Rhaunen
Encyclopedia
Rhaunen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld
district
in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde
.
in the Hunsrück
in a sprawling, well watered hollow. The hollow separates the Idar Forest massif from the Soonwald massif. Within the village itself, the Lingenbach empties into the Rhaunelbach, which itself, along with the Näßbach, the Macherbach and the Büdenbach, empties into the Idarbach.
The nearest major centres are Idar-Oberstein
, Simmern
, Morbach
and Kirn
.
, comes down from the Devonian
. The hollow in which Rhaunen lies was formed by the many brooks that flow together here and that shaped various alluvial fan
s, which have very loamy subsoil. The Hunsrück slate can be found on the slopes overlooking the hollow, whereas the floodplains down in the dale are characterized by loaminess. While the slopes are mostly covered with mixed forests, meadowland is to be found in the dales, and on the higher-lying terraces and hills, cropraising. The slate was once intensively used as a building material, both for roofing and building walls. Even the many public buildings built in Rhaunen about the turn of the 20th century have unplastered walls made of slate quarrystone. Of the many slate quarries that were once to be found in the dales around Rhaunen, none is still in business. Here and there, though, tailing heaps can still be seen. The biggest operation in the slatemining business was the “Abenstern” quarry on the Wartenberg, going towards Hausen
. It was quarrying slate until the late 1950s. The high ridges, of the Idar Forest massif for example, are formed of the most extremely weathering-resistant Taunus quartzite
, whose effect on the land is to leave it rather useless for agriculture
, although not altogether unusable in forestry
. This Taunus quartzite harbours bog iron
deposits, which until about the middle of the 19th century were mined and smelted. This was done at the Weitersbacher Hütte (ironworks) near Rhaunen.
in Rhaunen amounts to 744 mm, which falls into the middle third of the precipitation chart for all Germany. At 50% of the German Weather Service’s weather station
s lower figures are recorded. The driest month is April. The most rainfall comes in November. In that month, precipitation is 1.4 times what it is in April. Precipitation varies only slightly and is spread quite evenly throughout the year. Only at 1% of the weather stations are lower seasonal swings recorded.
times, as witnessed by the sandstone
blocks in the Evangelical
church’s north wall, which were formerly walled up. Rhunanu, first named in a record from Lorch Abbey (not to be confused with Lorsch Abbey
) in the late 8th century, crops up again in 841 as Rhuna in a donation to Fulda Abbey. Rhaunen became the seat of the like-named high court
district. Until the 14th century, the Waldgrave
s were the unqualified owners of the court and the places that it governed. Besides Rhaunen itself, these were Bollenbach
, Bruschied
, Bundenbach
, Gösenroth
, Hausen
, Krummenau
, Laufersweiler
, Lindenschied
, Oberkirn
, Schwerbach
, Stipshausen
, Sulzbach
, Weitersbach
and Woppenroth
. Also under the court’s sway was the Schmidtburg. With this Waldgravial castle
’s loss to Archbishop Baldwin of Trier in 1330, however, part of the court’s territory in the form of three villages also passed to the Electorate of Trier. Baldwin also managed at the same stroke to relieve the Waldgraves of one fourth of the high court. Territorial relations remained so until an end was put to the Old Empire
in the late 18th century and the old mediaeval
governmental body, the court, was likewise swept away.
In the course of the French
occupation of the lands on the Rhine’s left bank in the wake of the Treaty of Lunéville
, Rhaunen was grouped into the Department of Sarre, the arrondissement
of Birkenfeld and the canton
of Rhaunen. After the French withdrew in 1814, Rhaunen found itself in Prussia
’s new Rhine Province
, also becoming the seat of a Bürgermeisterei (“mayoralty”) in the Bernkastel-Kues district. Parts of the old high court district, however – Bundenbach, for instance – now belonged to the Principality of Birkenfeld, an exclave of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, most of whose territory was in what is now northwest Germany, with a coastline on the North Sea
. Even after the First World War, through the Weimar Republic
and on through the time of the Third Reich
, Rhaunen was the administrative seat for the surrounding villages. In the course of administrative restructuring in the 1960s, the Amt of Rhaunen became the Verbandsgemeinde of Rhaunen in the Birkenfeld district. This arrangement still stands.
The Baroque
house at Otto-Conradt-Straße 5 (until 1978, Am Bach 5) was the Waldgravial Oberamtshaus (administrative centre of the Oberamt), and later, through inheritance, it fulfilled the same function for the comital family of Salm
. Under French rule, it was the Gendarmerie barracks. In Prussian times, it first became a Catholic rectory, and then until 1899 a court building. Today it is an inn
. The Amtmann
who oversaw the Electoral-Trier fourth of the Rhaunen high court sat at the Schmidtburg (near Bundenbach).
