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 which 24 other communities belong. The town is known throughout the country for its strikingly yellow castle and its InterCityExpress railway station on the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line.

Geography

Location

Montabaur lies in the Westerwald, roughly 20 km northeast of Koblenz. About 14,000 people live in the city, while the district is home to about 40,000.

Constituent communities

Montabaur has seven outlying centres. In the north lies Eschelbach, and in the west lie Horressen and Elgendorf. Stretching south along the Gelbach valley are the pilgrimage centre of Wirzenborn, and, farther along still, Reckenthal, Bladernheim and Ettersdorf.

Neighbouring communities

Montabaur's neighbours are, clockwise beginning in the north, Dernbach, Staudt, Heiligenroth, Großholbach, Girod, Steinefrenz, Heilberscheid, Isselbach, Stahlhofen, Untershausen, Holler, Niederelbert, Arzbach, Kadenbach, Neuhäusel, Nomborn and Hillscheid.

Town's character

Montabaur's Old Town is famed for its Gothic Revival Roter Löwe town hall, many timber-frame houses from the 16th and 17th centuries and the great Late Gothic Catholic parish church. The mediaeval town wall is preserved in parts, including the Wolfsturm.
The Montabaur Stadthalle is intended for various functions such as conferences, concerts, theatre and other events. The historic Wolfsturm is at the townsfolk's disposal and can be hired for use.

Castle

became a property of the archbishop of Trier in 1018, and was renovated to its current appearance around 1700. It later hosted the seat of the district administrator's office of the old until 1945 before becoming the seat of the Montabaur district government. Today, it is owned by the , which has expanded it for use as a 4-star conference hotel and training centre for the German Cooperative Financial Group. It stands in a prominent position above the town on the Schlossberg at 321 m above sea level.

History

The town has a history that can be traced back to the year 959, with the Montabaur fort castellum Humbacense. The Archbishop-Elector of Trier, Dietrich von Wied, who came back from a Crusade in the Holy Land about 1217, had the humbacense castle newly built and named it Mons Tabor for its similarity to Mount Tabor, said to be the place of the Transfiguration of Jesus. Out of this grew Montabaur. In 1291, King Rudolf von Habsburg granted Montabaur, as well as Welschbillig, Mayen, Bernkastel and Saarburg, town rights, so that the village became a town with its own coat of arms and a town wall.
In 1802 with the dissolution of the Archbishopric-Electorate of Trier the princes of Nassau took power in Montabaur and annexed it to the Duchy of Nassau in 1806. With Prussia annexing Nassau in 1866 Montabaur became part of the Wiesbaden Region within the Province of Hesse-Nassau. In 1945 the western Allies partitioned the northwestern part of the Wiesbaden Region with Montabaur and annexed it to the new German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The partitioned part of the Wiesbaden Region then formed the Montabaur Region seated in Montabaur. In 1968 the Montabaur Region, one of the originally five Regierungsbezirke of Rhineland-Palatinate, was dissolved and its territory annexed to the adjacent Koblenz Region.
Until early 2004, Montabaur was furthermore a Bundeswehr station with the Westerwaldkaserne, where the Raketenartilleriebataillon 350 and, later, maintenance units were stationed.

Politics

The town council is composed as follows:
  • CDU – 15 seats
  • SPD – 5 seats
  • FWG – 3 seats
  • BfM Bürger für Montabaur – 3 seats
  • Wählergruppe Hatzmann – 2 seats

    Economy

is headquartered in Montabaur.
  • Volkmann & Rossbach Verkehrssicherheitssysteme
  • Deco Glas
  • Ursa Chemie
  • Klöckner Pentaplast
  • in planning: printing centre for the Mittelrhein-Verlag/Rhein-Zeitung
  • Metallwerk Elisenhütte, maker of small-calibre ammunition

    Transport

  • A 3
  • Bundesstraße 49
  • Bundesstraße 255
  • InterCityExpress railway station at Montabaur on the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line, Himmelbergtunnel
  • Regional railway, Limburg–Siershahn
  • Recreational airfield for gliders

    Culture and sightseeing

Buildings

  • Montabaur Castle
  • Wolfsturm
  • Parts of the Old Town Wall
  • Neo-Gothic Town Hall, built between 1866 and 1868
  • many well preserved timber-frame houses, among them one formerly occupied by the Baron of Stein
  • Historic ''Werbhaus''

    Churches

  • St. Peter in Ketten
  • Brüderkirche, "Brethren's Church", House of God used by the order known as the Barmherzige Brüder Montabaur
  • Pauluskirche
  • Lutherkirche
  • Anna- or Fuhrmannskapelle
  • Marien-Wallfahrtskirche in the outlying centre of Wirzenborn in the Gelbach valley.

