The Merzalbe, also called the Merzalb, is a stream, over long, in the

Western Palatinate Western Palatinate or West Palatinate (, ) is a sub-region in the west of the Palatinate, a German cultural and historic region in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It includes the western part of the Palatine Forest, the central part of the Nort ...

in the German state of

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 ...

. It is an

orographic Orography is the study of the topographic relief of mountains, and can more broadly include hills, and any part of a region's elevated terrain. Orography (also known as ''oreography'', ''orology,'' or ''oreology'') falls within the broader disc ...

ally right tributary of the Rodalb. In its upper reaches it is also called Mühlgraben.

Course

The Merzalbe rises in the middle of the

Palatine Forest The Palatinate Forest (; ), sometimes also called the Palatine Forest, is a low-mountain region in southwestern Germany, located in the Palatinate in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The forest is a designated nature park () covering 1,771&n ...

, west of the Palatine Watershed and between the two hills of the

Weißenberg Weißenberg (German language, German) or Wóspork (Upper Sorbian language, Upper Sorbian, ) is a town in the Bautzen (district), district of Bautzen, in Saxony, in eastern Germany. The Upper Lusatian town has approximately 3,100 inhabitants and ...

and the Eschkopf at a height of just under 500 metres. Its source is enclosed by the Christelbrunnen well. As it heads in a southwesterly direction the Merzalbe flows through the valley below the village of Leimen and then through

Merzalben Merzalben is a municipality in Südwestpfalz district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany, deriving its name from the Merzalbe, also known as the Merzalb, that flows through the village. Along with 5 other ("local municipalities") Merzalben ...

. After it empties from the right into the Rodalb near the Riegelbrunnerhof, a hamlet belonging to Münchweiler. Its waters then flow down the Schwarzbach,

Blies The Blies (; ) is a right tributary of the Saar in southwestern Germany ( Saarland) and northeastern France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and ...

Saar Saar or SAAR has several meanings: People Given name * Sarr Boubacar (born 1951), Senegalese professional football player * Saar Ganor, Israeli archaeologist * Saar Klein (born 1967), American film editor Surname * Ain Saar (born 1968), E ...

and

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 ...

before finally reaching 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 ...

Name

The name "Merzalbe" means "stream of the Mericho" (''Bach des Mericho'') and goes back to a

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages, a group of Low Germanic languages also commonly referred to as "Frankish" varieties * Francia, a post-Roman ...

settler who must have made his residence here long before the first record in 1237 of the place of the same name by the stream. In this document Count was given '' Castrum Grebinstein'' and granted the villages of '' Merichisalbin'', '' Rothalbin'' and '' Eiswilre''. In ignorance of this recorded origin of the name, a theory later arose that the name "Merzalb" meant "harmful / useless stream", because the first part of the name was thought to be related to the word ''ausmerzen'' ("eradicate") and thus to mean that either large amounts of water poured through the valley when the snow melted, causing damage, or that - more likely - the stream usually had too little water to be suitable for the operation of a mill.

Sights

Gräfenstein Castle Gräfenstein Castle () is a ruined rock castle about east of the village of Merzalben in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is in the county of Südwestpfalz within the Palatine Forest and is often called ''Merzalber Schloss'' ("Merza ...

– the castle which measures 80 by 60 metres, above the Merzalb valley is one of the best preserved and most impressive castles built by the

Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynast ...

dynasty in the

Palatinate region The Palatinate (; ; Palatine German: ''Palz''), or the Rhenish Palatinate (''Rheinpfalz''), is a historical region of Germany. The Palatinate occupies most of the southern quarter of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate (''Rheinla ...

. The keep or

bergfried ''Bergfried'' (plural: ''bergfriede''; English: ''belfry''; French: ''tour-beffroi''; Italian: ''torrione''; Castilian: ''torre del homenaje'') is a tall tower that is typically found in castles of the Middle Ages in German-speaking countries an ...

is unique because of its heptagonal footprint. Tourist route – the

German Shoe Road The German Shoe Road () is one of several tourist-oriented, themed routes in southern Rheinhessen and in the West Palatinate in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is a circular route of more than 300 km largely running within the Pala ...

runs parallel to the Merzalb valley through Merzalben and Leimen; it is part of the Franco-German Tourist Route.

References

{{Reflist Rivers of Rhineland-Palatinate Rivers and lakes of the Palatinate Forest Rivers and lakes of Western Palatinate Südwestpfalz Rivers of Germany

Course

Name

Sights

See also

References