The parish of Rhaunen comprised not only the like-named village but also Sulzbach
, Weitersbach and, until 1504, Stipshausen. Rhaunen had a simultaneous church
beginning in 1685, used by both Catholics and Evangelicals. This arrangement lasted more than two centuries, until 1887/1888, when the Catholic community built its own church on the way out of the village towards Sulzbach. Rhaunen was for centuries a judiciary, administrative and commercial hub. Its development peaked in Prussian times when it had the mayor’s office, the Amt court and prison
on the way out of the village towards Hausen, the chief forester’s house on Hauptstraße, a notary’s office, the cadastral office – later a professional college – on Poststraße on the way out of the village towards Bundenbach, a dairy
likewise there, Catholic and Evangelical churches, a synagogue
on Salzengasse and a hospital
on the way out of the village towards Stipshausen, although this last site has been occupied since the 1960s by the Verbandsgemeinde administration building. Over the last few decades, though, with the growth of regional centres, the village has gradually lost its functions as a centre. Still left, however, are the Verbandsgemeinde administration, the two churches and a Mittelpunktschule (“midpoint school”, a central school, designed to eliminate smaller outlying schools) on the road towards Weitersbach.
The long timespan during which Rhaunen functioned as a centre for the other local villages has left its mark on the village’s structure: Unlike the scattered settlement pattern seen in most of its neighbours, Rhaunen has a much more heavily concentrated built-up centre. The old neighbourhoods can still be made out in the three heavily built-up blocks bounded by Otto-Conradt-Straße (formerly called Am Bach, for its geographical location alongside the brook), Unterdorf, Hauptstraße, Straße am Wartenberg and Marktplatz (“Marketplace”). The church stands a short way outside this zone on a slope overlooking the village. This seemingly odd location is explained by the church’s construction on top of an existing building – one of Roman
origin.
The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:
The municipality’s arms
might in English heraldic
language be described thus: Per bend sable a wolf’s head couped argent, and Or a lion rampant gules armed and langued azure.
The charge
on the dexter (armsbearer’s right, viewer’s left) side, the wolf’s head, was drawn from a 1711 seal used by the Rhaunen high court, while the one on the sinister (armsbearer’s left, viewer’s right) side, the lion, is a reference to the village’s former allegiance to the Waldgrave
s and Rhinegraves.
, Erzgebirgskreis
, Saxony
Saint-Valérien
, Yonne
, France
’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
The organ at the Evangelical church is from 1723, making it the oldest preserved Stumm organ. Information about the various buildings of interest around the village is presented on historical plaques for visitors. At the Verbandsgemeinde administration building, visitors can see local Roman archaeological
finds. Standing on a bridge over the ugly concrete channel through which the Rhaunelbach runs within the village – it is a flood-control
measure – is a bronze
statue
, a personification of the Bachspautzer (roughly “Brook Spitter”), a traditional nickname for people from Rhaunen.
standing at the way out of the village towards Stipshausen, a quartzite
block known as the Königsstein (“King’s Stone”), is not a natural monument in the usual sense, but the slate plaque there identifies it as such. Genuine natural monuments amount to a few very old oaktrees and the Jakobstanne on the Wartenberg, a mighty Douglas-fir
.
in the spring.
The event Päädscher Laafe (or in High German
, Pfade laufen – “Walk paths”) is a kind of “open house” day in the municipality, on which people can get a glimpse into places that are not otherwise open to the public. At the same time, it gives businesses and other institutions an opportunity to present themselves from a different angle.
s, authorities, churches, schools, workshops, filling station
s and shops for daily and occasional needs, which can all be found in the village. There are, however, no businesses in the industrial sector.
. Route 345 runs from Idar-Oberstein railway station by way of Tiefenstein (a constituent community of Idar-Oberstein), Asbach
and Stipshausen to Rhaunen Markt. Routes 351 and 352 run as links to Frankfurt-Hahn Airport
, with 351 coming from Idar-Oberstein station and 352 from Kirn station.
Idar-Oberstein’s railway station, as a Regional-Express and Regionalbahn
stop, is linked by way of the Nahe Valley Railway (Bingen
–Saarbrücken
) to the Saarland
and the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region. The Rhein-Nahe-Express running the Mainz
-Saarbrücken route serves the station hourly. Every other one of these trains goes through to the main railway station
in Frankfurt
with a stop at Frankfurt Airport
. Formerly, fast trains on the Frankfurt-Paris
route had a stop at Idar-Oberstein. Kirn station, too, is on the Nahe Valley Railway.
s, a primary school, a branch location of the Sohren
regional school and a folk high school
.
