Hillesheim
Encyclopedia
Hillesheim is the third largest town in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde
, to which it also belongs.
and Trier
(70 km from the former and 60 km from the latter, as the crow flies
), and only 30 km from the Belgian
border. Hillesheim lies in the Vulkaneifel
, a part of the Eifel
known for its volcanic history, geographical and geological features, and even ongoing activity today, including gases that sometimes well up from the earth.
dating back more than a thousand years.
On 17 March 1974, the until then self-administering municipalities of Niederbettingen and Bolsdorf were amalgamated with Hillesheim. On 24 October 1993, Hillesheim was granted town rights.
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:
The town’s arms
might in English heraldic
language be described thus: Tierced in mantle dexter argent a cross gules, sinister Or a cramp sable and in base azure standing on a crescent of the third the Madonna and Child of the first, both with nimbus of the third, ensigning the shield a wall masoned, embattled of five and embowed with an arched gateway of the first.
Hillesheim was from 1352 to 1794 the northernmost outpost of the Archbishopric of Trier. This was made clear to all in that time by the town walls, which were particularly imposing for the Eifel
. This small town grew with the building of the town walls in the 13th century into a regionally influential town. Marking this is the so-called Mauerkrone – “wall crown” – on top of (“ensigning”) the escutcheon (although curiously, the German blazon does not mention this part of the arms).
The cross on the dexter (armsbearer’s right, viewer’s left) side is the Electoral-Trier armorial bearing, referring to that state’s rule over the town in feudal
times. The “cramp”, as it is called in English heraldry
, or Wolfsangel
as it is known in German heraldry, seen on the sinister (armsbearer’s left, viewer’s right) side, is a charge
seen in several coats of arms borne by a particular Hillesheim family, some of whom functioned as Schöffen (roughly “lay jurists”). The Madonna in the base was already to be found in the old town seal from 1306, reappearing on Schöffen seals in the 14th and 15th centuries. These Madonna seals were in use until the late 18th century, and thus the Madonna was always closely bound to the townsfolk.
town centre partly surrounded by a town wall and with a church worth seeing for its Baroque
organ from 1772, built by the famous Stumm family, annually attracting talented international organists. Hillesheim’s municipal area is almost round. From the historical town centre, the town broadened out in all directions, growing from its location in the valley through new building developments up to the surrounding slopes.
, Hillesheim has good infrastructure at its disposal with three schools, two sport halls, one tennis hall, one indoor swimming pool, a cinema, several supermarkets and filling stations and a building centre.
–Euskirchen
–Gerolstein
–Trier
), which is served by the following local passenger services:
For all local public transport, three tariff systems apply: the Verkehrsverbund Region Trier (VRT), the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg, and for journeys crossing tariff zones, the NRW-Tarif.
will be filled, as all traffic currently rolls through Hillesheim, thereby causing very busy road conditions, especially on Fridays. On the other hand, this does conflict with local retailers’ interests, for they have been profiting from spontaneous purchases made by those passing through town for a long time.
and the Netherlands
.
Besides the mediaeval
town centre with its church, foremost among sights worth seeing is the “Bolsdorfer Tälchen” recreational area, where a lake, hiking loops, leisure activities and pubs on the town’s outskirts invite visitors.
The network of paths in the “Bolsdorfer Tälchen” is also a direct link to the Kyll
tal Cycle Path, which leads more than 115 km from the Kronenburg reservoir to the Kyll’s mouth on the Moselle in Trier-Ehrang. Hillesheim is a “station” on the Eifel-Krimi-Wanderweg (“Eifel Crime Fiction Hiking Trail”), which is based on books by crime fiction authors Jacques Berndorf and Ralf Kramp.
The Geopfad Hillesheim, at 30 stations in the town’s vicinity, casts light on the Eifel’s geology
and on the evidence of vulcanism
in the Vulkaneifel
.
