Belgweiler

Belgweiler
Coat of arms
Belgweiler
Location of Belgweiler within Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis district
Coordinates: 49°56′41.23″N 7°29′11.13″E / 49.9447861°N 7.4864250°ECoordinates: 49°56′41.23″N 7°29′11.13″E / 49.9447861°N 7.4864250°E
Country	Germany
State	Rhineland-Palatinate
District	Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis
Municipal assoc.	Simmern
Government
• Mayor	Gerhard Mohr
Area
• Total	3.39 km^2 (1.31 sq mi)
Population (2015-12-31)[1]
• Total	217
• Density	64/km^2 (170/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	55469
Dialling codes	06761
Vehicle registration	SIM
Website	www.belgweiler.net

Belgweiler is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Simmern, whose seat is in the town of the same name.

Geography

Location

The municipality lies in the Simmerbach valley in the central Hunsrück.

Constituent communities

Belgweiler has a small outlying hamlet named Wimmersbacherhof.

Land use

This breaks down in Belgweiler as follows:

• Agriculture – 68.9%
• Forest – 18.8%
• Water – 1.0%
• Residential and transport – 11.2%
• Other – 0.1%

History

In 1285, Belgweiler had its first documentary mention. Beginning in 1794, Belgweiler was under French rule. In 1815, it was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia at the Congress of Vienna. Since 1946, it has been part of the then newly founded state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Politics

Municipal council

The council is made up of 6 council members, who were elected by majority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.^[2]

Mayor

Belgweiler’s mayor is Gerhard Mohr.

Coat of arms

The German blazon reads: In schräg links gestelltem Schild vorne in Schwarz ein rotbewehrter und gezungter wachsender goldener Löwe, hinten in Gold ein von Silber und Rot in zwei Reihen geschachtelter Balken, unten wachsend ein schwarzer Krummstab.

The municipality’s arms might in English heraldic language be described thus: Per bend sinister sable a demilion Or armed and langued gules and Or a fess countercompony argent and gules, issuant from base the head of an abbot’s staff turned to sinister of the first.

The charge on the dexter (armsbearer’s right, viewer’s left) side, the Palatine lion, refers to the former landholders, the Dukes of Palatinate-Simmern and the Elector of the Palatinate. The countercompony (that is, with a two-row chequered pattern) fess refers to the Counts of the “Hinder” County of Sponheim, who owned the outlying Ortsteil of Wimmersbacherhof. The abbot’s staff refers to another landholder, who held two estates in the village, the Ravengiersburg Monastery.^[3]

Culture and sightseeing

Hauptstraße: Katholische Kapelle St. Anna

Wimmersbacher Hof

Buildings

The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:

• Saint Anne’s Catholic Chapel (Kapelle St. Anna), Hauptstraße – small aisleless church, earlier half of the 18th century
• Hauptstraße – cast-iron fountain basin, from Stromberg ironworks, marked 1884
• Hauptstraße 8 – estate complex along the street; timber-frame house, commercial wing, marked 1872
• Hauptstraße 15 – Quereinhaus (a combination residential and commercial house divided for these two purposes down the middle, perpendicularly to the street), timber framing plastered, 19th century
• Mühlenweg 3 – former mill; timber-frame house, half-hipped roof, 18th century
• Wimmersbacher Hof 1 – timber-frame house, partly solid or slated, latter half of the 19th century, barn, partly timber-frame; whole complex of buildings^[4]

References

1. "Gemeinden in Deutschland mit Bevölkerung am 31. Dezember 2015" (PDF). Statistisches Bundesamt (in German). 2016.
2. Municipal election results for Belgweiler
3. Description and explanation of Belgweiler’s arms Archived July 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
4. Directory of Cultural Monuments in Rhein-Hunsrück district

External links

• Municipality’s official webpage (German)