. The ashes from the eruption can be detected today in deposits all over Central Europe and as far as

Bornholm Bornholm () is a List of islands of Denmark, Danish island in the Baltic Sea, to the east of the rest of Denmark, south of Sweden, northeast of Germany and north of Poland. Strategically located, Bornholm has been fought over for centuries. I ...

as a thin layer. Volcanism is caused by

magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma (sometimes colloquially but incorrectly referred to as ''lava'') is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also ...

, which either rises directly to the Earth's surface from the upper regions of the

Earth's mantle Earth's mantle is a layer of silicate mineral, silicate rock between the Earth's crust, crust and the Earth's outer core, outer core. It has a mass of and makes up 67% of the mass of Earth. It has a thickness of making up about 46% of Earth's ...

or, in the majority of cases, gathers in a magma chamber, several tens of kilometres deep, at the base of the

Earth's crust Earth's crust is its thick outer shell of rock, referring to less than one percent of the planet's radius and volume. It is the top component of the lithosphere, a solidified division of Earth's layers that includes the crust and the upper ...

, from which magma rises at irregular intervals and causes volcanic eruptions. Volcanism in the Eifel is thought to be partly caused by the Eifel hotspot, a place where hot material from deep in the mantle rises to the surface, and partly by melt-ascent at deep

fracture Fracture is the appearance of a crack or complete separation of an object or material into two or more pieces under the action of stress (mechanics), stress. The fracture of a solid usually occurs due to the development of certain displacemen ...

s in the Earth's crust. Research has shown that the volcanism is still active; the Eifel region is rising by 1–2 mm per year and there are escaping gases, for example,

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

() in the

Climate

The Eifel is in the Atlantic climate zone with its relatively high precipitation; winters that are moderately cold and long with periods of snow; and summers that are often humid and cool. The prevailing

wind Wind is the natural movement of atmosphere of Earth, air or other gases relative to a planetary surface, planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heatin ...

is west/southwest. A relatively dry and milder climate prevails in the wind and rain shadow of the High Eifel. Cold air from Siberia in the higher elevations of the Eifel has less of an impact on weather conditions, as the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean to the Eifel brings milder sea air to the Eifel even in winter. Looking at the long-term averages, even the Snow Eifel only has snow cover for nine consecutive days in winter, as there are no longer lasting cold spells. However, there is an average of 70 days of full snow cover because the frequency of snow at higher elevations is relatively high (for comparison:

Bitburg Bitburg (; ; ) is a city in Germany, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate approximately 25 km (16 mi.) northwest of Trier and 50 km (31 mi.) northeast of Luxembourg (city), Luxembourg city. The American Spangdahlem Air Base i ...

35 days, Maifeld 30 days), but the level of snowfall varies from year to year. Snow heights vary on average between 15 cm and 60 cm. The humid Atlantic climate can cause extreme variations though: on 2 March 1987 there was 227 centimetres of snow in the Eifel on the

Weißer Stein Weißer Stein is the name of a 548-metre (1,798 ft) high hill in Germany, located in the Odenwald, north of Heidelberg and east of Dossenheim. On Weißer Stein is a 20 m tall lookout tower. It was built in 1906 by the members of the Odenwal ...

. The mean temperature in the coldest month (January) is at high elevations, in the mountain foreland. There is an average of 110 days of frost, with temperatures below freezing () in the highlands and an average of 30 to 40 'ice days' when temperatures do not rise above freezing. The warmest month (July) only has an average temperature of in the higher areas. The level of precipitation decreases significantly from west to east as a result of the

rain shadow A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from body of water, bodies of water (such as oceans and larg ...

of the highlands. So the Schneifel receives an average of of precipitation (

: ), while in Maifeld the average rainfall is only . The bioclimatic conditions in the Eifel are favourable. Heat stress and air humidity are rarely present in summer. The Eifel has a distinctly stimulating climate; the high elevations being considered as highly stimulating. The Eifel is a clean air area with very low air-chemical pollution. On hot sunny days, there is sometimes an increased concentration of ground-level ozone. Below are two weather station examples for settlements in the Eifel.

History

Etymology

Usage in the course of history

At the time of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

the whole mountain range between the rivers Rhine, Meuse and Moselle was called ''Arduenna silva'' ("high forest"). The oldest record of the name "Eifel" does not occur until the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages (historiography), Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start o ...

