.gif)
Lorch (Rheingau)
Encyclopedia
Lorch am Rhein is a small town in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis
in the Regierungsbezirk
of Darmstadt
in Hesse
, Germany
. It belongs to the Rhine Gorge World Heritage Site
.
.
Lorch lies in the southwestern part of the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis
in the foothills of the Rheingaugebirge (range), some 10 km north of the bend in the Rhine near Rüdesheim. The town owes its picturesque setting in the Middle Rhine Valley between Rüdesheim am Rhein and Sankt Goarshausen
to its location at the mouth of the Wisper
and to its steep vineyard
s. The town’s municipal area stretches into the richly wooded Wisper valley along Landesstraße (State Road) 3033 between Lorch and the district seat of Bad Schwalbach
. The town is a state-recognized recreational resort (Erholungsort). The Rheinsteig
, the new hiking
trail on the Rhine’s right bank leading from Wiesbaden
to Bonn
, runs on the Rhine heights. In the Rhine near Lorch lies the island and nature conservation area called Lorcher Werth.
and later the Mattiaci
. In the 1st century, the Romans
thrust forth to the Taunus
. The Romans were followed by the Alamanni
and with the onset of the Migration Period
, the Franks
.
The town’s oldest documentary mention is a document from 1085 in which Archbishop Wezilo documented a donation from the Mainz Cathedral Canon Embricho to the cathedral chapter of a number of holdings, among them a house and vineyards in Lorch.
In the Middle Ages
, Lorch served as the northern bastion of the Archbishopric of Mainz
facing towards the Rheingau
. Beginning in the 12th century, Lorch found itself at the southern end of the Rheingauer Gebück, a kind of border defence made out of an impenetrable “hedge” of stunted trees (the word itself comes from the root of the German
word bücken, meaning “stoop”, a reference to the trees’ thick, low boughs). This was put in place by the Archbishops of Mainz.
In the 13th century, a parish, whose first documentary mention came in 1254, was established in Lorch.
In 1460, 1631, 1794, and in the final phase of the Second World War, there was warfare in Lorch, which sometimes brought considerable destruction.
On 10 January 1919, the Free State Bottleneck
, a provisional statelike entity between occupation zones after the First World War, was proclaimed, with Lorch as the “capital”. Even today, many of the ministate’s coats of arms
in the town still recall this time.
In the early 1960s, the Bundeswehr
came to town with its Flugabwehrregiment 5 (“Antiaircraft Regiment 5”). For soldiers and their families, a new settlement, the Ranselberg, was built. The barracks in the picturesque Wisper Valley represented an important economic factor for the town of Lorch. Many local people found work in the barracks, the attached post administration, the munitions depot, the equipment depot and the sanitary depot.
In the course of Bundeswehr reform, the barracks were closed in 1993. At the site, the underground Gerätehauptdepot Lorch-Wispertal (“Main Equipment Depot”) and the likewise underground Sanitätshauptdepot Lorch-Rheingau (“Main Sanitary Depot”) remained. In November 2003, the complete abandonment of the Bundeswehr post was announced. The sanitary company is to be withdrawn in early 2008. By 31 December 2007, the Sanitätshauptdepot is to be dissolved, and a year later the Gerätehauptdepot is to disappear. Some 280 civilians will thereby lose their jobs.
Meanwhile, various businesses have set up shop in the forsaken Bundeswehr facilities, which has partly offset the job losses due to the military’s pullout.
parishioners have since 1908 been gathering in a church room in a house at Oberweg 4. Other religions are barely represented.
, Vienne
, France
since 1976 Saint-Benoît
, Vienne, France since 1976
“Adopted wine town”: Gütersloh
, North Rhine-Westphalia
Culturally and politically, Lorch is part of the Hessian Rheingau
.
. It houses valuable carvings, documents, sculptures and sacral objects, among other things a woodcarving of John the Baptist
’s severed head from the 12th century and the seated Madonna with Christ Child and grapes from the early 14th century. It is open weekend afternoons in spring, summer and autumn and also serves as a tourist information centre. There are many brochures to be had there for free. Moreover, books about Lorch’s history and winegrowing are on sale there.
