Kirschweiler 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

Birkenfeld Birkenfeld () is a town and the district seat of the Birkenfeld (district), Birkenfeld Districts of Germany, district in southwest Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is also the seat of the Birkenfeld (Verbandsgemeinde), like-named ''Verbandsge ...

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''

Herrstein-Rhaunen Herrstein-Rhaunen is a ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") in the district of Birkenfeld, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' is in Herrstein. It was formed on 1 January 2020 by the merger of the former ...

, whose seat is in

Herrstein Herrstein is an ''Ortsgemeinde (Germany), Ortsgemeinde'' – a Municipalities of Germany, municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld (district), Birkenfeld Districts of Germany, dist ...

Geography

Location

The municipality lies a few kilometres northwest of

Idar-Oberstein Idar-Oberstein () is a town in the Birkenfeld (district), Birkenfeld Districts of Germany, district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. As a ''Große kreisangehörige Stadt'' (large city belonging to a district), it assumes some of the respons ...

in the

Hunsrück The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced mountain range, upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle (river), Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued ...

. The municipal area is 56% wooded.

Neighbouring municipalities

Kirschweiler's neighbours besides Idar-Oberstein are Hettenrodt and

Kempfeld Kempfeld is an ''Ortsgemeinde (Germany), Ortsgemeinde'' – a Municipalities of Germany, municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld (district), Birkenfeld Districts of Germany, district ...

with its outlying centre of Katzenloch.

Constituent communities

Also belonging to Kirschweiler are the outlying homesteads of Auf der Lüh und Kirschweiler Mühle.

History

In 1272, Kirschweiler had its first documentary mention.

Politics

Municipal council

The council is made up of 16 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

Kirschweiler's mayor is Karl-Otto Dreher.

Coat of arms

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: Per bend azure a diamond with one row of brilliants and Or a lion rampant gules armed and langued of the first.

Culture and sightseeing

Buildings

The following are listed buildings or sites in

’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:Directory of Cultural Monuments in Birkenfeld district
/ref> *

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

church, Schulstraße –

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 ...

with

ridge turret A ridge turret is a turret or small tower constructed over the ridge or apex between two or more sloping roofs of a building. It is usually built either as an architectural ornament for purely decorative purposes or else for the practical housing ...

, armorial stone, 1739/1740; two

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

bell A bell /ˈbɛl/ () is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be m ...

s, 1924 * Hauptstraße, graveyard – three older gravestones (1855, about 1910, 1920) * Hauptstraße 22 – villalike Late Historicist residential and commercial house * Hauptstraße 27 – house with

knee wall A knee wall is a short wall, typically under three feet (one metre) in height, used to support the rafters in timber roof construction. In his book ''A Visual Dictionary of Architecture'', Frank Ching, Francis D. K. Ching defines a knee wall as "a ...

, about 1910; gem-cutting workshop * Schulstraße 8 – former

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

;

Baroque Revival The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (in ...

building with hipped roof, portal risalto, ridge turret, 1910-1924 * Across from Tampelstraße 8 – gem-cutting shop, about 1910; equipment partly preserved Kirschweiler offers, among other things, a few gem-cutting shops that can be visited, a vast

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...

(''Golf Club Edelstein Hunsrück e.V.'') and two gemstone fountains in the village centre.

Regular events

Each year, Kirschweiler holds the ''Burekirb'' (a fair).

Clubs

Among Kirschweiler’s clubs are ''TuS Kirschweiler'' (with

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, among other things), ''MGV Kirschweiler'' (men’s singing club) and ''SV Kirschweiler'' (shooting). Zur Vereinsstruktur in Kirschweiler gehören der TuS Kirschweiler (u.a. Fußball), der MGV Kirschweiler (Gesangsverein), der SV Kirschweiler (Schützenverein), u.v.m..

Economy and infrastructure

The wealth of water in the Idarbach, which flows through the valley here was the basis for the village’s development into the “Village of the Gemstone Grinders”. Even today, Kirschweiler's economic life is characterized by gemstone grinders’ and goldsmiths’ businesses. Defining landmarks in the municipality are the two gemstone fountains in the village centre and the crystal fountain at Hans-Becker-Halle. On Kirschweiler's outskirts is a seniors’ home sponsored by the ''Elisabeth-Stiftung'' (“Elisabeth Foundation”, named after Princess Elisabeth of Saxe-Altenburg) with 63 places and a further 6 places for

assisted living An assisted living residence or assisted living facility (ALF) is a housing facility for people with disabilities or for adults who cannot or who choose not to live independently. The term is popular in the United States. Still, the setting i ...

References

External links

Municipality’s official webpage
{{Authority control Birkenfeld (district)