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.

History

As early as the Stone Age, there is evidence of human habitation in the Buchenloch, a nearby cave. In the Bronze Age the Dietzenley was used by the Celts as a refuge castle. In Roman times a temple and dwellings were known to have existed, and remnants of them have been preserved.
One form of the name Gerolstein first appeared in connection with the building of the Löwenburg in 1115, which was then named the Burg Gerhardstein.
Town rights were granted to Gerolstein in 1336. In 1691, the town was almost completely destroyed when it was liberated from French occupation by troops from the Duchy of Jülich. After reconstruction, a devastating fire burnt down the town in 1708, and again in 1784. In the 1801 Treaty of Lunéville, Gerolstein, along with all of the area on the left bank of the Rhine river, was given to France, and wasn't returned to German control until 1815. As a landholder, Count Sternberg-Manderscheid acquired the holdings formerly belonging to the monasteries at Weissenau and Schussenried in Upper Swabia in the 1803 Reichsdeputationshauptschluss, among other things, to offset his loss of Blankenheim, Jünkerath, Gerolstein and Dollendorf. It is known that water—from the spring that once was used by the Celts and the Romans—was bottled and sold beginning in 1724. This still forms the basis for today's mineral water industry in Gerolstein. Late in the Second World War, in both 1944 and 1945, Gerolstein's status as a railway junction-town brought Allied air raids down on the town, and 80% of it was destroyed. Town rights were granted Gerolstein once again in 1953.

Bewingen

Bewingen is Gerolstein's northernmost outlying centre, or Stadtteil, located three kilometres from the town center. Here, the Kyll river flows in a great arc around the mighty dolomite and basalt massif that juts out from the west, eastwards. The valley narrows and there is only enough room for the railway line, a field road, and the river itself. The road finds its way to Gerolstein over the Bewinger Höhe, thus shortening the way to the nearby middle centre. The local lay of the land was brought about by volcanic activity that created two volcanic peaks—the Kasselburg massif, with the Burlich and the Hahn on the Kyll river's west bank, and the Rockeskyller Kopf on the east—whose volcanic minerals and deposits of lava, ash, and cinders during the Quaternary period narrowed the river valley.
File:gerolstein kasselburg axb01.jpg|thumb|Kasselburg ruins at Pelm
The place-name ending —ingen points to early Frankish settlement. Bewingen was first mentioned in a document in 1218 as a holding of the church and monastery of Niederehe. From that mention it is known that the Brothers Theoderich, Alexander, and Albero, from Castle Kerpen, established an endowment for the Premonstratensian nuns in the years between 1162 and 1175. The next documentary mention came in 1282, when "Gerhard VI of Blankenheim" acquired the land, as well as Steffeln, Niederbettingen, and Bewingen. In the Middle Ages, the lords at Kasselburg and those at Castle Gerhardstein held lands and tithing rights in the village. In the time of French rule, beginning in 1794, Bewingen was assigned to the Mairie of Rockeskyll, and the village remained within the Bürgermeisterei of Rockeskyll up to Prussian times. The formerly self-administering municipality of Bewingen was amalgamated with the town of Gerolstein in 1969.
One of the oldest buildings is the small chapel consecrated to Saint Brice, which underwent repairs in 1744 and 1745. Its Late Gothic choir suggests that there was an earlier church here, built perhaps around 1500.

Büscheich-Niedereich

Büscheich-Niedereich lies roughly 5 km from the town centre. In 1352, Büscheich had its first documentary mention; Niedereich's first documentary mention did not come until 1398.
In 1501, the hereditary estate of Eich belonged to the County of Gerolstein. On 13 May 1661, the hereditary estate was divided into Niedereich and Obereich.
When the French occupied the Eifel in the 18th century, the Counts lost all their holdings. After the French were driven out, the Eifel became Prussian. In 1815, the Prussian government changed Obereich's name to Büscheich.

Politics

Gerolstein is the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Gerolstein, to which the municipalities of Berlingen, Birresborn, Densborn, Duppach, Hohenfels-Essingen, Kalenborn-Scheuern, Kopp, Mürlenbach, Neroth, Pelm, Rockeskyll, and Salm belong.

Constituent communities

Gerolstein's subdivisions, besides the main town, are Bewingen, Büscheich-Niedereich, Gees, Hinterhausen, Lissingen, Michelbach, Müllenborn, Oos, and Roth.

Town council

The council is made up of 24 members elected by proportional representation at municipal elections, with the mayor as chairman.
Seats in the council:
Year of ElectionSPDCDUAlliance 90/The GreensFDPÖDPFWGWG Sturm im Wald e.VBUVTotal
202471532193-40 Seats
201461031-3-124 Seats
200961121-–-424 Seats
2004513–1-2-324 Seats

  • FWG = Freie Wählergemeinschaft Landkreis Vulkaneifel e.V.
  • BUV = BürgerUnion Vulkaneifel e.V.

    Mayor

Gerolstein's mayor is chosen every five years in a direct vote. The current officeholder is Uwe Schneider.

Amalgamations

On 7 June 1969, the municipalities of Bewingen, Hinterhausen, and Lissingen were amalgamated with Gerolstein. Büscheich, Gees, Michelbach, Müllenborn, Oos, and Roth were amalgamated on 1 December 1972.