42 (Koblenz
–Wiesbaden) and the railway line that roughly parallels it. It is some 40 km to the Autobahn interchange
in Wiesbaden
where the B 42 meets the A 66
going towards Frankfurt
. There is a connection to the Autobahn “cross” at Mainz
(A 61
/A 60, Cologne/Koblenz/Ludwigshafen) across the Wiesbaden-Schierstein
bridge over the Rhine; and by way of the Rhine ferries at Lorch and Kaub
to the on-ramps at Laudert and Rheinböllen (about 15 km).
The town is linked by the railway artery on the Rhine’s right bank to the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund
.
Moreover, there is the Wiesbaden-Lorchhausen ORN (Omnibusverkehr Rhein-Nahe) busline.
The Rheinsteig
, the new hiking trail from Wiesbaden
to Bonn
by way of the Ehrenbreitstein fort runs on the Rhine heights of Lorch.
After dealings with the Bundesvermögensverwaltung (“Federal Estate Administration”), the town of Lorch managed to build an industrial park with some 20 firms on the lands formerly occupied by the barracks.
under the Großlage (roughly “vineyard group” or “appellation”) “Burgweg”. The individual vineyards are Schlossberg (53 ha), Kapellenberg (58 ha), Krone (13 ha), Pfaffenwies (35 ha) and Bodental-Steinberg (23 ha).
The dominant grape variety is Riesling
, but Pinot noir
has a growing share of the harvest. From the wines, Edelbrände and sekt are also produced.
The grapes grow in hillside vineyards on stony, heat-storing slate
- and quartzite
-bearing earth. The great expanse of water that is the Rhine accounts for the temperature balance, working as a reflector off which sunlight shines, thereby strengthening it.
field marshal
.
Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis
Rheingau-Taunus is a Kreis in the west of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Limburg-Weilburg, Hochtaunuskreis, Main-Taunus, district-free Wiesbaden, Mainz-Bingen, Rhein-Lahn.-Geography:...
in the Regierungsbezirk
Regierungsbezirk
In Germany, a Government District, in German: Regierungsbezirk – is a subdivision of certain federal states .They are above the Kreise, Landkreise, and kreisfreie Städte...
of Darmstadt
Darmstadt (region)
Darmstadt is one of the three Regierungsbezirke of Hesse, Germany, located in the south of the state.- External links :*...
in Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
, 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 Rhine Gorge World Heritage Site
Rhine Gorge
The Rhine Gorge is a popular name for the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, a 65 km section of the River Rhine between Koblenz and Bingen in Germany...
.
Location
The town is characterized by winegrowing and tourismTourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
.
Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis
Rheingau-Taunus is a Kreis in the west of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Limburg-Weilburg, Hochtaunuskreis, Main-Taunus, district-free Wiesbaden, Mainz-Bingen, Rhein-Lahn.-Geography:...
in the foothills of the Rheingaugebirge (range), some 10 km north of the bend in the Rhine near Rüdesheim. The town owes its picturesque setting in the Middle Rhine Valley between Rüdesheim am Rhein and Sankt Goarshausen
Sankt Goarshausen
Sankt Goarshausen is a tourist town located on the eastern shore of the Rhine, in the section known as the Rhine Gorge, directly across the river from Sankt Goar, in the State Rhineland-Palatinate, in Germany. It lies approximately 30 km south of Koblenz, and it is above all famous for the...
to its location at the mouth of the Wisper
Wisper
The Wisper is a thirty kilometer long river in Hesse, Germany, right tributary of the Rhine. Its source is in the western Taunus, Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis district, near a small village named Wisper . It flows southwest through a densely forested valley with some medieval castle ruins surrounded by a...
and to its steep vineyard
Vineyard
A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...
s. The town’s municipal area stretches into the richly wooded Wisper valley along Landesstraße (State Road) 3033 between Lorch and the district seat of Bad Schwalbach
Bad Schwalbach
Bad Schwalbach is the district seat of Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany.- Geographic Location :Bad Schwalbach is a spa town some 20 km northwest of Wiesbaden. It lies at 289 to 465 m above sea level in the Taunus, along the small river Aar...
