Urmersbach 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

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 Kaisersesch, whose seat is in the like-named town.

Geography

Location

The municipality lies in 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 ...

roughly 2 km north of

Kaisersesch Kaisersesch () is a town in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the like-named ''Verbandsgemeinde'', to which it also belongs. Geography The town lies in the eastern Eifel halfway between ...

and 10 km southwest of

Mayen Mayen () is a town in the Mayen-Koblenz, Mayen-Koblenz District of the Rhineland-Palatinate Federal State of Germany, in the eastern part of the Volcanic Eifel Region. As well as the main town, additional settlements include Alzheim, Kürrenberg, ...

Extent of municipal area

In 1787, the area within municipal limits was 361 ha, and in 1789, it was given as 623 ''

Morgen A Morgen (Mg) is a historical, but still occasionally used, German unit of area used in agriculture. Officially, it is no longer in use, having been supplanted by the hectare. While today it is approximately equivalent to the Prussian ''morgen' ...

''. In 1925, it was quoted as being 433 ha, and today it is slightly bigger at 434 ha.

History

In 1253, Urmersbach had its first documentary mention. Beginning in 1794, it lay 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 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 ...

Population development

The oldest population figure comes from 1612 and gives the village's population as 11 ''incolae'', that is to say, families, which suggests roughly 70 persons. In 1784, Urmersbach counted 233 inhabitants, and by 1910, 508. The population changed very little over 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 ...

, falling from 471 in 1939 to 465 in 1950. On 31 December 1999, 229 families were living im Urmersbach, comprising 510 persons, of whom 261 were female and 249 male.

Politics

Municipal council

The council is made up of 8 council members, who were elected at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman. The eight seats on council are shared between two voters’ groups.

Mayor

Urmersbach's mayor isThilo Schmitt, and his deputies are Markus Schröder and Markus Kusterer.

Coat of arms

The German blazon reads: ''Das Schild in Silber, darauf ein rotes Andreaskreuz, belegt mit zwei goldenen Ähren.'' 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: Argent a saltire gules charged with two ears of wheat per saltire Or. The two crossed ears of wheat stand for both

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

and the miller's craft, both of which underlay the village's livelihood for centuries.

Culture and sightseeing

Buildings

Urmersbach 12.jpg, Village fountain Urmersbach 01.jpg, Former school Urmersbach 26.jpg, Slate gallery ‘Et Layschje’ Urmersbach 21.jpg, Steles Urmersbach 11.jpg, Grave cross from 1824 The following are listed buildings or sites in

’s Directory of Cultural Monuments: *

Saint Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( ; ; ; ) was an apostle of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The title First-Called () used by the Eastern Orthodox Church stems from the Gospel of Jo ...

’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 ...

Church (branch church; ''Filialkirche St. Andreas''), Auf'm Henchen –

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

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 ...

, 1792, expansion 1954 * Hauptstraße 30 –

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 ...

wayside cross, marked 1725 * Hauptstraße 32 – basalt fountain, 19th century * Hauptstraße 51 – grave cross, marked 1824 * Obermühle (“Upper Mill”) – solid building with

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 ...

gable, 1906, two smaller barns, millraceDirectory of Cultural Monuments in Cochem-Zell district
/ref>

''Pfarrkirche St. Andreas''

The history of Saint Andrew's Parish Church (''Pfarrkirche St. Andreas'') in Urmersbach goes back to a reference in a 1574 ''Weistum'' (a ''Weistum'' – cognate with

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

''wisdom'' – was a legal pronouncement issued by men learned in law in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

and early modern times). The

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 ...

patron,

, was named for the first time in connection with setting the boundaries of the ''Polcher Holz'' (woodland). The chapel itself was first mentioned in 1613. Documents from 1784 describe the chapel as having fallen into disrepair (“''zerfallen''”). The chapel was rebuilt in 1787. Work ended in 1791. In 1954, the chapel was expanded and renovated to plans by the architect Böhr from

. It retains its resulting form today from that time. St. Andreas (Urmersbach) 02.jpg, West side St. Andreas (Urmersbach) 04.jpg, Interior St. Andreas (Urmersbach) 14.jpg, Gallery from 1792 St. Andreas (Urmersbach) 17.jpg, Gallery detail

Regular events

''Kirmes''

The village fair (''Dorfkirmes'') is held each year in September. The event, organized by the four clubs of the fair association (''Kirmesgesellschaft''), features, by longstanding tradition,

fireworks Fireworks are Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large numbe ...

in the middle of the village on streets closed specially for this purpose.

''Junggesellenfest''

Also held each year in September is the traditional Bachelors’ Festival (''Junggesellenfest''), which is well known far beyond the local area.

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

On 15 May 1895, Urmersbach was linked to the ''Eifelquerbahn'' (

Cross Eifel Railway The Cross Eifel Railway (German: ''Eifelquerbahn'') is a non-electrified railway line between Andernach and Gerolstein in the Eifel in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. From Andernach to Mayen Ost (East), it is classified as main line and ...

between

Andernach Andernach () is a town in the district of Mayen-Koblenz, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, of about 30,000 inhabitants. It is situated towards the end of the ''Neuwied basin'' on the left bank of the Rhine between the former tiny fishing village ...

and

Gerolstein Gerolstein () is a town in the Vulkaneifel district of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Gerolstein is a local municipality of the ''Verbandsgemeinde Gerolstein''. It has been approved as a ''Luftkurort'' (spa town). History As early as the Stone ...

), which still runs through the village today.

References

External links

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