, which by population is the district’s second smallest Verbandsgemeinde, after the Verbandsgemeinde of Kelberg
.
s, one primary school, one Hauptschule
and one Realschule
. The folk high school
is run on a volunteer basis by the KEB Bildungswerk Hillesheim - Katholische Erwachsenenbildung.
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde
Hillesheim (Verbandsgemeinde)
Hillesheim is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Vulkaneifel, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Hillesheim....
, to which it also belongs.
Location
The town lies almost in the middle, halfway between CologneCologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
and Trier
Trier
Trier, historically called in English Treves is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC....
(70 km from the former and 60 km from the latter, as the crow flies
As the crow flies
"As the crow flies" or beelining is an idiom for the shortest route between two points; the geodesic distance.An example is the great-circle distance between Key West and Pensacola, at either end of the U.S...
), and only 30 km from the Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
border. Hillesheim lies in the Vulkaneifel
Vulkan Eifel
The Vulkan Eifel is a region in the Eifel Mountains in Germany, that is defined to a large extent by its volcanic geological history. Characteristic of the Vulkan Eifel are its typical explosion crater lakes or maars, and numerous other signs of volcanic activity such as volcanic tuffs, lava...
, a part of the Eifel
Eifel
The Eifel is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the south of the German-speaking Community of Belgium....
known for its volcanic history, geographical and geological features, and even ongoing activity today, including gases that sometimes well up from the earth.
Constituent communities
Hillesheim’s outlying Stadtteile are Niederbettingen and Bolsdorf.History
Hillesheim is an old market town in the heart of the EifelEifel
The Eifel is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the south of the German-speaking Community of Belgium....
dating back more than a thousand years.
On 17 March 1974, the until then self-administering municipalities of Niederbettingen and Bolsdorf were amalgamated with Hillesheim. On 24 October 1993, Hillesheim was granted town rights.
Town council
The council is made up of 20 council members, who were elected by proportional representationProportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:
| SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
CDU | FWG 1 | FWG 2 | Total | |
| 2009 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 20 seats |
Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: Schild durch eine geschweifte Spitze dreigeteilt; vorn in Silber ein rotes Kreuz, hinten in Gold eine schwarze Wolfsangel, unten in Blau über goldenem Halbmond eine silberne Madonna mit Kind, je mit goldenem Nimbus.The town’s arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
might in English heraldic
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
language be described thus: Tierced in mantle dexter argent a cross gules, sinister Or a cramp sable and in base azure standing on a crescent of the third the Madonna and Child of the first, both with nimbus of the third, ensigning the shield a wall masoned, embattled of five and embowed with an arched gateway of the first.
Hillesheim was from 1352 to 1794 the northernmost outpost of the Archbishopric of Trier. This was made clear to all in that time by the town walls, which were particularly imposing for the Eifel
Eifel
The Eifel is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the south of the German-speaking Community of Belgium....
. This small town grew with the building of the town walls in the 13th century into a regionally influential town. Marking this is the so-called Mauerkrone – “wall crown” – on top of (“ensigning”) the escutcheon (although curiously, the German blazon does not mention this part of the arms).
The cross on the dexter (armsbearer’s right, viewer’s left) side is the Electoral-Trier armorial bearing, referring to that state’s rule over the town in feudal
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
times. The “cramp”, as it is called in English heraldry
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
, or Wolfsangel
Wolfsangel
The Wolfsangel is a symbol. It is also known as the Wolf's Hook or Doppelhaken. The upright variant is also known as "thunderbolt" and the horizontal variant as "werewolf"....
as it is known in German heraldry, seen on the sinister (armsbearer’s left, viewer’s right) side, is a charge
Charge (heraldry)
In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon . This may be a geometric design or a symbolic representation of a person, animal, plant, object or other device...
seen in several coats of arms borne by a particular Hillesheim family, some of whom functioned as Schöffen (roughly “lay jurists”). The Madonna in the base was already to be found in the old town seal from 1306, reappearing on Schöffen seals in the 14th and 15th centuries. These Madonna seals were in use until the late 18th century, and thus the Madonna was always closely bound to the townsfolk.