. The town is a state-recognized recreational resort (Erholungsort). The Rheinsteig
Rheinsteig
The Rheinsteig is a hiking trail following a mainly elevated path along the righthand side of the river Rhine in Germany, its 320 km route stretches from Bonn to Wiesbaden, running parallel to the Rheinhöhenweg Trail and Rheinburgenweg Trail.-Description:...
, the new hiking
Hiking
Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...
trail on the Rhine’s right bank leading from Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
to Bonn
Bonn
Bonn 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....
, runs on the Rhine heights. In the Rhine near Lorch lies the island and nature conservation area called Lorcher Werth.
Constituent communities
Lorch’s Stadtteile, besides the main town, also called Lorch, are Lorchhausen, Espenschied, Ransel, Ranselberg and Wollmerschied.History
The area was settled quite early on, first by the Celts, and then, come the Christian Era, by the UbiiUbii
thumb|right|350px|The Ubii around AD 30The Ubii were a Germanic tribe first encountered dwelling on the right bank of the Rhine in the time of Julius Caesar, who formed an alliance with them in 55 BC in order to launch attacks across the river...
and later the Mattiaci
Mattiaci
The Mattiaci were an ancient Germanic tribe. They were possibly a branch of the Chatti, their Germanic neighbors to the east. The Mattiaci were settled on border of the Roman Empire on the right side of the Rhine in the area of present-day Wiesbaden , the southern Taunus, and the Wetterau.Tacitus...
. In the 1st century, the Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
thrust forth to the Taunus
Taunus
The Taunus is a low mountain range in Hesse, Germany that composes part of the Rhenish Slate Mountains. It is bounded by the river valleys of Rhine, Main and Lahn. On the opposite side of the Rhine, the mountains are continued by the Hunsrück...
. The Romans were followed by the Alamanni
Alamanni
The Alamanni, Allemanni, or Alemanni were originally an alliance of Germanic tribes located around the upper Rhine river . One of the earliest references to them is the cognomen Alamannicus assumed by Roman Emperor Caracalla, who ruled the Roman Empire from 211 to 217 and claimed thereby to be...
and with the onset of the Migration Period
Migration Period
The Migration Period, also called the Barbarian Invasions , was a period of intensified human migration in Europe that occurred from c. 400 to 800 CE. This period marked the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages...
, the Franks
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
.
The town’s oldest documentary mention is a document from 1085 in which Archbishop Wezilo documented a donation from the Mainz Cathedral Canon Embricho to the cathedral chapter of a number of holdings, among them a house and vineyards in Lorch.
In the Middle Ages
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...
, Lorch served as the northern bastion of the Archbishopric of Mainz
Archbishopric of Mainz
The Archbishopric of Mainz or Electorate of Mainz was an influential ecclesiastic and secular prince-bishopric in the Holy Roman Empire between 780–82 and 1802. In the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, the Archbishop of Mainz was the primas Germaniae, the substitute of the Pope north of the Alps...
facing towards the Rheingau
Rheingau
The Rheingau is the hill country on the north side of the Rhine River between Wiesbaden and Lorch near Frankfurt, reaching from the western Taunus to the Rhine. It lies in the state of Hesse and is part of the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis administrative district...
. Beginning in the 12th century, Lorch found itself at the southern end of the Rheingauer Gebück, a kind of border defence made out of an impenetrable “hedge” of stunted trees (the word itself comes from the root of the German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
word bücken, meaning “stoop”, a reference to the trees’ thick, low boughs). This was put in place by the Archbishops of Mainz.
In the 13th century, a parish, whose first documentary mention came in 1254, was established in Lorch.
In 1460, 1631, 1794, and in the final phase of the Second World War, there was warfare in Lorch, which sometimes brought considerable destruction.
On 10 January 1919, the Free State Bottleneck
Free State Bottleneck
The Free State Bottleneck was a short-lived quasi-state that existed from 10 January 1919 until 25 February 1923. It was formed out of part of the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau as a consequence of the French and American occupation of the Rhineland following World War I...
, a provisional statelike entity between occupation zones after the First World War, was proclaimed, with Lorch as the “capital”. Even today, many of the ministate’s coats of 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...
in the town still recall this time.
