Meerfeld is a village and

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

collective municipality ''Gemeindeverband'' () is a union of at least two municipalities () in Germany to form a (statutory corporation) with the purpose to exercise the powers of self-government at a larger scale, while maintaining autonomy of its members. The word ...

in the county of

Bernkastel-Wittlich Bernkastel-Wittlich (German language, German: ''Landkreis Bernkastel-Wittlich'') is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Vulkaneifel, Cochem-Zell, Rhein-Hunsrück, Birkenfeld ...

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.

Geography

The municipality lies in the middle of a volcanic crater, part of which is filled with water and known as the Meerfelder Maar. The municipal area is 64.5% wooded. Meerfeld belongs to the collective municipality (''Verbandsgemeinde'') of

Wittlich-Land Wittlich-Land is a ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") in the district Bernkastel-Wittlich, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is located around the town Wittlich, which is the seat of Wittlich-Land, but not part of the ''Verbandsgem ...

History

Meerfeld is first recorded in 1152 as part of the parish of

Bettenfeld Bettenfeld is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography The village lies in the southern Vul ...

. The landholders were for centuries the lords of Malberg. In 1794, Meerfeld came under

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

rule. In 1814, 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 ...

Politics

Municipal council

The council is made up of 8 council members and the honorary mayor as chairman. Elections are held every 5 years. On 25 May 2014, the 8 members 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 ...

and they unanimously chose Eugen Weiler as their local mayor (Ortsbürgermeister).

Coat of arms

The German blazon reads: ''Über blauen, durch Wellenschnitt geteilten Schildfuß schräglinks geteilt, rechts in Rot ein aufsteigendes silbernes Vortragskreuz, links in Silber ein rotes Schildchen'', which is a description of the Meerfeld

Coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

. 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: Over a base wavy azure, party per bend sinister gules issuant palewise from the line of partition John the Baptist's cross argent and argent an inescutcheon of the second. The

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 ...

gave the municipality the first syllable in its name, ''Meer—'', from an

Old High German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...

word meaning "bog" or "moor". The wavy base stands for this body of water. Until 1800, the village belonged, within the

Duchy of Luxembourg The Duchy of Luxembourg (; ; ; ) was a Imperial state, state of the Holy Roman Empire, the ancestral homeland of the noble House of Luxembourg. The House of Luxembourg became one of the most important political forces in the 14th century, comp ...

, to the Lords of Malberg whose heraldic bearing was the red shield on a silver field. The church's and the village's longtime patron saint is

John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

, who is represented by the cross, his attribute. The

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 ...

s gules, argent and azure (red, silver and blue) also recall the old Luxembourg landholders, as these were the ones that they bore.Description and explanation of Meerfeld’s arms
/ref>

Economy and infrastructure

The state-recognized recreational resort (''Erholungsort'') logged over 30,000 overnight stays in 2003.

Gallery

File:Meerfeld.jpg, View of Meerfeld from the side of the maar File:Meerfeldermaar01.jpg, Meerfelder Maar File:Meerfeldermaar03.jpg, View of the maar from the village File:Meerfeld, ingang naar het dorp vanaf Bettenfeld foto7 2017-05-30 15.22.jpg, Entrance to the village from Bettenfeld

References

External links

Municipality’s official webpage
{{Authority control Bernkastel-Wittlich