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 Birkenfeld
Birkenfeld (district)
Birkenfeld is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Sankt Wendel , Trier-Saarburg, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Rhein-Hunsrück, Bad Kreuznach and Kusel.- History :...
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 is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde
Rhaunen (Verbandsgemeinde)
Rhaunen is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district of Birkenfeld, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Rhaunen....
.
Location
The municipality lies at the Idar ForestIdar Forest
The Idar Forest is part of the Hunsrück low mountain range in the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Geography :...
in the Hunsrück
Hunsrück
The Hunsrück is a low mountain range in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the river valleys of the Moselle , the Nahe , and the Rhine . The Hunsrück is continued by the Taunus mountains on the eastern side of the Rhine. In the north behind the Moselle it is continued by the Eifel...
in a sprawling, well watered hollow. The hollow separates the Idar Forest massif from the Soonwald massif. Within the village itself, the Lingenbach empties into the Rhaunelbach, which itself, along with the Näßbach, the Macherbach and the Büdenbach, empties into the Idarbach.
The nearest major centres are Idar-Oberstein
Idar-Oberstein
Idar-Oberstein is a town in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. As a Große kreisangehörige Stadt , it assumes some of the responsibilities that for smaller municipalities in the district are assumed by the district administration...
, Simmern
Simmern
Simmern is a town of 8,000 inhabitants in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, the district seat of the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, and the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde...
, Morbach
Morbach
Morbach is a municipality that belongs to no Verbandsgemeinde – a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
and Kirn
Kirn
Kirn is a town in the district of Bad Kreuznach, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the river Nahe, roughly 10 km north-east of Idar-Oberstein and 30 km west of Bad Kreuznach....
.
Constituent communities
Also belonging to Rhaunen are the outlying centre of Neuzenbrunnen and the homesteads of Hochwälderhof and Königstein.Geology
The solid rock in Rhaunen, Hunsrück slateSlate
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...
, comes down from the Devonian
Devonian
The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic Era spanning from the end of the Silurian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya , to the beginning of the Carboniferous Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya...
. The hollow in which Rhaunen lies was formed by the many brooks that flow together here and that shaped various alluvial fan
Alluvial fan
An alluvial fan is a fan-shaped deposit formed where a fast flowing stream flattens, slows, and spreads typically at the exit of a canyon onto a flatter plain. A convergence of neighboring alluvial fans into a single apron of deposits against a slope is called a bajada, or compound alluvial...
s, which have very loamy subsoil. The Hunsrück slate can be found on the slopes overlooking the hollow, whereas the floodplains down in the dale are characterized by loaminess. While the slopes are mostly covered with mixed forests, meadowland is to be found in the dales, and on the higher-lying terraces and hills, cropraising. The slate was once intensively used as a building material, both for roofing and building walls. Even the many public buildings built in Rhaunen about the turn of the 20th century have unplastered walls made of slate quarrystone. Of the many slate quarries that were once to be found in the dales around Rhaunen, none is still in business. Here and there, though, tailing heaps can still be seen. The biggest operation in the slatemining business was the “Abenstern” quarry on the Wartenberg, going towards Hausen
Hausen, Birkenfeld
Hausen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Rhaunen, whose seat is in the like-named municipality.-Location:The municipality lies in...
. It was quarrying slate until the late 1950s. The high ridges, of the Idar Forest massif for example, are formed of the most extremely weathering-resistant Taunus 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...
, whose effect on the land is to leave it rather useless for agriculture
Agriculture
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...
, although not altogether unusable in forestry
Forestry
Forestry is the interdisciplinary profession embracing the science, art, and craft of creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated resources in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values for human benefit. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands...
. This Taunus quartzite harbours bog iron
Bog iron
Bog iron refers to impure iron deposits that develop in bogs or swamps by the chemical or biochemical oxidation of iron carried in the solutions. In general, bog ores consist primarily of iron oxyhydroxides, commonly goethite...
deposits, which until about the middle of the 19th century were mined and smelted. This was done at the Weitersbacher Hütte (ironworks) near Rhaunen.
Climate
Yearly precipitationPrecipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
in Rhaunen amounts to 744 mm, which falls into the middle third of the precipitation chart for all Germany. At 50% of the German Weather Service’s weather station
Weather station
A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for observing atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind...
s lower figures are recorded. The driest month is April. The most rainfall comes in November. In that month, precipitation is 1.4 times what it is in April. Precipitation varies only slightly and is spread quite evenly throughout the year. Only at 1% of the weather stations are lower seasonal swings recorded.