In the early 1960s, the Bundeswehr
Bundeswehr
The Bundeswehr consists of the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities...
came to town with its Flugabwehrregiment 5 (“Antiaircraft Regiment 5”). For soldiers and their families, a new settlement, the Ranselberg, was built. The barracks in the picturesque Wisper Valley represented an important economic factor for the town of Lorch. Many local people found work in the barracks, the attached post administration, the munitions depot, the equipment depot and the sanitary depot.
In the course of Bundeswehr reform, the barracks were closed in 1993. At the site, the underground Gerätehauptdepot Lorch-Wispertal (“Main Equipment Depot”) and the likewise underground Sanitätshauptdepot Lorch-Rheingau (“Main Sanitary Depot”) remained. In November 2003, the complete abandonment of the Bundeswehr post was announced. The sanitary company is to be withdrawn in early 2008. By 31 December 2007, the Sanitätshauptdepot is to be dissolved, and a year later the Gerätehauptdepot is to disappear. Some 280 civilians will thereby lose their jobs.
Meanwhile, various businesses have set up shop in the forsaken Bundeswehr facilities, which has partly offset the job losses due to the military’s pullout.
Religion
Lorch’s character is overwhelmingly Catholic, and serving this community is the church St. Martin. The EvangelicalEvangelical Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
parishioners have since 1908 been gathering in a church room in a house at Oberweg 4. Other religions are barely represented.
Town council
The municipal election, held on 26 March 2006, yielded the following results:| Parties and voter communities | % 2006 |
Seats 2006 |
% 2001 |
Seats 2001 |
|
| CDU | Christian Democratic Union of Germany | 45.6 | 9 | 49.1 | 11 |
| SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
25.2 | 5 | 29.2 | 7 |
| GREENS | Bündnis 90/Die Grünen | 7.5 | 1 | 7.5 | 2 |
| FWG | Freie Wählergemeinschaft | 21.7 | 4 | 14.2 | 3 |
| Total | 100.0 | 19 | 100.0 | 23 | |
| Voter turnout in % | 55.0 | 60.6 | |||
Town partnerships
LigugéLigugé
Ligugé is a commune in the Vienne department in the Poitou-Charentes region in western France.It is located on the River Clain, 8 km south of Poitiers. It is known for its historic monastery, Ligugé Abbey.-Twin towns:...
, Vienne
Vienne
Vienne is the northernmost département of the Poitou-Charentes region of France, named after the river Vienne.- Viennese history :Vienne is one of the original 83 departments, established on March 4, 1790 during the French Revolution. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Poitou,...
, France
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...
since 1976 Saint-Benoît
Saint-Benoît, Vienne
Saint-Benoît is a commune in the Vienne department in the Poitou-Charentes region in western France.-References:*...
, Vienne, France since 1976
“Adopted wine town”: Gütersloh
Gütersloh
Gütersloh is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in the area of Westphalia and the administrative region of Detmold. Gütersloh is the administrative centre for a district of the same name and has a population of 96,320 people.- Geography :...
, North Rhine-Westphalia
North 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...
Culture and sightseeing
Rheingau
The Rheingau is the hill country on the north side of the Rhine River between Wiesbaden and Lorch near Frankfurt, reaching from the western Taunus to the Rhine. It lies in the state of Hesse and is part of the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis administrative district...
.
Museums
The Robert-Struppmann-Museum is the town’s local history museumMuseum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
. It houses valuable carvings, documents, sculptures and sacral objects, among other things a woodcarving of John the Baptist
John the Baptist
John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
’s severed head from the 12th century and the seated Madonna with Christ Child and grapes from the early 14th century. It is open weekend afternoons in spring, summer and autumn and also serves as a tourist information centre. There are many brochures to be had there for free. Moreover, books about Lorch’s history and winegrowing are on sale there.
Buildings
- The Catholic Pfarrkirche St. Martin (Saint Martin’s Parish Church) was completed in the 14th century. The 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....
building was built over the remains of a still partly preserved Late RomanesqueRomanesque architectureRomanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
basilicaBasilicaThe Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
. Its centrepiece is the high altarAltarAn altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
by the master Hans from WormsWorms, GermanyWorms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...
