Prüm () is a town in the Westeifel (

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 ...

. Formerly a district capital, today it is the administrative seat of the ''

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 ...

'' ("collective municipality")

Prüm Prüm () is a town in the Westeifel (Rhineland-Palatinate), Germany. Formerly a district capital, today it is the administrative seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Prüm (Verbandsgemeinde), Prüm. Geography Prüm lies o ...

Geography

Prüm lies on the river

(a tributary of the

Sauer The Sauer ( German and Luxembourgish, , ) or Sûre ( French, ) is a river in Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. A left tributary of the Moselle, its total length is . Rising near Vaux-sur-Sûre in the Ardennes in southeastern Belgium, the Sauer f ...

) at the southeastern end of the

Schneifel The Schneifel is a range of low mountains, up to , in the western part of the Eifel in Germany, near the Belgian border. It runs from Brandscheid near Prüm in a northeasterly direction to Ormont. The name Schneifel has nothing to do with the G ...

, which is 697 m high. Prüm is eponymous for the Prüm syncline (Ger. '' Prümer Kalkmulde''), the largest of the Eifel-lime-synclines. Here, the only

GSSP A Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP), sometimes referred to as a golden spike, is an internationally agreed upon reference point on a stratigraphic section which defines the lower boundary of a stage on the geologic time scale. ...

-point in Germany identifies the geological border between the lower

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

Emsian The Emsian is one of three faunal stages in the Early Devonian Epoch. It lasted from 410.62 ±1.95 million years ago to 393.47 ±0.99 million years ago. It was preceded by the Pragian Stage and followed by the Eifelian Stage. It is named after ...

and the middle Devonian

Eifelian The Eifelian is the first of two faunal stages in the Middle Devonian Epoch. It lasted from 393.3 ± 1.2 million years ago to 387.7 ± 0.8 million years ago. It was preceded by the Emsian Stage and followed by the Givetian Stage. North American ...

History

See main article on the town's former monastery,

Prüm Abbey Prüm Abbey is a former Order of Saint Benedict, Benedictine abbey in Prüm, now in the diocese of Trier (Germany), founded by the Franks, Frankish widow Bertrada of Prüm, Bertrada the elder and her son Caribert of Laon, Charibert, Count of Laon, ...

. In 2005, the Prüm Convention was signed in the city by several European countries. Ninety-two percent of the town was destroyed by bombing and ground fighting during 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 ...

. In 1949, it was wrecked again by an explosion on the Kalvarienberg hill caused by a fire in an underground

ammunition bunker Supply depots are a type of military installation used by militaries to store battlefield supplies temporarily on or near the front lines until they can be distributed to military units. Supply depots are responsible for nearly all other types of ...

. Twelve people were killed, 15 injured and 965 left homeless.

Economy and infrastructure

Economy

Among the largest employers in the region are

MUH Arla MUH Arla is a cooperative dairy firm with its head office in Pronsfeld in the county of Bitburg-Prüm in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. In 2011 it processed 1,317 million kilograms of milk, that had been supplied by 2,442 milk producer ...

Stihl Andreas Stihl AG & Co. (commonly referred to as Stihl and styled as STIHL, , ) is a German manufacturer of chainsaws and other handheld power equipment including trimmers and blowers headquartered in Waiblingen, Baden-Württemberg, near Stutt ...

, Streif, Prüm-Türenwerk and Tesla Grohmann Automation. MUH Arla has its head office at

Pronsfeld Pronsfeld is a municipality in the district of Bitburg-Prüm, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western 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 ...

, 10 kilometres away.

Transport

Since 1980 it has not been possible to take the

train A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...

to Prüm, with the exception of freight trains that operated up to the end of the 1990s. In December 2000 the last train went through Prüm, and this was a special event. Since that time, the rail tracks have been dismantled. The federal highway B265 and B410 cross in Prüm, the

autobahn The (; German , ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. Much of t ...

A60 and B51 also run near the city.

Prüm Air Station Prüm () is a town in the Westeifel (Rhineland-Palatinate), Germany. Formerly a district capital, today it is the administrative seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Prüm. Geography Prüm lies on the river Prüm (a tribu ...

is located just outside Prüm and is operated by the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

Prümer Sommer

In July and August Prüm Summer takes place. It begins with a market and a music competition on the streets on the last Sunday in June. During the next eight Thursdays, various guests meet at the town hall, where there are various competitions, such as a beer jug lift and trunk sawing. There is also a bicycle rally, a fashion show, and dances included in the program.

International relations

Prüm is twinned with:

Bangor, Northern Ireland Bangor ( ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in County Down, Northern Ireland, on the southern side of Belfast Lough. It is within the Belfast metropolitan area and is 13 miles (22 km) east of Belfast city centre, to whic ...

;

Monthermé Monthermé () is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France. Geography The river Semois (or Semoy) joins the river Meuse in Monthermé. Population See also * Communes of the Ardennes department The following is a list of the ...

(France, since 1962);

Fort Madison Fort Madison is a city in and a county seat of Lee County, Iowa, Lee County, Iowa, United States along with Keokuk, Iowa, Keokuk. Of Iowa's 99 counties, Lee County is the only one with two county seats. The population was 10,270 at the time of ...

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

(United States, since 1998)

Notable people

Regino of Prüm Regino of Prüm or of Prum (, ; died 915 AD) was a Benedictine Order, Benedictine monk, who served as abbot of Prüm Abbey, Prüm (892–99) and later of St. Maximin's Abbey, Trier, Saint Martin's at Trier, and chronicler, whose ''Chronicon'' is ...

, medieval monk and chronicler *It seems that

Pepin the Hunchback Pepin (or Pippin) the Hunchback (, ; 768/769 – 811) was a Franks, Frankish prince. He was the eldest son of Charlemagne and noblewoman Himiltrude. He developed a kyphosis, humped back after birth, leading early medieval historians to give him ...

, first son of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

, was in exile in a monastery in Prüm from ca. 793 to his death in 813.

References

Bitburg-Prüm {{BitburgPrüm-geo-stub