History
Given the central location, the place now called Rhaunen was already settled in RomanAncient 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....
times, as witnessed by the sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone 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,...
blocks in the Evangelical
Evangelical 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...
church’s north wall, which were formerly walled up. Rhunanu, first named in a record from Lorch Abbey (not to be confused with Lorsch Abbey
Lorsch Abbey
The Abbey of Lorsch is a former Imperial Abbey in Lorsch, Germany, about 10 km east of Worms, one of the most renowned monasteries of the Carolingian Empire. Even in its ruined state, its remains are among the most important pre-Romanesque–Carolingian style buildings in Germany...
) in the late 8th century, crops up again in 841 as Rhuna in a donation to Fulda Abbey. Rhaunen became the seat of the like-named high court
Blood court
Blood Court or high justice in the Holy Roman Empire referred to the right of a Vogt to hold a criminal court inflicting bodily punishment, including the death penalty.Not every Vogt held the blood court...
district. Until the 14th century, the Waldgrave
Waldgrave
The noble family of the Waldgraves or Wildgraves descended of a division of the House of the Counts of Nahegau in the year 1113....
s were the unqualified owners of the court and the places that it governed. Besides Rhaunen itself, these were Bollenbach
Bollenbach
Bollenbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
, Bruschied
Bruschied
Bruscheid is a municipality in the district of Bad Kreuznach in Rhineland-Palatinate in western Germany....
, Bundenbach
Bundenbach
Bundenbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
, Gösenroth
Gösenroth
Gösenroth is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Rhaunen, whose seat is in the like-named municipality.-Location:The municipality lies...
, Hausen
Hausen, Birkenfeld
Hausen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Rhaunen, whose seat is in the like-named municipality.-Location:The municipality lies in...
, Krummenau
Krummenau
Krummenau is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Rhaunen, whose seat is in the like-named municipality.-Location:The municipality lies...
, Laufersweiler
Laufersweiler
Laufersweiler is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
, Lindenschied
Lindenschied
-History:In 1345, Lindenschied, which was then under the High Court of Rhaunen, had its first documentary mention. The document itself stated Lindenschied’s, and several other villages’, legal status, which at this time was disputed, perticularly as to these villages’ rights and boundaries, between...
, Oberkirn
Oberkirn
Oberkirn is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
, Schwerbach
Schwerbach
Schwerbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Rhaunen, whose seat is in the like-named municipality.-Location:The municipality, a...
, Stipshausen
Stipshausen
Stipshausen is a municipality in the district of Birkenfeld, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany....
, Sulzbach
Sulzbach, Birkenfeld
Sulzbach is a municipality in the district of Birkenfeld, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany....
, Weitersbach
Weitersbach
Weitersbach is a municipality in the district of Birkenfeld, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany....
and Woppenroth
Woppenroth
-Geology:In the Hahnenbach valley and its side valleys, Devonian slate was mined until the early 20th century. All that now bears witness to this epoch in the village’s history is some gallery entrances and tailing heaps.-History:...
. Also under the court’s sway was the Schmidtburg. With this Waldgravial castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
’s loss to Archbishop Baldwin of Trier in 1330, however, part of the court’s territory in the form of three villages also passed to the Electorate of Trier. Baldwin also managed at the same stroke to relieve the Waldgraves of one fourth of the high court. Territorial relations remained so until an end was put to the Old Empire
Holy 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...
in the late 18th century and the old 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...
governmental body, the court, was likewise swept away.
In the course of the 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 of the lands on the Rhine’s left bank in the wake of the Treaty of Lunéville
Treaty of Lunéville
The Treaty of Lunéville was signed on 9 February 1801 between the French Republic and the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, negotiating both on behalf of his own domains and of the Holy Roman Empire...
, Rhaunen was grouped into the Department of Sarre, the arrondissement
Arrondissements of France
The 101 French departments are divided into 342 arrondissements, which may be translated into English as districts.The capital of an arrondissement/district is called a subprefecture...
of Birkenfeld and the canton
Cantons of France
The cantons of France are territorial subdivisions of the French Republic's 342 arrondissements and 101 departments.Apart from their role as organizational units in certain aspects of the administration of public services and justice, the chief purpose of the cantons today is to serve as...
of Rhaunen. After the French withdrew in 1814, Rhaunen found itself in Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
’s new Rhine Province
Rhine Province
The Rhine Province , also known as Rhenish Prussia or synonymous to the Rhineland , was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822-1946. It was created from the provinces of the Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg...