, installed in 1483. As the biggest, and perhaps first-carved altar, originally conceived as monochrome, it is of outstanding value for art historyArt historyArt history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...
. The church is therefore secured, but open for visitors between Easter and October on Saturdays between 14:00 and 17:00 and on Sundays between 11:00 and 17:00. - Hilchenhaus, from the mid 16th century, is well known as the “loveliest RenaissanceRenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
building on the Middle Rhine”. At this time, though, it is a building ruin owing to a failed hotel-building venture whose construction work wrought various damages and marring. Sadly, there is no money to renovate it again. - Nollig ruinsRuine NolligThe Ruin Nollig is a ruined castle above the village of Lorch in Hesse, Germany.-Sources and external links:...
, are the remains of the old town fortifications on a craggy ridge overlooking the town. - The Strunk (“Stump”), is an old fortification tower from 1527, which once also served as a prison.
- Leprosenhaus (“Leprosy House”) with Round Tower – here in the Middle Ages, lepers were given care; at the time it still lay outside the town.
- Hexenturm (“Witches’ Tower”) – this served in the Middle Ages to keep wrongdoers and “witches” under lock and key. It was last used in the early 18th century.
Regular events
- Tal total is held yearly on the last Saturday in June. On this day, BundesstraßeBundesstraßeBundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
42 between Rüdesheim and KoblenzKoblenzKoblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...
on the Rhine’s right bank and Bundesstraße 9 on the left between BingenBingen am RheinBingen am Rhein is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.The settlement’s original name was Bingium, a Celtic word that may have meant “hole in the rock”, a description of the shoal behind the Mäuseturm, known as the Binger Loch. Bingen was the starting point for the...
and Koblenz are closed to motorized traffic and left free for cyclists and skaters. - Kerb (church consecration festival) is held yearly on the weekend after 8 September.
- Kulturtage (“Culture Days”), occurs in late September and early October; theatre, concerts, exhibitions.
- Weihnachtsmarkt (“Christmas Market”), is held annually on the Saturday before the onset of Advent.
- Rheingau Musik FestivalRheingau Musik FestivalThe Rheingau Musik Festival is an international summer music festival in Germany, founded in 1987. It is mostly for classical music, but includes other genres...
has held an annual concert in the church St. Martin, typically an organ concert, since 1988.
Transport
Lorch lies on BundesstraßeBundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
42 (Koblenz
Koblenz
Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...
–Wiesbaden) and the railway line that roughly parallels it. It is some 40 km to the Autobahn interchange
Interchange (road)
In the field of road transport, an interchange is a road junction that typically uses grade separation, and one or more ramps, to permit traffic on at least one highway to pass through the junction without directly crossing any other traffic stream. It differs from a standard intersection, at which...
in Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
where the B 42 meets the A 66
Bundesautobahn 66
is an autobahn in southwestern Germany. It connects the Taunus to Fulda, passing close to Frankfurt am Main. The first part of the autobahn between Wiesbaden and the Nordwestkreuz Frankfurt, was opened as early as 1934, then called the Rhein-Main-Schnellweg. It became an autobahn in 1965.The...
going towards Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
. There is a connection to the Autobahn “cross” at Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
(A 61
Bundesautobahn 61
is an autobahn in Germany that connects the border to the Netherlands near Venlo in the northwest to the interchange with A 6 near Hockenheim. In 1965, this required a re-design of the Hockenheimring....
/A 60, Cologne/Koblenz/Ludwigshafen) across the Wiesbaden-Schierstein
Wiesbaden-Schierstein
Schierstein is a southwestern borough of Wiesbaden, capital of state of Hesse, Germany. First mentioned in historical records in 860, Schierstein was incorporated into Wiesbaden in 1926. Today the borough has about 10,000 residents...
bridge over the Rhine; and by way of the Rhine ferries at Lorch and Kaub
Kaub
Kaub is a town in Germany, state Rhineland-Palatinate, district Rhein-Lahn-Kreis. It is part of the municipality Loreley. It is located on the right bank of the Rhine, approx. 50 km west from Wiesbaden. It is connected to Wiesbaden and Koblenz by railway. Population 1100...
to the on-ramps at Laudert and Rheinböllen (about 15 km).