. Following the collapse of the West Roman Empire, the

Frankish Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–887) was a Frankish-dominated empire in Western and Central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as kings of the Franks since 751 and as kings of the Lomba ...

emerged in the territories of present-day France and western Germany. This was divided into ''gaue'' (Lat.: '' pagi''). One of them, the

, covered the source regions of the rivers Erft,

, Kyll and

, i.e. predominantly the northern and northwestern foothills of the present Eifel in the eastern half of the ''Arduenna silva'' of the Romans. West of the Eifelgau lay the Ardennengau, whose name was derived from ''Arduenna silva''. Following the end of the Frankish Empire the name of the old ''gaue'' continued to be used in popular language. Over the centuries an ever-larger region was referred to as the Eifel. Today the whole German-speaking part of the range between the Rhine, Meuse and Moselle is called the Eifel (including several areas outside of Germany, see the →

Belgian Eifel The Belgian Eifel (, Luxembourgish: ''Belscher Äifel'') in the German-speaking part of Belgium generally refers to the southern part of the German-speaking Community of Belgium, German-speaking community which forms the Canton of Sankt Vith (Germ ...

), while the French-speaking part in Belgium and France is called the

Earliest surviving records

762 ''Eifflensis pagus'', 772 ''Eiffelnsis pagus'', 804 , 838 ''Eifla'', 845 ''Eiflensis pagus'', 855 ''Eiflinsis pagus'', 860–886 ''Agflinse'', 975 ''Aiflensis pagus'', 1051 ''Eiffila'', 1105 ''Eifla'', 1121 ''Eifla''

Meaning

Müller/Schnetz (1937) believe that an ''-n-'' has dropped out between the

diphthong A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...

and the

syllable A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a ''nucleus'' (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (''margins'', which are ...

, ''-fel''. The resulting root form ''Anfil'' or ''Anfali'' would then mean an "area that is not so level". ''An''- would then be a prefix and ''-fali'', which is related to the Slavic ''polje'' ("field"), means "plain" or "heath". W. Kaspers (1938) deduces from the surviving form the root form ''aku-ella, akwella'' and points to its development into the name "Eifel" in the following sequence: ''aquila'' > > ''aifla'' > ''eifla'' > ''Eifel''. ''Akuella'' derives from the pre-German and means "land with summits" or "land with peaks". Both propositions, like several others, are highly contentious. The most convincing proposal is that of Heinrich Dittmaier (1961). Dittmaier initially derives it from the Germanic ''Ai-fil''. The second component corresponds to ''Ville'', which is the name of a ridge between the Erft, Swist and Rhine today. The variants ''Vele'', ''Vile'' and ''Viele'' may often be found in place names such as ''Veler Weg'' or ''Veler Pfad''. Unlike the modern word ''Ville'' the fricative consonant is hard in "Eifel". Responsible for that was probably a sound between ''ai-'' and ''-fil'', which was assimilated by the ''f'', possibly ''f'', ''k'', ''ch'', ''d'', ''t''. Dittmaier believes the missing sound was a ''k'' or ''ch'', whereby "Eifel" originally went back to ''Aik-fil''. ''Aik/Aich'' is also a name for oak (''Eiche'') and qualifies the root word ''ville''. On the basis that it was covered by oak trees, the Eifel (= ''Eich''-''Ville'') could thus be distinguished from the other

Ville ''Ville'' is a French word meaning "city" or "town", but its meaning in the Middle Ages was "farm" (from Gallo-Romance VILLA < Latin '' villa rustica'') ...

, a name still used today, on the Erft. However, the original, historical and even current vegetation of the present day ''Ville'' is dominated by oak mixed forest. The meaning of "Ville" is also disputed. Dittmaier gives three possible explanations: "marshy region", "plain, heath" and "heathland", which would all bring geology and vegetation into harmony. Another proposal sees the name as even older and possibly of Celtic origin. Near Cologne, an altar was found, which was dedicated to '' Matronae Aufaniae'' Celtic goddesses which were honoured by flowing water. The thesis that the name "Eifel" was derived from this source is not conclusive, but it is persuasive; Eifel would then mean "land of water" or "watery mountains".

Settlement history

By the Old Stone Age, the Eifel was inhabited by people:

Neanderthals Neanderthals ( ; ''Homo neanderthalensis'' or sometimes ''H. sapiens neanderthalensis'') are an extinction, extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle Pleistocene, Middle to Late Plei ...

and

modern humans Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are great apes characterized by their hairlessness, bipedalism, and high intelligen ...