, also becoming the seat of a Bürgermeisterei (“mayoralty”) in the Bernkastel-Kues district. Parts of the old high court district, however – Bundenbach, for instance – now belonged to the Principality of Birkenfeld, an exclave of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, most of whose territory was in what is now northwest Germany, with a coastline on the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
. Even after the First World War, through the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
and on through the time of the Third Reich
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, Rhaunen was the administrative seat for the surrounding villages. In the course of administrative restructuring in the 1960s, the Amt of Rhaunen became the Verbandsgemeinde of Rhaunen in the Birkenfeld district. This arrangement still stands.
The 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...
house at Otto-Conradt-Straße 5 (until 1978, Am Bach 5) was the Waldgravial Oberamtshaus (administrative centre of the Oberamt), and later, through inheritance, it fulfilled the same function for the comital family of Salm
House of Salm
The House of Salm was a noble family originating in the Belgian Ardennes and ruling Salm. It is above all known for the experiences of the branch which came to be located in the Vosges Mountains and over time came to rule over a principality whose capital was Badonviller then Senones.Its notable...
. Under French rule, it was the Gendarmerie barracks. In Prussian times, it first became a Catholic rectory, and then until 1899 a court building. Today it is an inn
INN
InterNetNews is a Usenet news server package, originally released by Rich Salz in 1991, and presented at the Summer 1992 USENIX conference in San Antonio, Texas...
. The Amtmann
Amtmann
Amtmann can be :*a feudal, administrative and/or gubernatorial title, such as Bezirksamtmann . Amtmann, ammann and amman were a kind of bailiff in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and in Brussels....
who oversaw the Electoral-Trier fourth of the Rhaunen high court sat at the Schmidtburg (near Bundenbach).
The parish of Rhaunen comprised not only the like-named village but also Sulzbach
Sulzbach, Birkenfeld
Sulzbach is a municipality in the district of Birkenfeld, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany....
, Weitersbach and, until 1504, Stipshausen. Rhaunen had a simultaneous church
Simultaneum
A shared church, or Simultankirche, Simultaneum or, more fully, simultaneum mixtum, a term first coined in 16th century Germany, is a church in which public worship is conducted by adherents of two or more religious groups. Such churches became common in Europe in the wake of the Reformation...
beginning in 1685, used by both Catholics and Evangelicals. This arrangement lasted more than two centuries, until 1887/1888, when the Catholic community built its own church on the way out of the village towards Sulzbach. Rhaunen was for centuries a judiciary, administrative and commercial hub. Its development peaked in Prussian times when it had the mayor’s office, the Amt court and prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
on the way out of the village towards Hausen, the chief forester’s house on Hauptstraße, a notary’s office, the cadastral office – later a professional college – on Poststraße on the way out of the village towards Bundenbach, a dairy
Dairy
A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting of animal milk—mostly from cows or goats, but also from buffalo, sheep, horses or camels —for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on a dedicated dairy farm or section of a multi-purpose farm that is concerned...
likewise there, Catholic and Evangelical churches, a synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
on Salzengasse and a hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
on the way out of the village towards Stipshausen, although this last site has been occupied since the 1960s by the Verbandsgemeinde administration building. Over the last few decades, though, with the growth of regional centres, the village has gradually lost its functions as a centre. Still left, however, are the Verbandsgemeinde administration, the two churches and a Mittelpunktschule (“midpoint school”, a central school, designed to eliminate smaller outlying schools) on the road towards Weitersbach.
The long timespan during which Rhaunen functioned as a centre for the other local villages has left its mark on the village’s structure: Unlike the scattered settlement pattern seen in most of its neighbours, Rhaunen has a much more heavily concentrated built-up centre. The old neighbourhoods can still be made out in the three heavily built-up blocks bounded by Otto-Conradt-Straße (formerly called Am Bach, for its geographical location alongside the brook), Unterdorf, Hauptstraße, Straße am Wartenberg and Marktplatz (“Marketplace”). The church stands a short way outside this zone on a slope overlooking the village. This seemingly odd location is explained by the church’s construction on top of an existing building – one of Roman
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....
origin.
Municipal council
The council is made up of 16 council members, who were elected 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 | WGR | Total | |
| 2009 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 16 seats |
| 2004 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 16 seats |
Mayor
Rhaunen’s mayor is Manfred Klingel, and his deputies are Sascha Diepmanns, Anneliese Hammes and Andreas Endres.Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: In schrägrechts geteiltem Schild, oben in Gold ein roter, blaubewehrter und -gezungter Löwe. Unten in Schwarz ein silberner Wolfskopf.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: Per bend sable a wolf’s head couped argent, and Or a lion rampant gules armed and langued azure.