The town is linked by the railway artery on the Rhine’s right bank to the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund
Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund
The Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund is an organised transport network in the German state of Hesse, centred around the city of Frankfurt am Main. Its head office is located in Hofheim im Taunus...
.
Moreover, there is the Wiesbaden-Lorchhausen ORN (Omnibusverkehr Rhein-Nahe) busline.
The Rheinsteig
Rheinsteig
The Rheinsteig is a hiking trail following a mainly elevated path along the righthand side of the river Rhine in Germany, its 320 km route stretches from Bonn to Wiesbaden, running parallel to the Rheinhöhenweg Trail and Rheinburgenweg Trail.-Description:...
, the new hiking trail from Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
to Bonn
Bonn
Bonn 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....
by way of the Ehrenbreitstein fort runs on the Rhine heights of Lorch.
After dealings with the Bundesvermögensverwaltung (“Federal Estate Administration”), the town of Lorch managed to build an industrial park with some 20 firms on the lands formerly occupied by the barracks.
Winegrowing
Winegrowing in Lorch is run within the Rheingau winegrowing regionRheingau (wine region)
Rheingau is one of 13 German wine regions for quality wines . Named for the traditional region of Rheingau , the wine region is situated in the state of Hesse, where it makes up part of the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis administrative district...
under the Großlage (roughly “vineyard group” or “appellation”) “Burgweg”. The individual vineyards are Schlossberg (53 ha), Kapellenberg (58 ha), Krone (13 ha), Pfaffenwies (35 ha) and Bodental-Steinberg (23 ha).
The dominant grape variety is Riesling
Riesling
Riesling is a white grape variety which originated in the Rhine region of Germany. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet and sparkling white wines. Riesling wines are usually varietally...
, but Pinot noir
Pinot Noir
Pinot noir is a black wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes...
has a growing share of the harvest. From the wines, Edelbrände and sekt are also produced.
The grapes grow in hillside vineyards on stony, heat-storing slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
- and quartzite
Quartzite
Quartzite is a hard metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to gray, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink...
-bearing earth. The great expanse of water that is the Rhine accounts for the temperature balance, working as a reflector off which sunlight shines, thereby strengthening it.
Famous people
The town’s noble family named itself “von Lorch”. Their most important representative was Johann Hilchen (1484–1548), knight and ImperialHoly Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
field marshal
Field Marshal
Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
.
Sons and daughters of the town
- Dr. Gerhard Schwenzer (b. 1938). From 1983 to 2005 he was the Catholic Bishop of OsloOsloOslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
.
People with links to the town
- Dr. Peter Paul Nahm (1901–1981), German politician (CDUChristian Democratic Union (Germany)The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
) and Staatssekretär (deputy to a cabinet minister).
Further reading
- Robert Struppmann: Chronik der Stadt Lorch im Rheingau. 1981, 1988
- Holger Simon: Das Hochaltarretabel aus Lorch am Rhein. Grundlegende Überlegungen zum neuzeitlichen Bildbegriff in: Norbert Nußbaum/Claudia Euskirchen/Stephan Hoppe (publisher), Wege zur Renaissance. Beobachtungen zu den Anfängen neuzeitlicher Kunstauffassung im Rheinland und den Nachbargebieten um 1500. Köln 2003. S. 364-389. (in German)
Documents
- Bild von Lorch aus J.F. Dielmann, A. Fay, J. Becker (Zeichner): F.C. Vogels Panorama des Rheins, Bilder des rechten und linken Rheinufers, Lithographische Anstalt F.C. Vogel, Frankfurt 1833
- Bild der Ruine Nollingen aus J.F. Dielmann, A. Fay, J. Becker (Zeichner): F.C. Vogels Panorama des Rheins, Bilder des rechten und linken Rheinufers, Lithographische Anstalt F.C. Vogel, Frankfurt 1833
- Bild von Lorchhausen aus J.F. Dielmann, A. Fay, J. Becker (Zeichner): F.C. Vogels Panorama des Rheins, Bilder des rechten und linken Rheinufers, Lithographische Anstalt F.C. Vogel, Frankfurt 1833