Culture and sightseeing
The town is one of the few European Model Towns and its renovation works are therefore subsidized by the town’s urban development promotion programme. There is a mediaevalMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
town centre partly surrounded by a town wall and with a church worth seeing for its Baroque
Baroque architecture
Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
organ from 1772, built by the famous Stumm family, annually attracting talented international organists. Hillesheim’s municipal area is almost round. From the historical town centre, the town broadened out in all directions, growing from its location in the valley through new building developments up to the surrounding slopes.
Main town
- Antoniuskapelle (chapel), Koblenzer Straße, plaster building, apparently from 1735.
- Saint Martin’s Catholic Parish Church, Graf-Mirbach-Platz 14, ClassicistClassicismClassicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...
aisleless churchAisleless churchAn 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 either side of the nave separated from the nave by colonnades or arcades, a row of pillars or columns...
, 1851-1852. - Town fortifications, south side, eastern and western parts of the crenellated girding wall built about 1300 and raised in the early 16th century.
- Across the street from Am Alten Born 1 – wayside cross, sandstoneSandstoneSandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
shaft cross, latter half of 18th or early 19th century. - Am Markt 14 – three-floor Late HistoricistHistoricism (art)Historicism refers to artistic styles that draw their inspiration from copying historic styles or artisans. After neo-classicism, which could itself be considered a historicist movement, the 19th century saw a new historicist phase marked by a return to a more ancient classicism, in particular in...
hotel building with elaborate façade, about 1900. - Am Stockberg, graveyard, Father Pfriem’s Gothic RevivalGothic Revival architectureThe Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
tomb, about 1904, BaroqueBaroque architectureBaroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
wayside cross, red sandstone, from 1814 (?). - At Augustinerstraße 2 – wayside cross, sandstone beam cross, from 1731.
- Augustinerstraße 2 – former AugustinianAugustiniansThe term Augustinians, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo , applies to two separate and unrelated types of Catholic religious orders:...
hermit monastery, three-winged conplex, 1721, now a hotel. - Bachstraße 5 – house/inn, Late ClassicistClassicismClassicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...
plaster building, apparently from 1886. - Bahnhofstraße 3 – former railway station, reception building and goods shed, Reform architecture, about 1912.
- Burgstraße 12 – solid structure with timber-frameTimber framingTimber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
gable, Late GothicGothic architectureGothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
window skirting, hall kitchen (?), possibly essentially 16th century. - Grabenstraße/corner of Neutorstraße – sandstone CrucifixionCrucifixionCrucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...
BildstockBildstockA wayside shrine, is a religious image, usually in some sort of small shelter, placed by a road or pathway, sometimes in a settlement or at a crossroads, but often in the middle of an empty stretch of country road, or at the top of a hill or mountain. They have been a feature of many cultures,...
, from 1650 or 1656. - Graf-Mirbach-Platz 17 – representative Late Historicist shop-house, about 1900.
- Near In Buch 6 – sandstone Crucifixion Bildstock, from 1624.
- Kölner Straße 10 – former Amt court, Gothic Revival, apparently from 1868/1878, expanded at the back.
- Königsberger Straße/corner of Prümer Straße – wayside cross shaft from 1624 and 1778.
- Near Lammersdorferstraße 15 – sandstone Bildstock from 1613.
- Schützenweg 1 – former tannery from 1826.
- Wallstraße 6 – two-floor solid structure with roof with half-hipped gables, about 1910.
- Former Oberbettingen-Hillesheim railway station, no number, built to standard plans, separate side building, about 1871.
- Former mill (?), Alter Bahnhof 1, three-floor plaster building
- Wayside cross, east of town on the road to Walsdorf, sandstoneSandstoneSandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
shaft cross from 1681 (? – last digit in inscription unclear), finial cross and pedestal new. - Wayside crosses, southwest of town on the road to Oberbettingen, so-called Ablasskreuz (“Indulgence Cross”) from 16th century, sandstone pedestal cross from 1870, pedestal cross from 1949.