. This is evinced by the Buchenloch and

Magdalena Cave Magdalena may refer to: * Magdalena (given name), a feminine given name derived from Mary Magdalene (including a list of persons with the name) Entertainment * Magdalena (comics), an American comic book superheroine * ''Magdalena'' (film), a 1 ...

s near

. The artifacts from the Magdalena Cave also show that the Eifel was visited by humans even during the height of the last ice age. Excavations show that iron was already being worked by the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

" Hunsrück-Eifel culture" to which the Eifel gives its name. The first smelting hut north of the Alps was built during the

La Tène period LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smi ...

in the 5th century BC in

. Near

there is an iron smelting site in which metal was smelted and worked in an almost industrial manner during the Roman period. In Roman times, the Eifel was an important economic region. Its mineral resources (lead, zinc spar, iron, limestone and stones for construction) were mined, and trade benefited from long-distance Roman communication routes such as the Roman road from Trier to Cologne, which crossed the Eifel. In the late Middle Ages, the Eifel was a border area between the Archbishoprics of Electoral Cologne and

Electoral Trier The Electorate of Trier ( or '; ) was an Hochstift, ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from the end of the 9th to the early 19th century. It was the temporal possession of the prince-archbishop of Trier (') wh ...

, the

County of Luxembourg The County of Luxembourg (; ) was a Imperial State, State of the Holy Roman Empire. It arose from medieval ''Bock (Luxembourg), Lucilinburhuc'' ("Little Fortress") Castle in the present-day Luxembourg (city), City of Luxembourg, purchased by ...

and the

Duchy of Jülich The Duchy of Jülich (; ; ) comprised a state within the Holy Roman Empire from the 11th to the 18th centuries. The duchy lay west of the Rhine river and was bordered by the Electorate of Cologne to the east and the Duchy of Limburg to the wes ...

. This explains the large number of castles, now lying in ruins, which had been built mainly for the purpose of guarding the border. Through skillful politics, several smaller principalities and abbey estates were able to acquire their independence, for example the House of Manderscheid-Blankenheim, the County of Salm-Reifferscheid and

Prüm Abbey Prüm Abbey is a former Order of Saint Benedict, Benedictine abbey in Prüm, now in the diocese of Trier (Germany), founded by the Franks, Frankish widow Bertrada of Prüm, Bertrada the elder and her son Caribert of Laon, Charibert, Count of Laon, ...

. The mining and smelting works, with their demand for

pit prop A pit prop or mine prop (British and American usage, respectively) is a length of lumber used to prop up the roofs of tunnels in coal mines. Canada traditionally supplied pit props to the British market. As coal mining declined in importance and ...

s and

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ca ...

for

smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron-making, iron, copper extraction, copper ...

, the great demand for construction timber and firewood and the

shipbuilding industry Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces i ...

which was widespread until the 19th century, led to an almost complete deforestation of the woods. In fact, around 1800, the Eifel must be imagined as a landscape of meadows and heathland, where animals, especially flocks of sheep, grazed. At the same time, the population was becoming increasingly impoverished because the poor arable land did not yield rich harvests. Even after the decline of mining and smelting operations after the mid-19th century, the situation of the population did not improve. In addition, the Eifel was a marching route for French troops to all kinds of theatres of war. They demanded "

forage Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term ''forage'' has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used m ...

money" from the local population, which just caused further impoverishment, as the records of Kottenheim show.

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n rule began in 1815, but little changed in terms of social conditions: The Eifel, as a poor peripheral region of the empire ("Prussian Siberia"), was only of interest for military reasons. For Prussian officials and officers, mainly Protestants, a posting to the purely Catholic Eifel region was like a punishment sentence. However, the landscape changed as Prussia carried out systematic reforestation, albeit with coniferous trees that were not typical of the region. In the 19th century, the Eifel region suffered severe famines, especially in the years 1816/17, 1847 and 1879/80, and an 1853 memorandum records that ''"Many Eifel inhabitants know no food other than potatoes and bread that consists of a mixture of oatmeal and potato. It can be said without exaggeration that two thirds of the entire population only enjoy meat once a year."'' The consequences of the terrible food situation were only too obvious: ''"In 1852, only 10% of all those liable to enlistment were fit for military service."''.“Hans-Dieter Arntz
''Naturkatastrophen und Notstände in der Eifel''
Due to its barren soils and the harsh climate, which led time and again to poor harvests, many farmers were in debt. According to reports of the winter of starvation in 1879/80, however, there was a wave of solidarity in the

Reich ( ; ) is a German word whose meaning is analogous to the English word " realm". The terms and are respectively used in German in reference to empires and kingdoms. In English usage, the term " Reich" often refers to Nazi Germany, also ca ...