The 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...
on the dexter (armsbearer’s right, viewer’s left) side, the wolf’s head, was drawn from a 1711 seal used by the Rhaunen high court, while the one on the sinister (armsbearer’s left, viewer’s right) side, the lion, is a reference to the village’s former allegiance to the Waldgrave
Waldgrave
The noble family of the Waldgraves or Wildgraves descended of a division of the House of the Counts of Nahegau in the year 1113....
s and Rhinegraves.
Town partnerships
Rhaunen fosters partnerships with the following places: DrebachDrebach
Drebach is a municipality in the district of Erzgebirgskreis, in Saxony, Germany....
, Erzgebirgskreis
Erzgebirgskreis
Erzgebirgskreis is a district in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is named after the Erzgebirge , a mountain range in the southern part of the district which forms part of the Germany–Czech Republic border...
, Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
Saint-Valérien
Saint-Valérien, Yonne
Saint-Valérien is a commune in the Yonne department in Burgundy in north-central France.-References:*...
, Yonne
Yonne
Yonne is a French department named after the Yonne River. It is one of the four constituent departments of Burgundy in eastern France and its prefecture is Auxerre. Its official number is 89....
, 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...
Buildings
The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-PalatinateRhineland-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 ....
’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
- EvangelicalEvangelical Church in GermanyThe 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...
parish church, Schustergasse 3 – 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...
, about 1700; 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....
three-sided apseApseIn architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
and west gable; north tower from the latter half of the 13th century, pointed spire about 1570; décor; organOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
1723 by Johann Michael Stumm; characterizes village’s appearance - Saint Martin’sMartin of ToursMartin of Tours was a Bishop of Tours whose shrine became a famous stopping-point for pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela. Around his name much legendary material accrued, and he has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints...
Catholic Parish Church (Pfarrkirche St. Martin), Kirchstraße – three-naved Gothic RevivalGothic Revival architectureThe Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
hall churchHall churchA hall church is a church with nave and side aisles of approximately equal height, often united under a single immense roof. The term was first coined in the mid-19th century by the pioneering German art historian Wilhelm Lübke....
, 1887/1888, built to plans by the FranciscanFranciscanMost Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
Paschalis (secularly: Theodor Gratze), WarendorfWarendorfWarendorf is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and capital of Warendorf District.The town is best known today for its well-preserved medieval town centre, for horse-riding, and the opportunities it provides for cycling...
; characterizes village’s appearance - Am Wartenberg 2 – corner house, partly 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...
(slated), early 18th century; characterizes village’s appearance - Am Wartenberg 3 – blocky building with hipped roof, late 19th century
- Hauptstraße 8 – town hall; building with half-hipped roof and council loggia, partly timber-frame (slated), belfry, marked 1723
- Hauptstraße 10 – former Amtshaus (Amt administrative centre); 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...
slateSlateSlate 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...
quarrystone building, Renaissance Revival, 1901 - Hauptstraße 43 – forester’s office; Swiss chalet styleSwiss chalet styleSwiss chalet style is an architectural style inspired by the chalets of Switzerland. The style originated in Germany in the early 19th century and was popular in parts of Europe and North America, notably in the architecture of Norway, the country house architecture of Sweden, Cincinnati, Ohio,...
building, 1911 - Kirchstraße 3 – Catholic rectory; 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...
solid building, 1863 - Otto-Conrad-Straße 3 – former Waldgravial estate; plastered building with mansard roofMansard roofA mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...
, from the latter half of the 18th century - Poststraße 18 – former cadastral office; slightly asymmetrically grouped buildings with mansard roofs, 1911
- Pühlstraße 35/37 – former Royal Amt Court with prison and prison yard; castlelike Baroque Revival slate quarrystone complex, 1899; equipment
- Salzengasse 1 – GründerzeitGründerzeit' refers to the economic phase in 19th century Germany and Austria before the great stock market crash of 1873. At this time in Central Europe the age of industrialisation was taking place, whose beginnings were found in the 1840s...
house with gable with exposed rafters, late 19th century - Salzengasse 3 – former Catholic schoolSchoolA school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
; blocky building with hipped roof, RundbogenstilRundbogenstilRundbogenstil , one of the nineteenth-century historic revival styles of architecture, is a variety of Romanesque revival popular in the German-speaking lands and the German diaspora....
