Gelenberg is an ''

Ortsgemeinde Ortsgemeinde may refer to: * Ortsgemeinde (Austria), a type of municipality in Austria * Ortsgemeinde (Germany) A (; plural ) is a low-level administrative division, administrative unit in the Germany, German States of Germany, federal states ...

'' – a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

belonging to a ''

Verbandsgemeinde A (; plural ) is a low-level administrative division, administrative unit in the Germany, German States of Germany, federal states of Brandenburg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A is typically composed of a small group of Municipalitie ...

'', a kind of collective municipality – in the

Vulkaneifel Vulkaneifel () is a district (''Kreis'') in the northwest of the state Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the least densely populated district in the state and the fourth most sparsely populated district in Germany. The administrative centre of ...

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

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 ...

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 ...

. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Kelberg, whose seat is in the like-named municipality.

Geography

Location

The municipality lies in the

, a part of the

Eifel The Eifel (; , ) is a low mountain range in western Germany, eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Com ...

known for its volcanic history, geographical and geological features, and even ongoing activity today, including gases that sometimes well up from the earth.

Geology

Near a

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 ...

mountain at Gelenberg, an amygdaloidal layer was found in the

greywacke Greywacke or graywacke ( ) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness (6–7 on Mohs scale), dark color, and Sorting (sediment), poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or sand-size Lith ...

History

Gelenberg was settled very early on as witnessed by a group of prehistoric barrows. There are at least 17 of them, mostly untouched. As early as 1683, Gelenberg had an oratory, as shown on a 1683 map of the Electoral-Trier ''

Amt Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...

'' of Daun. It was consecrated to

Saint Roch Roch (lived c. 1348 – 15/16 August 1376/79; traditionally c. 1295 – 16 August 1327), also called Rock in English, was a Majorcan Catholic confessor whose death is commemorated on 16 August and 9 September in Italy; he was especially invo ...

, patron saint of Plague victims. It was replaced in 1717 by a new chapel, this one consecrated to

Saint Wendelin Saint Wendelin of Trier (; 554 - 617 AD) was a hermit and abbot. His cultus is wide-spread in German-speaking areas. He is a patron of country folk and herdsmen. He is honored on October 22. Life Because no information about him was availabl ...

. However, by 1834, the chapel was in such a state of disrepair that services could no longer be held there. In 1848, a new one was built. According to the 1817 local directory, the municipality had 88 inhabitants. In 1840, Gelenberg had 21 houses and 93 inhabitants. After the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

in 1870 and 1871, the population had fallen to 80, reaching its lowest ever level – which it later reached once again – of 73 in 1905. This had risen back up to 83 by the time 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 ...

broke out, only to fall down to 73 again by 1950. By 1964, this had risen to 87 and at the end of 1967, the population had reached 95, its all-time peak thus far.

Religion

Roughly 90% of Gelenbergers are

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

. The village chapel is consecrated to

. Gelenberg belongs to the Catholic parish of Bodenbach. People from Gelenberg also like to visit the Heyerbergkapelle (chapel) with its Way of the Cross in the forest.

Politics

Municipal council

The council is made up of 6 council members, who were elected by

majority vote A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the "#Related terms, Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a Set (mathematics), set consisting of more than half of the se ...

at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.

Mayor

Gelenberg’s mayor is Peter Burggraf.

Coat of arms

The German blazon reads: ''In Grün über einem goldenen Berg, darin eine blaue Urne, eine links gewendete goldene Hirtenschaufel.'' The municipality’s

arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

might in English

heraldic Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branc ...

language be described thus: Vert a herdsman’s shovel bendwise sinister Or, in base a mount of the second charged with an urn azure. The “mount” in the base of the

escutcheon Escutcheon may refer to: * Escutcheon (heraldry), a shield or shield-shaped emblem, displaying a coat of arms * Escutcheon (furniture), a metal plate that surrounds a keyhole or lock cylinder on a door * (in medicine) the distribution of pubic ha ...

refers to the barrows found in Gelenberg and is also a

canting ' (International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: , Van Ophuijsen Spelling System, VOS Spelling: , ) is a pen-like tool used to apply liquid hot wax () in the batik-making process in Indonesia, more precisely (). Traditional consists of copper wax-con ...

charge Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * '' Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...

for the placename ending ''—berg'' (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

for “mountain”). The urn also refers to the prehistoric finds made here. The herdsman’s shovel is a reference to the locally venerated saint,

Wendelin of Trier Saint Wendelin of Trier (; 554 - 617 AD) was a hermit and abbot. His cultus is wide-spread in German-speaking areas. He is a patron of country folk and herdsmen. He is honored on October 22. Life Because no information about him was availabl ...

, and the field

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

vert (green) stands for the village’s centuries-old agricultural character.

Culture and sightseeing

Buildings: *

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

branch church, Kirchstraße 1, biaxial

aisleless church An aisleless church () is a single-nave church building that consists of a single hall-like room. While similar to the hall church, the aisleless church lacks aisles or passageways on either side of the nave and separated from the nave by col ...

, 1848.Directory of Cultural Monuments in Vulkaneifel district
/ref>

References

External links

Gelenberg in the collective municipality’s Web pages
{{Authority control Vulkaneifel