, and in 1883 the "Eifel Fund" was established, through which, within 18 years, 5.5 millions

Reichsmark The (; sign: ℛ︁ℳ︁; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945, and in the American, British and French occupied zones of Germany, until 20 June 1948. The Reichsmark was then replace ...

s were raised for

land improvement Land development is the alteration of landscape in any number of ways, such as: * Changing landforms from a natural or semi-natural state for a purpose such as agriculture or housing * Subdividing real estate into lots, typically for the purpo ...

, for the

afforestation Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees in an area where there was no recent tree cover. There are three types of afforestation: natural Regeneration (biology), regeneration, agroforestry and Tree plantation, tree plan ...

of barren land and for

land consolidation Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of Earth not submerged by the ocean or another body of water. It makes up 29.2% of Earth's surface and includes all continents and islands. Earth's land surface ...

.''.

For a long time, economic development was hampered by the poor condition of roads and tracks. However, due to its border location between the German Empire, Belgium and Luxembourg (as march routes to France), many

railway line Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...

s were built since the foundation of the German Empire, which served military-strategic purposes. This improvement of the transport routes also boosted tourism. The construction of the

Nürburgring The () is a 150,000-person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long configuration, built in the 1920s ...

also served the purpose of economic development in the 1920s. The border region of the Eifel was also not spared by the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The construction of the

Siegfried Line The Siegfried Line, known in German as the ''Westwall (= western bulwark)'', was a German defensive line built during the late 1930s. Started in 1936, opposite the French Maginot Line, it stretched more than from Kleve on the border with the ...

was followed, from September 1944 to January 1945, by violent

battles A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force c ...

and the

Ardennes Offensive The Ardennes ( ; ; ; ; ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, extending into Germany and France. Geological ...

, especially in the northern Eifel, which still bears witness to the legacy of the war: ruins of old bunkers and parts of tank barriers. Especially in the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest, where the battle with the highest losses was fought in the west, military cemeteries - such as in Vossenack - bear witness to the brutal events of the war. The Eifel region was severely hit in the

2021 European floods In July 2021, several European countries were affected by severe floods. Some were catastrophic, causing deaths and widespread damage. The floods started in the United Kingdom as flash floods causing some property damage and inconvenience. Lat ...

Economy

Much of the Eifel has limited infrastructure and there are almost no large industrial areas. Only in the

Pellenz The Pellenz is a hill country in the northwestern part of the Middle Rhine Basin in Germany between Mayen in the southwest and Andernach in the northeast. In addition Pellenz is the name of a ''Verbandsgemeinde'' in the state of Rhineland-Pal ...

in the Neuwied Basin is there a stronger industrial presence. Agriculture is restricted to certain valleys and the lower levels (particularly in parts of the southern Eifel, the Pre-Eifel and the Maifeld). A large number of farms have been converted into stabling facilities, some of which offer overnight accommodation and horse care for

trail riders ''Trail Riders'' is a 1942 American Western film directed by Robert Emmett Tansey. The film is the eighteenth in Monogram Pictures' " Range Busters" series, and it stars John "Dusty" King as Dusty, "Davy" Sharpe and Max "Alibi" Terhune, wi ...

. Wine-growing is a major activity along the Rhine, Moselle and Ahr valleys and in the Wittlich Basin. In the Wittlich Basin,

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

is also grown. At Holsthum in the Prüm valley, in the lee of the Ferschweiler Plateau,

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whic ...

are grown for the

Bitburger Brewery Bitburger Brewery (Bitburger Brauerei Th. Simon GmbH) is a large Beer in Germany, German brewery in Bitburg, Rhineland-Palatinate. Founded in 1817 by Johann Wallenborn, its Pilsner is the Beer in Germany#Breweries, third best-selling in Germany, ...