, 1862 - Schulstraße 9 – former new school; three-winged complex, 1928, architect Nicolaus Coenen, BernkastelBernkastel-KuesBernkastel-Kues is a well-known winegrowing centre on the Middle Moselle in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
- Unterdorf 8 – stately house, partly timber-frame (plastered), mansard roof, about 1800
- Unterdorf 12 – house, partly timber-frame, partly slated, 18th century
- JewishJudaismJudaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
graveyard, east of the village in the woods (monumental zone) – 33 gravestones in two rows, earliest from 1893; front sides mainly in HebrewHebrew languageHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
, backs inscribed in LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
The organ at the Evangelical church is from 1723, making it the oldest preserved Stumm organ. Information about the various buildings of interest around the village is presented on historical plaques for visitors. At the Verbandsgemeinde administration building, visitors can see local Roman archaeological
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
finds. Standing on a bridge over the ugly concrete channel through which the Rhaunelbach runs within the village – it is a flood-control
Flood control
In communications, flood control is a feature of many communication protocols designed to prevent overwhelming of a destination receiver. Such controls can be implemented either in software or in hardware, and will often request that the message be resent after the receiver has finished...
measure – is a bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
statue
Statue
A statue is a sculpture in the round representing a person or persons, an animal, an idea or an event, normally full-length, as opposed to a bust, and at least close to life-size, or larger...
, a personification of the Bachspautzer (roughly “Brook Spitter”), a traditional nickname for people from Rhaunen.
Parks
The Wartenberg, a mountain that forms a semicircle around Rhaunen, has many trails and good views of the village below.Natural monuments
The ancient menhirMenhir
A menhir is a large upright standing stone. Menhirs may be found singly as monoliths, or as part of a group of similar stones. Their size can vary considerably; but their shape is generally uneven and squared, often tapering towards the top...
standing at the way out of the village towards Stipshausen, a 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...
block known as the Königsstein (“King’s Stone”), is not a natural monument in the usual sense, but the slate plaque there identifies it as such. Genuine natural monuments amount to a few very old oaktrees and the Jakobstanne on the Wartenberg, a mighty Douglas-fir
Douglas-fir
Douglas-fir is one of the English common names for evergreen coniferous trees of the genus Pseudotsuga in the family Pinaceae. Other common names include Douglas tree, and Oregon pine. There are five species, two in western North America, one in Mexico, and two in eastern Asia...
.
Sport
Rhaunen has a sport club, “TUS” Rhaunen, with various departments. Nationally known is the IVV hikeHiking
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...
in the spring.
Regular events
- Rhauner Herbstmarkt (Autumn Market), first Saturday in October
- Weihnachtsmarkt (ChristmasChristmasChristmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
Market), December - Stallfest (Stable Festival), August
The event Päädscher Laafe (or in High 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....
, Pfade laufen – “Walk paths”) is a kind of “open house” day in the municipality, on which people can get a glimpse into places that are not otherwise open to the public. At the same time, it gives businesses and other institutions an opportunity to present themselves from a different angle.
Culinary specialities
These include Spießbraten (spit roast), Schaukelbraten (“swung” roast), Gefüllte Klöße (filled dumplings), Reibekuchen (potato pancake) and Schaales (another kind of potato pancake).Service sector
Rhaunen offers the surrounding area many services, including physicianPhysician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
s, authorities, churches, schools, workshops, filling station
Filling station
A filling station, also known as a fueling station, garage, gasbar , gas station , petrol bunk , petrol pump , petrol garage, petrol kiosk , petrol station "'servo"' in Australia or service station, is a facility which sells fuel and lubricants...
s and shops for daily and occasional needs, which can all be found in the village. There are, however, no businesses in the industrial sector.
Transport
Serving Rhaunen are bus routes 345, 351 and 352, run by Omnibusverkehr Rhein-Nahe (ORN). There are stops at Rhaunen Markt, the church, the Verbandsgemeinde administration building and the outdoor swimming poolSwimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
. Route 345 runs from Idar-Oberstein railway station by way of Tiefenstein (a constituent community of Idar-Oberstein), Asbach
Asbach, Birkenfeld
Asbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
and Stipshausen to Rhaunen Markt. Routes 351 and 352 run as links to Frankfurt-Hahn Airport
Frankfurt-Hahn Airport
-Cargo airlines:-Other facilities:AirIT Services AG, a subsidiary of Fraport, has its head office in Building 663 at Hahn Airport.-References:*Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982 USAF Reference Series, Office of Air Force History, United States Air Force,...
, with 351 coming from Idar-Oberstein station and 352 from Kirn station.
Idar-Oberstein’s railway station, as a Regional-Express and Regionalbahn
RegionalBahn
The Regionalbahn is a type of local passenger train in Germany.-Service:Regionalbahn trains usually call at all stations on a given line, with the exception of RB trains within S-Bahn networks, these may only call at selected stations...
stop, is linked by way of the Nahe Valley Railway (Bingen
Bingen am Rhein
Bingen 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...
–Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken is the capital of the state of Saarland in Germany. The city is situated at the heart of a metropolitan area that borders on the west on Dillingen and to the north-east on Neunkirchen, where most of the people of the Saarland live....