Bolsdorf
- Saint Margaret’s Catholic Church (branch church), Margarethenstraße 3, triaxial aisleless churchAisleless churchAn 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 either side of the nave separated from the nave by colonnades or arcades, a row of pillars or columns...
from 17th century, expanded in 1887, quire and west tower from 1704, forsaken churchyard, quarrystone wall around complex. - Across the street from Im Auel 4 – commercial building (former mill?), one-floor quarrystone building, possibly from earlier half of 18th century or earlier.
- Im Auel 5 – two-floor dwelling and commercial building from 19th century, trussing in the barn from 1672.
- Margarethenstraße 4 – house from 18th century, oven porch.
- Graveyard, north of the village, Gothic RevivalGothic Revival architectureThe Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
pillar cross from 1869.
Niederbettingen
- Heart of Jesus Catholic Parish Church (Pfarrkirche Herz-Jesu), Mühlenweg 3, Late Romanesque RevivalRomanesque Revival architectureRomanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque architecture...
basilica, 1897, architect Adam Rüppel, BonnBonnBonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
; churchyard with retaining wall, shaft cross from 1697, finial cross from 1698, Late GothicGothic architectureGothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
door skirting, whole complex. - Village fortifications, remnant of the former moated castle’s girding wall from the High Middle AgesHigh Middle AgesThe High Middle Ages was the period of European history around the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries . The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which by convention end around 1500....
. - At Burgring 7 – timber-frameTimber framingTimber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
barn, partly of quarrystone, possibly from the 18th century. - Gartenweg 1 – estate complex, BaroqueBaroque architectureBaroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
house about 1780 or 1790, stable from 1829, barn possibly from the same time. - Gartenweg/corner of Burgring – wayside cross, shaft cross from 1660.
- Near Hauptstraße 23 – wayside cross, RococoRococoRococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...
shaft cross from, once thought to be from 1709, but more likely later. - Mühlenweg 4 – former mill (?), stately building with roof with half-hipped gables, about 1800.
- Wayside cross, south of the village in the woods near town limits, shaft cross from 1693.
- Wayside cross, northwest of the village on the old road to Oberbettingen, shaft cross from 1666.
- Wayside cross, southwest of and above the village in a meadow, sandstone shaft cross from the 18th century.
Economy and infrastructure
For a rural middle centreCentral Place Theory
Central place theory is a geographical theory that seeks to explain the number, size and location of human settlements in an urban system. The theory was created by the German geographer Walter Christaller, who asserted that settlements simply functioned as 'central places' providing services to...
, Hillesheim has good infrastructure at its disposal with three schools, two sport halls, one tennis hall, one indoor swimming pool, a cinema, several supermarkets and filling stations and a building centre.
Rail
Oberbettingen-Hillesheim railway station lies on the Eifelbahn (CologneCologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
–Euskirchen
Euskirchen
Euskirchen is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the district Euskirchen. While Euskirchen resembles a modern shopping town, it also has a history dating back over 700 years, having been granted town-status in 1302....
–Gerolstein
Gerolstein
Gerolstein is a town in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde. Gerolstein is headquarters to a large mineral water firm, Gerolsteiner Brunnen...
–Trier
Trier
Trier, historically called in English Treves is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC....
), which is served by the following local passenger services:
- the Eifel-Express (Cologne–Euskirchen–Gerolstein with connection to Trier);
- the Eifel-Bahn (Cologne–Euskirchen–Kall, and at peak times on to Gerolstein).
For all local public transport, three tariff systems apply: the Verkehrsverbund Region Trier (VRT), the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg, and for journeys crossing tariff zones, the NRW-Tarif.