. However, at high altitudes in the Eifel, only forestry and dairy farming are generally possible. Mining is still carried out in the Eifel region. In

Mayen Mayen () is a town in the Mayen-Koblenz, Mayen-Koblenz District of the Rhineland-Palatinate Federal State of Germany, in the eastern part of the Volcanic Eifel Region. As well as the main town, additional settlements include Alzheim, Kürrenberg, ...

the firm of Rathscheck Schiefer mines roofing slates in the Moselle slate mines of Katzenberg and Margareta, and

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate Hydrate, dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, drywall and blackboard or sidewalk ...

in Ralingen on the River

near the border with Luxembourg. In the South Eifel, especially in the Wehrer Bowl, volcanic

is extracted. In many places in the Eifel region, the mining of

and other rocks and minerals has a long tradition. For example, between Daun, Gerolstein and Hillesheim - i.e. in the heart of the Volcanic Eifel - there are 17 active pits over an area of 11 by12 kilometres. Residents and local authorities affected by the planned expansion (as of July 2012) have practically no influence over it because it is based on the old

mining law Mining law is the branch of law relating to the legal requirements affecting minerals and mining. Mining law covers several basic topics, including the ownership of the mineral resource and who can work them. Mining is also affected by various re ...

. There is evidence that

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

was being processed in the Eifel by the

. The first smelting works north of the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

was built during the

in the 5th century BC in

.Die Montangeschichte Kalls
/ref> Near

there is an iron smeltery where, during the

Roman period The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

, the metal was being smelted and worked almost in an industrial way. So by then the Eifel was already an important economic area. Its mineral resources (

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

, zinc spar,

, lime and rocks for construction) were mined and trade benefited from

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

s such as the Roman road from Trier to Cologne, which crossed the Eifel. The abundance of

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

, which was needed for smelting, and of watercourses, which were indispensable for the preparation and operation of

hammer mill A hammer mill, hammer forge or hammer works was a workshop in the pre-industrial era that was typically used to manufacture semi-finished, wrought iron products or, sometimes, finished agricultural or mining tools, or military weapons. The featur ...

s and

bellows A bellows or pair of bellows is a device constructed to furnish a strong blast of air. The simplest type consists of a flexible bag comprising a pair of rigid boards with handles joined by flexible leather sides enclosing an approximately airtig ...

, made it possible for the Eifel to be an important supra-regional economic area even in the late Middle Ages. About 10% of the iron produced in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

originated from the Eifel. It was traded at the markets in

and

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

. Well known are the many

mineral spring Mineral springs are naturally occurring springs that produce hard water, water that contains dissolved minerals. Salts, sulfur compounds, and gases are among the substances that can be dissolved in the spring water during its passage un ...

s, which occur frequently here because of the region's volcanic past. The largest bottlers are Gerolsteiner Brunnen and Apollinaris. One of the largest German breweries, Bitburger, has its headquarters and production facilities in

in the Eifel. The economic importance of

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

has increased since the

; and it was further encouraged, for example, by the Eifel's designation as a

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

(the

) on 1 January 2004, as well as the natural history infrastructure in the Volcanic Eifel. Furthermore, the Eifel Park and several

s and lakes are popular tourist destinations. In winter, in some of the highlands, there are opportunities for winter sports, e.g. at the Schwarzer Mann near

, the

near

Hellenthal Hellenthal is a municipality in the district of Euskirchen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the Eifel hills, near the border with Belgium, approx. 30 km south-west of Euskirchen and 40 km south-east of Aa ...

or in Rohren near

. A well known destination for motorsport fans is the

with its famous Nordschleife. Another touristic and

geological Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth s ...

destination is the German Volcano Road, which links the attractions of the Vulkanland Eifel Geopark. There are also numerous mountains and hills with good viewing points as well as several

holiday route A scenic route, tourist road, tourist drive, scenic byway, or holiday road is a specially designated road or waterway that travels through an area of natural or cultural beauty. It often passes by Scenic viewpoint, scenic viewpoints. The designat ...

s. Hiking tourism is also of considerable economic importance, as is reflected in the increasing number of overnight stays for hiking guests and the progressive expansion of the network of trails. In addition to the Eifelsteig trail, which was opened in 2009 and runs from

across the Eifel, there is a wide network of themed and circular walks.

