Wirges () is a town in the

Westerwaldkreis The Westerwaldkreis ("District of Westerwald") is a district (''Kreis'') in the north-east of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighbouring districts are (from north clockwise) Altenkirchen (district), Altenkirchen, Lahn-Dill, Limburg-Weilburg, Rhein ...

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 ...

Geography

Wirges lies in a high hollow in the further

Westerwald The Westerwald (; literally 'Western forest') is a low mountain range on the right bank of the river Rhine in the States of Germany, German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a part of the Rhenish Ma ...

between Köppel and Malberg, roughly 5 km northwest of

Montabaur Montabaur () is a town and the district seat of the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. At the same time, it is also the administrative centre of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Montabaur – a kind of collective municipality – to wh ...

and 20 km northeast of

Koblenz Koblenz ( , , ; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz'') is a German city on the banks of the Rhine (Middle Rhine) and the Moselle, a multinational tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman military p ...

. It was granted town rights in 1975. Wirges is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Wirges, a kind of collective municipality. The people of Wirges call themselves Wirgeser.

Politics

Town council

The council is made up of 22 council members, as well as the honorary and presiding mayor (''Stadtbürgermeister''), who were elected in a municipal election on 7 June 2009. Allocation of seats in the municipal council:

Coat of arms

The escutcheon has the shape of a late Gothic round shield with horizontal upper edge and sides meeting it at right angles. The town’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 ...

are those once borne in days of yore by the Widergis noble family, whose seat was in Wirges.

Town partnerships

Wirges has partnership arrangements with these places: *

Montchanin Montchanin () is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. The town finds its history during the Industrial Revolution in France in the 19th century, being famous for its terracott ...

Saône-et-Loire Saône-et-Loire (; Arpitan: ''Sona-et-Lêre'') is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the rivers Saône and Loire, between which it lies, in the country's central-eastern part. Saône-et-Loire is B ...

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 ...

Samobor Samobor () is a town in Zagreb County, Croatia. It is part of the Zagreb metropolitan area. Administratively it is a part of Zagreb County. Geography Samobor is located west of Zagreb, between the eastern slopes of the Samobor hills (), the eas ...

Zagreb County Zagreb County () is a county in Northern Croatia. It surrounds, but does not contain, the nation's capital Zagreb, which is a separate territorial unit. For that reason, the county is often nicknamed "Zagreb ring" (). According to the 2021 censu ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Economy and infrastructure

East of the town runs ''

Bundesstraße ''Bundesstraße'' (, ), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways. Germany Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km. German ''Bundesstraßen'' are labelled with re ...

'' 255 linking

and

Rennerod Rennerod is a town in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Rennerod, a kind of collective municipality. Within the municipal area, until German Reunification on 3 Octobe ...

. The nearest

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 ...

interchange Interchange may refer to: Transport * Interchange (road), a collection of ramps, exits, and entrances between two or more highways * Interchange (freight rail), the transfer of freight cars between railroad companies * Interchange station, a rai ...

is ''Montabaur'' on the A 3 (

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

–

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

), some 3 km away. The nearest

InterCityExpress Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE () and running under this category) is a high-speed rail system in Germany. It also serves destinations in Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands as part of cross-border services. It ...

stop is at

Montabaur station Montabaur station is a station at the 89.1 kilometre point of the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed railway and on the Limburg-Staffel–Siershahn railway, Limburg–Siershahn railway (Lower Westerwald Railway) in the German state of Rhineland-Palatin ...

on the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line. The town lies on the Lower Westerwald Railway (''Unterwesterwaldbahn'') from

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

to Siershahn.

Sport and culture

SpVgg EGC Wirges’ first team plays in the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

Oberliga Südwest; the A-youth have reached the Regionalliga Süd. The men’s second team play in the Rheinlandliga. The main church is the Westerwälder Dom St. Bonifatius Furthermore, Wirges has several choirs, a band and a music club.

Notable people

* 1926: Kurt Isselbacher, physician * 1951: Gerd Andres, politician

References

{{Authority control Westerwaldkreis