Katzwinkel, Vulkaneifel
Encyclopedia
Katzwinkel is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district
in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Kelberg
, whose seat is in the like-named municipality
.
, 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.
Katzwinkel lies in the Gäsbach valley stretching up from the upper Üßbach’s right bank, just under 500 m west of Bundesstraße
257 between Kelberg
and Ulmen
. The municipality lies at the forks of three brooks, the Burbach, the Lanzbach and the Ringelbach, which together form the Gäsbach in the middle of the village. The village’s population is roughly 180 and its elevation ranges from 460 to 490 m above sea level
; however, if areas outside the village but still within municipal limits are considered, the local mountain, the Staudchen, northeast of the village, reaches a height of 524 m above sea level. At the Afelskreuz (see Culture and sightseeing below), the 600 m above sea level mark is almost reached. The area within municipal limits measures 385 ha, and one third of it is wooded.
finds brought to light here confirm prehistoric settlement in the area around Katzwinkel. The first documentary mention from 1143 shows that the Springiersbach Monastery had holdings in Katzwinkel.
Katzwinkel later belonged to the County of Nürburg and the Amt of Nürburg, and thereby also to the Electorate of Cologne. In the time of French
occupation under Napoleon
, Katzwinkel was assigned to the Mairie (“Mayoralty”) of Sarmersbach in the canton of Daun. After this arrangement was abolished in 1815, the village remained with the Bürgermeisterei (also “Mayoralty”) of Sarmersbach until 1931.
Until 1970, the municipality belonged to the Verbandsgemeinde of Daun
, when it, along with Beinhausen
, Boxberg
, Brück
, Hörschhausen
and Neichen
, was annexed to the Verbandsgemeinde of Kelberg
.
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
The municipality’s arms
might in English heraldic
language be described thus: Argent a cross sable between four cronels vert.
The black cross on a silver field is the arms formerly borne by the village’s feudal overlord, the Electorate of Cologne, to which, of the formerly 98 municipalities in the district, only Katzwinkel and Hörschhausen
belonged. The cross has what is described in the German blazon as “green, three-spiked crowns” (…grünen dreizackigen Kronen), although they more closely resemble a charge
known as a cronel, set in each of its angles. The cronels are a clever kind of canting
. In German heraldry
, the term for the arrangement of four like charges around a cross in this fashion is bewinkelt, thus suggesting part of the name Katzwinkel (the name ending actually means “corner”, “angle” or, as in this case, “place framed by hills and mountains”).
Two other buildings are listed as part of the municipality’s cultural heritage:
.
and currently has four fulltime businesses in the field, mainly in pasture and cattle raising.
’s network of hiking trails with the Eifelverein’s (the local hiking club’s) Karl-Kaufmannweg (Hauptwanderweg Nr. 2), roughly 1 500 m of which runs through the municipal area. There are also about 7.5 km of municipal hiking trails. Katzwinkel is also linked to the cycle path network with the Ahr-Mosel Radweg and Radweg Nr. 30.
The nearby municipalities of Kelberg and Ulmen, each about 5 km away, are the local centres for shopping and medical services. They also have pharmacies. Both neighbouring centres can be reached over Bundesstraße
257.
of Rhineland-Palatinate
for outstanding municipal projects. Of the 97 projects sent in, Katzwinkel’s initiative placed seventh.
Municipalities of Germany
Municipalities are the lowest level of territorial division in Germany. This may be the fourth level of territorial division in Germany, apart from those states which include Regierungsbezirke , where municipalities then become the fifth level.-Overview:With more than 3,400,000 inhabitants, the...
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
Verbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde is an administrative unit in the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt.-Rhineland-Palatinate:...
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district
Districts of Germany
The districts of Germany are known as , except in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein where they are known simply as ....
in Rhineland-Palatinate
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 belongs to 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....
, whose seat is in the like-named municipality
Kelberg
Kelberg is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the like-named Verbandsgemeinde, and is home to its seat...
.
Location
The municipality lies in the VulkaneifelVulkan 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.
Katzwinkel lies in the Gäsbach valley stretching up from the upper Üßbach’s right bank, just under 500 m west of Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
257 between Kelberg
Kelberg
Kelberg is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the like-named Verbandsgemeinde, and is home to its seat...
and Ulmen
Ulmen
Ulmen is a town in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde – a kind of collective municipality – to which it also belongs.-Constituent communities:...
. The municipality lies at the forks of three brooks, the Burbach, the Lanzbach and the Ringelbach, which together form the Gäsbach in the middle of the village. The village’s population is roughly 180 and its elevation ranges from 460 to 490 m above sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
; however, if areas outside the village but still within municipal limits are considered, the local mountain, the Staudchen, northeast of the village, reaches a height of 524 m above sea level. At the Afelskreuz (see Culture and sightseeing below), the 600 m above sea level mark is almost reached. The area within municipal limits measures 385 ha, and one third of it is wooded.