Culture

Literature

As a traditionally isolated land, in which the population kept a quiet and simple way of life, the Eifel offered fertile soil for lively folk poetry. The

saga Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia. The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the ...

s and

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful bei ...

s, which were told on long winter evenings in the farmhouse parlours, often reflect a longing for a better world, which stood in contrast to the found reality of life. The Eifel also repeatedly offered material for numerous literary and regional studies works - from the Eifel and about the Eifel.

Folk literature

Eifel

mentality A mindset refers to an established set of attitudes of a person or group concerning culture, values, philosophy, frame of reference, outlook, or disposition. It may also arise from a person's worldview or beliefs about the meaning of life. Som ...

and humour were reflected in numerous anecdotes and jokes. Figures of fun and Eifel characters are brought to life in these stories. The ''Dahnener Sprünge'' have become famous beyond the region. A love of jokes and ridicule of one's neighbours may have formed motives for these popular stories of Eifel fools. In addition, there are countless horror stories of witches, undead, headless horsemen, headless riders, revenants and werewolves, which - like those in the neighbouring Ardennes region - survived into the 20th century. Folk poetry of the Eifel was collected early on. Inspired by Romanticism, in which folklore was seen as a rich source of unadulterated motifs and forms, collections of stories and adaptations of Eifel folk tales emerged. Among the most illuminating collections is the poetic guide through the Eifel region by chaplain, Johann Heydinger. Prominent authors such as Adelbert von Chamisso, Guido Görres, Karl Simrock, Ernst Moritz Arndt and Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel, Friedrich Schlegel rank amongst the early Eifel authors. During the 1920s scientific interest in folk culture also gave impetus to the collection of folk poetry. The most prominent collector was Bonn professor of folklore, Matthias Zender, who was born in Zendscheid and who, as a student between 1929 and 1936, collected about 10,000 stories, folk tales and jokes from the Eifel/

region, of which 2,000 were published. Scary stories from the Eifel region were collected and partly published by headmaster, Heinrich Hoffmann, from

in 1900 and also by Zender in the 1930s. Peter Kremer published a collection of such stories with a commentary in 2003 in a Düren publication.Peter Kremer: ''Wo das Grauen lauert: Blutsauger und kopflose Reiter, Werwölfe und Wiedergänger an Inde, Erft und Rur.'' PeKaDe-Verlag, Düren, 2003, .

Authors and works

Well-known historical works of the Eifel are the ''Eiflia illustrata oder geographische und historische Beschreibung der Eifel'' by Johann Friedrich Schannat, published in the 17th century, translated, supplemented and re-edited in 1824 by Georg Bärsch; and the ''Eiflia sacra'', also edited by Schannat and re-edited in 1888 by Carl Schorn. The first recognised Eifel poet was Peter Zirbes, a wandering stoneware trader from Niederkail. He was the author of simple poems in the Eifel dialect, which he published in 1852. In 2010, Ute Bales wrote a novel about his life, which was awarded the special prize by the jury in the Rhineland-Palatinate Book of the Year competition (''Buch des Jahres Rheinland-Pfalz''). Many contemporary poets who live in the Eifel or come from the Eifel have captured the Eifel poetically and made it known beyond its borders to readers of poetry in the German-speaking world. These include Jochen Arlt (who has also contributed to regional literature as the editor of several Eifel anthologies), Theo Breuer (writer), Theo Breuer, Ursula Krechel and Norbert Scheuer. Jochen Arlt's poem ''Einkaufn gehen in Münstereifel'' may be read in the most important German poetry collection, ''The Great Conrady. The book of German poems. From its Beginnings to the Present''. One great narrator and native of

, who chose the Eifel as the setting for her novels and stories, was Clara Viebig. The best-selling author of the subsequent Naturalism (literature), naturalism movement, wrote two great literary monuments about the Eifel with her novels, ''Kreuz im Venn'' and ''Weiberdorf''. The reception of Clara Viebig's work was interrupted during the Nazi era because of her marriage to a Jewish publisher. Since the end of the 1980s, the author's works have experience a deserved renaissance - even in the Eifel region. Perhaps the most important literary work about the Eifel region and its people is the novel ''Winterspelt'' by Alfred Andersch, which is set in the final phase of the

and depicts the positional war during the Ardennes offensive and the tragic combination of people and their fates in epic breadth. The author, Heinz Küpper, who died in 2005 and whose novels included ''Wohin mit dem Kopf'' and ''Zweikampf mit Rotwild'', Norbert Scheuer from Kall, North Rhine-Westphalia, Kall and Ute Bales from