) to the Saarland
Saarland
Saarland is one of the sixteen states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1,045,000 inhabitants. In both area and population, it is the smallest state in Germany other than the city-states...
and the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region. The Rhein-Nahe-Express running the 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...
-Saarbrücken route serves the station hourly. Every other one of these trains goes through to the main railway station
Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof
is the central station for Frankfurt am Main. In terms of railway traffic, it is the busiest railway station in Germany. With about 350,000 passengers per day the station is the second most frequented railway station in Germany and one of the most frequented in Europe.- Proto-history :In the late...
in 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...
with a stop at Frankfurt Airport
Frankfurt Airport
Frankfurt Airport may refer to:Airports of Frankfurt, Germany:*Frankfurt Airport , the largest airport in Germany*Frankfurt Egelsbach Airport, a general aviation airport*Frankfurt-Hahn Airport , a converted U.S...
. Formerly, fast trains on the Frankfurt-Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
route had a stop at Idar-Oberstein. Kirn station, too, is on the Nahe Valley Railway.
Public institutions
Rhaunen is seat of the Verbandsgemeinde administration and also the Idarwald (Idar Forest) forester’s office, whose area of responsibility has grown considerably in the wake of reform to forest administration. On the other hand, the notary’s office, which had been in Rhaunen for more than a century, was moved to Morbach in the course of structural reform in 2007. There are, however, still consultations in Rhaunen. Also in the municipality are two clergymen, one Evangelical and one Catholic.Education
Rhaunen has 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, a primary school, a branch location of the Sohren
Sohren
Sohren is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Kirchberg, whose seat is in the like-named town...
regional school and a 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...
.
Sons and daughters of the town
- Sigbert Josef Maria GanserSigbert Josef Maria GanserSigbert Josef Maria Ganser was a German psychiatrist born in Rhaunen. He earned his medical doctorate in 1876 from the University of Munich. Afterwards he worked briefly at a psychiatric clinic in Würzburg, and later as an assistant to neuroanatomist Bernhard von Gudden in Munich...
(1853–1931), famous psychologist. Ganser syndromeGanser syndromeGanser syndrome is a rare dissociative disorder previously classified as a factitious disorder. It is characterized by nonsensical or wrong answers to questions or doing things incorrectly, other dissociative symptoms such as fugue, amnesia or conversion disorder, often with visual...
was named after him. - Albert Kahn (1869–1942), one of the most important industrial architects in modern times; emigrated to the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
- Walter Dix (1879–1965), plant cultivation scientist
- Otto Conrad (1890–1968), teacher, photographer and local historian (“Vom Hunsrück zur Nahe”)
- Gerd Heinz-Mohr (1913–1989), Evangelical theologian and writer, earned a doctorate in social studies of Nicholas of CusaNicholas of CusaNicholas of Kues , also referred to as Nicolaus Cusanus and Nicholas of Cusa, was a cardinal of the Catholic Church from Germany , a philosopher, theologian, jurist, mathematician, and an astronomer. He is widely considered one of the great geniuses and polymaths of the 15th century...
(“Unitas Christiana”) - Erwin Echternacht (b. 7 September 1925), lives in MunichMunichMunich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, sculptor, graphic artist, painter and writer, Staatliche Bildhauerschule, Landeskunstschule Mainz, Academy of Fine Arts, MunichAcademy of Fine Arts, MunichThe Academy of Fine Arts, Munich was founded 1808 by Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria in Munich as the "Royal Academy of Fine Arts" and is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany...
, master’s pupil with diploma, academic and competition prizes, exhibitions in Germany and abroad
Famous people associated with the municipality
- Julius Bellinger (1831–?), German politician of the German Centre PartyCentre Party (Germany)The German Centre Party was a Catholic political party in Germany during the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic. Formed in 1870, it battled the Kulturkampf which the Prussian government launched to reduce the power of the Catholic Church...
and Member of the Reichstag, was from 1867 to 1869 a justice of the peaceJustice of the PeaceA justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
in Rhaunen - Albin Edelhoff (1887–1974), painter and Friend of NatureFriends of NatureFriends of Nature is an international movement with a background in the Social Democratic movement, which aims to make nature accessible to the wider community by providing appropriate recreational and travel facilities.-Background:It is a non-profit organisation which, in addition to encouraging...
- Peter Joseph Rottmann (1799–1881), important Hunsrück dialectal poet, married Wilhelmine Maull from Rhaunen
Further reading
- Wilhelm Fabricius: Das Hochgericht Rhaunen. Erläuterungen zum Geschichtlichen Atlas der Rheinprovinz, dritter Band, Bonn 1901.