Coat of arms

The town's coat of arms consists of a lion rampant sable armed and langued gules surmounted at the shoulder by a label of five points of the last.
The town's arms are those formerly borne by the Counts of Gerolstein-Blankenheim, the former landholders, and are from as early as 1567 when they appeared in a seal used by the town's Schöffen. The town has borne these arms since about 1890, but no official approval to do so is known to have been issued.

Town partnerships

Gerolstein has fostered partnerships with the following places:

Transport

lies on the Eifelbahn railway line and has the following local passenger services:
  • the Eifel-Mosel-Express ;
  • the Eifel-Express ;
  • the Eifel-Bahn ;
  • the Eifelbahn.
In Gerolstein, the historical Eifelquerbahn branches off, leading by way of Daun to Kaisersesch and on to Andernach, as does the Westeifelbahn, leading by way of Prüm to Sankt Vith.
For all local public transport three tariff systems apply: the Verkehrsverbund Region Trier, the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg, and for journeys crossing tariff zones, the NRW-Tarif.

Established businesses

The mineral-water firm Gerolsteiner Brunnen has its headquarters in Gerolstein.

Bundeswehr

The German army Eifel barracks house the 281st headquarters support battalion.

Culture and sightseeing

In addition to the attractions listed below, other things to see in and around Gerolstein include the dried-up maar called Papenkaule; the Buchenloch, a 36-metre-long karst cave that served as a dwelling for Stone Age people; the Mühlsteinhöhlen or Eishöhlen near Roth; a natural history museum; and a district local history museum. In walking distance is the Gerolsteiner Dolomiten, a Devonian limestone reef formed by extinct Rugosa, Tabulata, and Stromatoporoids, comprising the Hustley, the Munterley, and the Auber, which dominate the surrounding landscape, looming 100 meters above the valley.

Buildings

Main town

  • Gerolstein castle ruins, Bergstraße, monumental zone, castle founded in the earlier half of the 14th century by Gerhard VI of Blankenburg and destroyed in 1691, the defensive wall in the outer bailey preserved, remnants of living quarters preserved in the main stronghold.
  • Evangelical Church of the Redeemer, Sarresdorfer Straße 17, cruciform central-plan building after Italo-Byzantine models, 1911–1913, complex with treed lot and fence dating from the time of building, rectory, Sarresdorfer Straße 15 a, former parish house, Sarresdorfer Straße 19 a, Classicist hipped-roof building.
  • Saint Anne’s Catholic Parish Church, aisleless church from 1811, expanded in 1884 and 1948, complex with rectory, possibly from about 1800.
  • Town fortifications, Am Stadtturm 1, Hauptstraße 41, 75, Mühlenstraße 19, section of 14th-century town wall between a jutting half-round tower and a great tower, a further section of town wall with gate remnants and a pillar-shaped town wall remnant.
  • Bahnhofstraße 4 – Gothic Revival railway station, 1870, expanded after the Second World War.
  • Bahnhofstraße 17 – stately house, apparently from 1902.
  • Brunnenstraße 11, 13 – factory building, façade with colourful wall tiles and glass bricks, date unknown.
  • Graf-Karl-Ferdinand-Straße – so-called Burgkreuz, a niche cross possibly from the 16th or 17th century.
  • Near Hauptstraße 10 – Heiligenhäuschen, Baroque, sandstone, from 1771 and 1784.
  • Near Hauptstraße 42 – a Descent from the Cross group, sandstone, apparently from 1838.
  • Hauptstraße 59, 61 – houses, one at 59 from 1903 but essentially older, Late Gothic Revival entrance, one at 61 from 1747 and 1822.
  • Hauptstraße 76 – house used as dwelling and inn with half-hipped gables, date unclear.
  • Heiligensteinstraße 5/7 – pair of semi-detached houses with half-hipped gables, lava stone façade, about 1900.
  • Kyllweg – warriors’ memorial, 1914–1918.
  • Lindenstraße – former Oos wireworks, founded in 1882, no. 43a director's villa, plaster building with corner tower.
  • Lindenstraße 6 – former railway works building, representative quarry stone building, apparently from 1890.
  • Mühlenstraße 19 – timber-frame house, partly solid.
  • Sarresdorfer Straße/Am Auberg – Jewish graveyard, on the area of the general cemetery, opened in 1892, about 15 gravestones, oldest from 1896.
  • Sarresdorfer Straße – former Roman villa of Sarabodis, remnants of the Roman estate at Sarresdorf, donated in 762 by Pepin to Prüm Abbey, since 1913 "Museum Sarabodis".
  • Sarresdorfer Straße 15 a – Evangelical rectory
  • Sarresdorfer Straße 19 a – Evangelical parish house
  • Sarresdorfer Straße 26 – former parish house, now district local history museum, Renaissance building from about 1550, Baroque red-sandstone shaft cross from the latter half of the 18th century.
  • Unter den Dolomiten – forester's office with half-hipped gables, Reform architecture, side building timber-frame, partly solid, from about 1920.
  • At the Büschkapelle – warriors’ memorial 1848, 1864, 1866, 1870–1871, pedestal, obelisk and cross.
  • Büschkapelle, southeast of town in the woods, Gothic Revival chapel, quarry stone, 1904.
  • So-called Fruhnertskreuz, north of town on the edge of the town forest, sandstone shaft cross from 1796.