are today the most important representatives of the Eifel in the field of contemporary, German-language prose. In their works, they present the Eifel, both physically and symbolically, as a rugged landscape, which becomes a reflection of spiritual landscapes. Particularly interesting here (in comparison to the perspective of the more down-to-earth narrator) is the Eifel's literary composition from the point of view of the outsider. This literature challenges us to confront the region and its people, especially where there is no attempt to romanticize the Eifel, but where hopelessness and despair in the face of poverty and misery, intellectual narrowness or rigid systems of values become apparent. Although Norbert Scheuer was born in the Eifel, the narrators of his novels and stories take the perspective of the distanced or the outsider. Norbert Scheuer has succeeded in presenting life in the Eifel in a multifaceted way and making it interesting for readers in the entire German-speaking area, especially in his latest book ''Kall, Eifel'' (2005). In Ute Bales' novels, landscape and people are inseparably connected. The characteristic of the Eifel landscape and its inhabitants is the starting point of a narrative style that shows people as ''"lonely, lost, in a misunderstood place"'' in and with their suffering, as in the novel ''Kamillenblumen'' (2010) about the peddler, Traud, from Kolverath.

Eifel crime novels

One literary genre that has been flourishing in many regions and cities in Germany over the last few decades is the crime novel with a local or regional setting. Jacques Berndorf has become the best-selling German crime novelist with detective novels such as ''Eifel-Blues'' (1989), ''Eifel-Sturm'' (1999) or ''Eifel-Träume'' (2004). In 1996, he was awarded the top prize at the Eifel Literature Festival. In addition, Ralf Kramp was awarded the sponsorship prize. Kramp was the first author to write Eifel crime stories for children with his series about the "black cloverleaf" (''schwarzes Kleeblatt''). Harald Schneider (born 1962) is the author of the children's detective series ''Die Meisterschnüffler'', an interactive read that leads readers from 8 years old to different locations in the Eifel. Carola Clasen, Carsten Sebastian Henn, Andreas Izquierdo, Rudolf Jagusch, Martina Kempff, Elke Pistor, Edgar Noske and Hans Jürgen Sittig are other authors who contribute to the genre of Eifel crime novels. Historical crime novels have been penned by Günter Krieger and Petra Schier. Josef Zierden has published an Eifel thriller travel guide that covers countless crime novel scenes in the Eifel. In the town of

there is an Eifel crime novel hiking trail that links the scenes of novels by Jacques Berndorf and Ralf Kramp. The crime novel house in Hillesheim houses the largest collection of detective novels in the German-speaking world with a stock of 30,000 books, and there is also a "crime café" in the house.

Fine arts

The Eifel was a destination for German Impressionism, impressionists, among them Eugen Bracht, who painted there with colleagues, and August von Brandis, who often spent several days there with architecture students from Aachen in order to give them an understanding of landscape painting. Two of Bracht's paintings are preserved at the castles of Manderscheid.

Towns and cities

* Towns in the Eifel: Adenau, Bad Münstereifel, Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler,

, Daun,

(Belgium),

, Heimbach (Eifel), Heimbach,

, Kaisersesch,

, Malmedy (Belgium), Manderscheid, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Manderscheid,

, Mendig,

, Münstermaifeld, Neuerburg, Nideggen, Polch,

, Schleiden, Sankt Vith, St. Vith (Belgium), Speicher (Eifel), Speicher, Stolberg (Rhineland), Stolberg, Ulmen (Eifel), Ulmen, Wittlich. * Towns and cities near the Eifel:

, Düsseldorf, Euskirchen,

, Liège (Belgium), Luxembourg City, Luxembourg (Luxembourg), Maastricht (Netherlands),

Castles

Well preserved

* Eltz Castle * Lissingen Castle * Satzvey Castle * Dudeldorf Castle * Schloss Eicks

19th- and 20th-century rebuilds

* Bollendorf Castle * Genovevaburg * Vlatten Castle * Cochem Castle

Ruins

* Gerolstein Castle * Gödersheim Castle * Löwenburg and Philippsburg * Manderscheid, Bernkastel-Wittlich#Culture and sightseeing, Manderscheid castles * Monschau Castle * Nideggen Castle * Schönecken Castle * Ulmen castles * Nürburg Castle