History
Stone AgeStone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
finds brought to light here confirm prehistoric settlement in the area around Katzwinkel. The first documentary mention from 1143 shows that the Springiersbach Monastery had holdings in Katzwinkel.
Katzwinkel later belonged to the County of Nürburg and the Amt of Nürburg, and thereby also to the Electorate of Cologne. In the time of French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
occupation under Napoleon
Napoleon I
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
, Katzwinkel was assigned to the Mairie (“Mayoralty”) of Sarmersbach in the canton of Daun. After this arrangement was abolished in 1815, the village remained with the Bürgermeisterei (also “Mayoralty”) of Sarmersbach until 1931.
Until 1970, the municipality belonged to the Verbandsgemeinde of Daun
Daun (Verbandsgemeinde)
Daun is a collective municipality in the Vulkaneifel district of Rhineland-Palatinate. The seat of the Daun Verbandsgemeinde is in the municipality of Daun.- Constituent municipalities:# Betteldorf# Bleckhausen# Brockscheid...
, when it, along with Beinhausen
Beinhausen
Beinhausen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
, Boxberg
Boxberg, Rhineland-Palatinate
Boxberg is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
, Brück
Dreis-Brück
Dreis-Brück is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
, Hörschhausen
Hörschhausen
Hörschhausen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
and Neichen
Neichen
Neichen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
, was annexed to 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....
.
Municipal council
The council is made up of 6 council members, who were elected by majority votePlurality voting system
The plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies...
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: In Silber ein schwarzes Balkenkreuz, bewinkelt von vier grünen dreizackigen Kronen.The municipality’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: Argent a cross sable between four cronels vert.
The black cross on a silver field is the arms formerly borne by the village’s feudal overlord, the Electorate of Cologne, to which, of the formerly 98 municipalities in the district, only Katzwinkel and Hörschhausen
Hörschhausen
Hörschhausen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
belonged. The cross has what is described in the German blazon as “green, three-spiked crowns” (…grünen dreizackigen Kronen), although they more closely resemble 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...
known as a cronel, set in each of its angles. The cronels are a clever kind of canting
Canting arms
Canting arms are heraldic bearings that represent the bearer's name in a visual pun or rebus. The term cant came into the English language from Anglo-Norman cant, meaning song or singing, from Latin cantāre, and English cognates include canticle, chant, accent, incantation and recant.Canting arms –...
. In German heraldry
German heraldry
German heraldry refers to the cultural tradition and style of heraldic achievements in modern and historic Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, including national and civic arms, noble and burgher arms, ecclesiastical heraldry, heraldic displays and heraldic descriptions...
, the term for the arrangement of four like charges around a cross in this fashion is bewinkelt, thus suggesting part of the name Katzwinkel (the name ending actually means “corner”, “angle” or, as in this case, “place framed by hills and mountains”).
Buildings
Worth seeing in Katzwinkel is the Afelskreuz (cross) with its chapel. The name may come from Ablasskreuz (“Indulgence Cross”), although it is also possible, given the very similar pronunciation, that it came from Eifelkreuz (“Eifel Cross”). The more than 3 m-tall cross that stands here now was put up on the same spot as an older, rotten one in 1931. The yeardate carved into the cross, 1231, refers to pilgrimages made at that time.Two other buildings are listed as part of the municipality’s cultural heritage:
- Saint Catherine’s Catholic Church (branch church; Filialkirche St. Katharina), Baumschulstraße 4, 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...
, 1810, altered about 1950-1960. - Heiligenhäuschen (a small, shrinelike structure consecrated to a saint or saints), east of the village on the road to UeßUeßUeß is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
.
Natural monuments
The Teufelsstein (“Devil’s Stone”) with a diameter of 2 m is a listed natural monument made of solidified lavaLava
Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...
.
Economy and infrastructure
The village is characterized by agricultureAgriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
and currently has four fulltime businesses in the field, mainly in pasture and cattle raising.
Trails
Katzwinkel is linked to 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....
’s network of hiking trails with the Eifelverein’s (the local hiking club’s) Karl-Kaufmannweg (Hauptwanderweg Nr. 2), roughly 1 500 m of which runs through the municipal area. There are also about 7.5 km of municipal hiking trails. Katzwinkel is also linked to the cycle path network with the Ahr-Mosel Radweg and Radweg Nr. 30.
The nearby municipalities of Kelberg and Ulmen, each about 5 km away, are the local centres for shopping and medical services. They also have pharmacies. Both neighbouring centres can be reached over Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
257.
Sundry
In 2005, Katzwinkel won a prize from the stateStates of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...
of Rhineland-Palatinate
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 ....
for outstanding municipal projects. Of the 97 projects sent in, Katzwinkel’s initiative placed seventh.