Lutzerath is an – 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 , a kind of collective municipality – in the

Cochem-Zell Cochem-Zell (German: ''Landkreis Cochem-Zell'') is a district (''Kreis'') in the north-west of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are Mayen-Koblenz, Rhein-Hunsrück, Bernkastel-Wittlich, and Vulkaneifel. History In 1816 the di ...

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 Ulmen, whose seat is in the like-named town. Lutzerath is a recognized recreational resort (''Erholungsort'').

Geography

Location

Lutzerath lies 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 ...

, 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. It is not, however, in

the district ''The District'' is an American crime drama and police procedural television series that aired on CBS from October 7, 2000, to May 1, 2004. The show followed the work and personal life of the chief of Washington, D.C.'s police department. P ...

bearing this same name. Lutzerath is found on a high ridge (435 m 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 ...

) framed by dales, woods and meadows, between the state spa of

Bad Bertrich Bad Bertrich is an '' Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Ulmen, wh ...

and the tourist resort of

Daun Daun () is a town in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the district seat and also the seat of the ' of Daun. Geography Location The town lies in the , a part of the Eifel known for its volcanic history, geog ...

. Nearby are some crater lakes.

Constituent communities

Besides the main centre, also called Lutzerath, there is an outlying centre called Driesch. Alongside Driesch, there are residential areas that also belong to Lutzerath: Jagdhaus Flöder, Auf der Acht, Altmühle, Neumühle, Waldhaus Lutzerath and Waldhof.

History

In 1051, Lutzerath had its first documented mention and was long an Electoral-Trier holding. In 1726, a main post office with a horse-changing station was built in Lutzerath. With the French Revolutionary occupation of the lands on 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 ...

’s left bank between 1794 and 1796, Lutzerath passed to the canton of Lutzerath. In 1815 it was assigned to the Kingdom of

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, ...

at the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

. Since 1946, it has been part of the then newly founded

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

. The outlying centre of Driesch formed together with Lutzerath a single municipality until 1922 when it became a separate one. On 7 June 1969, however, it was amalgamated with Lutzerath once again.

Politics

Municipal council

The council is made up of 16 council members, who were elected by

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman. The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:

Mayor

Lutzerath's mayor is Günter Welter, and his deputies are Roswitha Lescher, Werner Trasser and Hermann-Josef Kesseler.

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 be described thus: Argent a cross gules surmounted by an inescutcheon sable charged with a palm leaf bendwise slipped and in sinister chief three stones Or.

Town partnerships

Lutzerath fosters partnerships with the following places: * Givry-en-Argonne,

Marne Marne can refer to: Places France *Marne (river), a tributary of the Seine *Marne (department), a département in northeastern France named after the river * La Marne, a commune in western France *Marne, a legislative constituency (France) Nethe ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

since 1981

Culture and sightseeing

Buildings

The following are listed buildings or sites in

’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:

Lutzerath (main centre)

Saint Stephen Stephen (; ) is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first martyr of Christianity."St ...

’s

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 ...

Parish Church (''Pfarrkirche St. Stephan''), Kirchstraße –

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 ...

, 1773-1775; three-floor west tower, marked 1818, building inspector Maeler, expansion 1962; outside: missionary cross,

Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the condemned is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross, beam or stake and left to hang until eventual death. It was used as a punishment by the Achaemenid Empire, Persians, Ancient Carthag ...

group, 1869 *

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

graveyard (monumental zone) – 11 grave steles from 1689 to 1942 * Dauner Straße 20 – ''Quereinhaus'' (a combination residential and commercial house divided for these two purposes down the middle, perpendicularly to the street), earlier half of the 19th century * Graveyard –

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 ...

grave cross, 18th century; gravestone, 19th century; graveyard cross, 19th or 20th century;

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

gravestone, 1854 * Trierer Straße 22/24 – three-floor, twelve-axis solid building, marked 1835 * Trierer Straße 23 – former estate complex along the street;

timber-frame Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs. If the struc ...

house, 19th century * Trierer Straße 34 – former rectory; solid building, 1848 * Trierer Straße 36 – 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 ...

; plastered building, mid 19th century * On the way out of the village, on ''Landesstraße'' (State Road) 103 going towards Bad Bertrich – wayside

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

; Gothic Revival chapel, crow-stepped gable, earlier half of the 19th century;

retable A retable is a structure or element placed either on or immediately behind and above the altar or communion table of a church. At the minimum, it may be a simple shelf for candles behind an altar, but it can also be a large and elaborate struct ...

dating from time of building * On ''Landesstraße'' 103, south of Lutzerath – open wayside chapel, '' Bildstock'', 18th century * On ''Landesstraße'' 52 going towards Strotzbüsch – sandstone wayside cross, marked 1819

Driesch

* Rudolf-Schneiders-Straße –

Mater Dolorosa Our Lady of Sorrows (), Our Lady of Dolours, the Sorrowful Mother or Mother of Sorrows (), and Our Lady of Piety, Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours are names by which Mary, mother of Jesus, is referred to in relatio ...

Catholic

Pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

Church (''Wallfahrtskirche Mater Dolorosa'') – twin-naved

hall church A hall church is a Church (building), church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height. In England, Flanders and the Netherlands, it is covered by parallel roofs, typically, one for each vessel, whereas in Germany there is often one s ...

, 1478-1496, Late Gothic tower roof and Gothic nave roof destroyed in 1687, built anew in 1691, west portal 1868; outside circuit path, 1755, with Stations of the Cross, 1757, Johann Heinrich Nilles,

Wittlich Wittlich (; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Wittlech'') is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany, the seat of the Bernkastel-Wittlich Districts of Germany, district. Its historic town centre and the beauty of the sur ...

; whole complex with church and circuit path * Rudolf-Schneider-Straße 2 – timber-frame house, partly solid or slated, marked 1787 * Unterdorfstraße – three

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 ...

fountain basinsDirectory of Cultural Monuments in Cochem-Zell district
/ref>

Other points of interest

* Achterhöhe lookout point *

Ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

caves on the Falkenlay

Economy and infrastructure

The municipality is characterized by agriculture, tourism and trade. As the main centre in the surrounding area, Lutzerath has many infrastructural institutions.

References

External links

Municipality's official webpage
{{Authority control Cochem-Zell