Transport

Through the Eifel run the following transport routes: * the Ahr Valley Railway from Remagen to Ahrbrück * the Hürth-Kalscheuren–Ehrang railway, Eifel Line from Cologne via Euskirchen, Kall and Gerolstein to Trier and several branch lines. Most of the branch lines have however since been closed and some have been lifted. * the Erft Valley Railway from Euskirchen to Bad Münstereifel with its connexion to the Voreifel Railway from Euskirchen to Bonn * the Trans-Eifel Railway from Andernach via Mayen, Kaisersesch and Daun to Gerolstein. The section of line from Kaisersesch to Gerolstein is only operated in spring and summer. The branching lines from Mayen via Polch to Koblenz, Polch to Münstermaifeld and Daun to Wittlich were closed and partly converted for tourist purposes (cycleways). * the Düren–Heimbach railway, Rur Valley Railway from Düren to Heimbach. It is additionally worked on summer weekends by the Euregio Railway on the section from Heerlen (Netherlands) via Aachen and Düren to Heimbach and is especially popular with day tourists, for whom the town of Heimbach and its associated villages are a charming destination. * the Brohl Valley Railway from Brohl to Engeln; privately operated narrow gauge railway. * the Bundesautobahn 1, A 1 (also Eifel Motorway), Bundesautobahn 48, A 48, Bundesautobahn 60, A 60, Bundesautobahn 61, A 61, Bundesautobahn 64, A 64, Bundesautobahn 565, A 565, Bundesautobahn 571, A 571 and Bundesautobahn 573, A 573 motorways. * numerous Bundesstraße, federal roads, e. g. the Bundesstraße 49, B 49, Bundesstraße 50, B 50, Bundesstraße 51, B 51, Bundesstraße 52, B 52, Bundesstraße 53, B 53, Bundesstraße 56, B 56, Bundesstraße 257, B 257, Bundesstraße 258, B 258, Bundesstraße 265, B 265, Bundesstraße 399, B 399, Bundesstraße 409, B 409, Bundesstraße 410, B 410, Bundesstraße 418, B 418, Bundesstraße 421, B 421 and Bundesstraße 477, B 477

Points of interest

* The

, one of the world's most famous motor-racing courses. The northern loop (''Nordschleife'') of the course is known as the Green Hell (''Grüne Hölle''), because of its long, difficult and dangerous course through the local forest. The 2020 Formula One World Championship held a race at the

under the title of Eifel Grand Prix. * The Eifel Aqueduct, an interesting archeological feature. One of the longest aqueduct (Roman), aqueducts of the

, it provided water to the Roman settlement of Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (modern-day

References

Otto Follmann (1915) ''Abriss der Geologie der Eifel''; Westermann. Stephan Marks, ''Schriftenschau, "Geologie der Eifel"'' i
Mitteilungen des Verbandes der deutschen Höhlen- und Karstforscher e. V. 2015/01
; page 24. Wilhelm Meyer (2013) ''Geologie der Eifel''; 4th fully revised edition; Schweizerbart, Stuttgart; . Johann Steiniger (1853) ''Geognostische Beschreibung der Eifel''; Lintz, Trier.

External links

*
Historical Background: The Eifel District

High Fens-Eifel Nature Park

Eifel National Park

Hans-Dieter Arntz: regional-historical home page – ''Geschichte des Judentums, Nationalsozialismus und 2. Weltkrieg sowie Geschichte der Eifel und Voreifel.''
{{Authority control Eifel, Rhenish Massif Rhineland Natural regions of Germany Landscapes of Rhineland-Palatinate Regions of North Rhine-Westphalia Regions of Rhineland-Palatinate Mountain ranges of North Rhine-Westphalia Mountain ranges of Rhineland-Palatinate Mountain ranges of Luxembourg Mountain ranges of Belgium Landforms of Wallonia Landforms of Liège Province Areas of Belgium Cultural landscapes of North Rhine-Westphalia Eifelian,

Geography

Location

Topography

National and nature parks

Divisions

Overview

Natural regional divisions

Mountains and hills

Water bodies

Rivers and streams

Lakes and reservoirs

Geology

Basement

Platform

Volcanism

Climate

History

Etymology

Usage in the course of history

Earliest surviving records

Meaning

Settlement history

Economy

Culture

Literature

Folk literature

Authors and works

Eifel crime novels

Fine arts

Towns and cities

Castles

Well preserved

19th- and 20th-century rebuilds

Ruins

Transport

Points of interest

See also

References

Further reading

External links