Road
The resident population is hoping that the gap in the A 1 between Daun-Rengen and Blankenheim in North Rhine-WestphaliaNorth Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
will be filled, as all traffic currently rolls through Hillesheim, thereby causing very busy road conditions, especially on Fridays. On the other hand, this does conflict with local retailers’ interests, for they have been profiting from spontaneous purchases made by those passing through town for a long time.
Tourism
The town of Hillesheim is a tourist destination, above all for visitors from North Rhine-WestphaliaNorth Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
Besides the mediaeval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
town centre with its church, foremost among sights worth seeing is the “Bolsdorfer Tälchen” recreational area, where a lake, hiking loops, leisure activities and pubs on the town’s outskirts invite visitors.
The network of paths in the “Bolsdorfer Tälchen” is also a direct link to the Kyll
Kyll
The Kyll , noted by the Roman poet Ausonius as Celbis, is a 142km long river in western Germany , left tributary of the Moselle. It rises in the Eifel mountains, near the border with Belgium and flows generally south through the towns Stadtkyll, Gerolstein, Kyllburg and east of Bitburg...
tal Cycle Path, which leads more than 115 km from the Kronenburg reservoir to the Kyll’s mouth on the Moselle in Trier-Ehrang. Hillesheim is a “station” on the Eifel-Krimi-Wanderweg (“Eifel Crime Fiction Hiking Trail”), which is based on books by crime fiction authors Jacques Berndorf and Ralf Kramp.
The Geopfad Hillesheim, at 30 stations in the town’s vicinity, casts light on the Eifel’s geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
and on the evidence of vulcanism
Volcanism
Volcanism is the phenomenon connected with volcanoes and volcanic activity. It includes all phenomena resulting from and causing magma within the crust or mantle of a planet to rise through the crust and form volcanic rocks on the surface....
in the Vulkaneifel
Vulkan Eifel
The Vulkan Eifel is a region in the Eifel Mountains in Germany, that is defined to a large extent by its volcanic geological history. Characteristic of the Vulkan Eifel are its typical explosion crater lakes or maars, and numerous other signs of volcanic activity such as volcanic tuffs, lava...
.
Administration
In Hillesheim is the administrative seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of HillesheimHillesheim (Verbandsgemeinde)
Hillesheim is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Vulkaneifel, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Hillesheim....
, which by population is the district’s second smallest Verbandsgemeinde, after the Verbandsgemeinde of Kelberg
Kelberg (Verbandsgemeinde)
Kelberg is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Vulkaneifel, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Kelberg....
.
Education
In Hillesheim are two kindergartenKindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
s, one primary school, one Hauptschule
Hauptschule
A Hauptschule is a secondary school in Germany and Austria, starting after 4 years of elementary schooling, which offers Lower Secondary Education according to the International Standard Classification of Education...
and one Realschule
Realschule
The Realschule is a type of secondary school in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia , Denmark , Sweden , Hungary and in the Russian Empire .-History:The Realschule was an outgrowth of the rationalism and empiricism of the seventeenth and...
. The folk high school
Folk high school
Folk high schools are institutions for adult education that generally do not grant academic degrees, though certain courses might exist leading to that goal...
is run on a volunteer basis by the KEB Bildungswerk Hillesheim - Katholische Erwachsenenbildung.
Social services
There are a home for the aged and St.-Josefs-Haus, where assisted living is available.Sons and daughters of the town
- Annelie Runge (1943– ), film producer, screenplay writer and journalist
- Stefan Drößler (1961– ), film historian, museum director and film restorer
External links
- Collective municipality’s web pages
- Geopfad Hillesheim
- http://www.swr.de/landesschau-rp/hierzuland/-/id=100766/nid=100766/did=2357314/1lxllsn/index.htmlBrief portrait of Hillesheim with film at SWR FernsehenSWR FernsehenSWR Fernsehen is a German regional television channel targeting the states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. It is produced by Südwestrundfunk and is one of eight regional "third channels" broadcast by the ARD members....
] - Tourist Information Hillesheim and Eifel
- Vulkaneifel district website