    Cultural institutions

  • Amateur theatre "Die Oase"
  • Stadtbücherei
  • Haus der Jugend
  • Katholische öffentliche Bücherei
  • Stadtarchiv
  • Stadthalle Haus Mons-Tabor
  • Akademie für Darstellende Kunst Schauspielwerkstatt e.V.
  • Akademietheater Rheinland-Pfalz
  • DPSG scout group "St. Peter in Ketten"
  • Kino "Capitol"
  • ''Kulturwerkraum''

    Leisure

  • Mons-Tabor-Bad
  • Trimm-Dich-Pfad
  • Nordic-Walking-Park
  • * The routes are certified by the Deutscher Nordic Walking Nordic Inline Verband and range from the shortest route, the 2.36-km fitness path to the longest, the 11.16-km Biebrichskopf-Route. Integrated into the Montabaur Nordic-Walking-Park, too, is the 10-km-long Münz-Sylvesterlauf jogging path.
  • Cycling paths run from Montabaur though the Gelbach valley to the Lahn valley.

    Aid organizations

  • Montabaur fire brigade
  • Technisches Hilfswerk
  • German Red Cross
  • Deutsche Lebens-Rettungs-Gesellschaft

    Sport clubs

  • American football
  • * 1. AFC Fighting Farmers Montabaur 1992 e.V.
  • Angling club
  • * ASV Montabaur e.V.
  • Athletics
  • * TuS Montabaur
  • Badminton
  • * BC Montabaur Staudt
  • Basketball
  • * BBC Montabaur e.V.
  • Boxing
  • * BCM Boxclub Montabaur e.V
  • Cycling
  • * RSG Montabaur
  • Diving
  • * Tauchsportgruppe Montabaur
  • Football
  • * 1. FFC Montabaur/Ww.
  • * TuS Montabaur
  • * SV Horressen/Elgendorf
  • Hiking
  • * Schusterjungen Volkssportclub Montabaur
  • Judo
  • * Sportfreunde Montabaur e.V.
  • Riding
  • * Reitverein Montabaur 1965 e.V.
  • Shooting
  • * Schützengesellschaft "St. Sebastianus" 1588 / 1957 e.V. Montabaur
  • Skiing
  • * Skiclub Montabaur-Horressen
  • Swimming
  • * DLRG Montabaur
  • * TuS Montabaur
  • Tennis
  • * TC Schwarz-Weiss Montabaur
  • * TC Mittelwald Montabaur-Horressen
  • Triathlon
  • * RSG Montabaur
  • Volleyball, Beachsport
  • * Beach-Club Dernbach/Montabaur 1995 e.V.

    Events

  • Schustermarkt
  • Schützenfest every year in July.
  • Jazzwochenende Montabaur
  • Kneipenfestival
  • MonsTaRock
  • Mach1 Festival
  • Aktivtage
  • Kirmes

    Education

Schools

  • Joseph-Kehrein-Schule
  • Waldschule in outlying centre of Horressen
  • Rhineland-Palatinate state musical Gymnasium
  • : Gymnasium with bilingual and natural-sciences section
  • Anne-Frank-Realschule
  • Heinrich-Roth Duale Oberschule
  • Berufsbildende Schule Montabaur
  • Akademie für Darstellende Kunst e.V

    Adult education

  • Berufsfortbildungswerk
  • Bildungswerk Sport – Westerwald branch
  • Info-Stelle Weiterbildung
  • Katholische Erwachsenenbildung
  • Kreisvolkshochschule
  • Staatliche Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt
  • Volkshochschule der Verbandsgemeinde Montabaur
  • Institut für Schulung und Beruf

    Town partnerships

Montabaur maintains partnership arrangements with the following towns:
Furthermore, the Verbandsgemeinde of Montabaur has a partnership with an American town:

Sons and daughters of the town