Ruppertsberg
Encyclopedia
Ruppertsberg is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Dürkheim
district in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
.
, whose seat is in the like-named town
.
donated the village to the Bishopric of Speyer
, which then enfeoffed the Knights of Ruppertsberg with it. In the 14th century, Imperial
troops destroyed the castle
, whereupon the Knights built a moated castle, the so-called Schloss, in the village’s northeast. After the destruction wrought by the Thirty Years' War
, only two families were left in Ruppertsberg.
After the French Revolution
, the village became part of the Department of Mont-Tonnerre
(or Donnersberg in German
), until in 1815, the Congress of Vienna
assigned it, together with the rest of the Palatinate, to Bavaria
. After the Second World War, the new state
of Rhineland-Palatinate
was formed. Since 1973, Ruppertsberg has belonged to the Verbandsgemeinde of Deidesheim
.
. The rest belonged to other faiths or adhered to none.
The municipality’s arms
might in English heraldic
language be described thus: Or a tower embattled of four and masoned at the corners sable on a wall of the same with a merlon at each end, in base a gateway with pointed arch of the field in which a bunch of grapes azure slipped vert.
The arms were approved in 1955 by the Mainz Ministry of the Interior. They replaced the old armorial bearing which bore the letters “BS” flanking a charge
that does not seem to be identifiable. It looked like a rake or perhaps a harrow. Many explanations have been put forth (a tool of some kind, a village symbol, somebody’s monogram, a charge from the arms borne by the old feudal lords, and still others). The current arms are meant to represent the Knights’ castle and, with the bunch of grapes, the local winegrowing.
, Puy-de-Dôme
, France
Höchstädt an der Donau
, Dillingen
, Bavaria
Catholic Parish Church (Katholische Pfarrkirche St. Martin) in Ruppertsberg is a three-naved Late Gothic
building from the early 16th century. Particularly worth seeing is the stone pulpit, created about 1510 with its images of saints and prophets.
The former Teehaus (tea house) is Ruppertsberg’s landmark. It was built in 1840 a few hundred metres west of the village in the vineyards on the model of the one at the English Garden in Munich
. The former tea house is a big rectangular pavilion
with a glazed upper floor.
Of the moated castle (Wasserburg) on the northeast side of the municipality, expanded into a residential castle (Schloss) in the 18th century under Damian Hugo von Schönborn
, two of the original four wings have been preserved. Owing to later conversions, the building’s character as a residential castle has been all but lost.
’s biggest winegrowing centres.
Appellations are:
and Neustadt an der Weinstraße
. Moreover, buslines lead to surrounding places. Public transport is integrated into the VRN
, whose fares therefore apply.
East of the municipality runs Bundesstraße
271. In the southeast there is a connection to the Autobahn A 65
through the Deidesheim interchange
.
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 Bad Dürkheim
Bad Dürkheim (district)
Bad Dürkheim is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Kaiserslautern, Donnersbergkreis and Alzey-Worms, the city of Worms, the Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis, the city of Neustadt/Weinstraße, the districts of Südliche Weinstraße, the city of Landau , the district...
district 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...
.
Location
The municipality is a winegrowing centre with a long tradition in the field, and is part of the Rhine-Neckar urban agglomeration. Ruppertsberg belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of DeidesheimDeidesheim (Verbandsgemeinde)
Deidesheim is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district of Bad Dürkheim, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Deidesheim....
, whose seat is in the like-named town
Deidesheim
Deidesheim is a town in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany with some 3,700 inhabitants.The town lies in the northwest of the Rhine-Neckar urban agglomeration and since 1973 it has been the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Deidesheim. The most important industries are tourism...
.
History
In 1040, Ruppertsberg had its first documentary mention. Most likely it grew out of the Hoheburg (castle) beginning in 800. About 1100, the last Count of the KraichgauKraichgau
The Kraichgau is a hilly region in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Odenwald and the Neckar to the North, the Black Forest to the South, and the Upper Rhine Plain to the West. To the east, its boundary is considered to be the Stromberg, the Hardt, and the...
donated the village to the Bishopric of Speyer
Bishopric of Speyer
The Bishopric of Speyer was a state, ruled by Prince-Bishops, in what is today the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It was secularized in 1803...
, which then enfeoffed the Knights of Ruppertsberg with it. In the 14th century, Imperial
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...
troops destroyed the 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...
, whereupon the Knights built a moated castle, the so-called Schloss, in the village’s northeast. After the destruction wrought by the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
, only two families were left in Ruppertsberg.
After the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, the village became part of the Department of Mont-Tonnerre
Mont-Tonnerre
Mont-Tonnerre is the name of a département of the First French Empire in present Germany. It is named after the highest point in the Rhenish Palatinate, the Donnersberg. It was the southernmost of four départements formed in 1798, when the west bank of the Rhine was annexed by France...
(or Donnersberg in 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....
), until in 1815, the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
assigned it, together with the rest of the Palatinate, to Bavaria
Kingdom of Bavaria
The Kingdom of Bavaria was a German state that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Bavarian Elector Maximilian IV Joseph of the House of Wittelsbach became the first King of Bavaria in 1806 as Maximilian I Joseph. The monarchy would remain held by the Wittelsbachs until the kingdom's dissolution in 1918...
. After the Second World War, the new state
States of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...
of Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
was formed. Since 1973, Ruppertsberg has belonged to the Verbandsgemeinde of Deidesheim
Deidesheim (Verbandsgemeinde)
Deidesheim is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district of Bad Dürkheim, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Deidesheim....
.
Religion
In 2007, 63% of the inhabitants were Catholic and 19.4% 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...
. The rest belonged to other faiths or adhered to none.
Municipal council
The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:| Party | Result in % | No. of seats |
|---|---|---|
| CDU | 52.0 (+3.1) | 9 (+1) |
| FWG Free Voters Free Voters is a German concept in which an association of persons participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party. Usually it is a locally organized group of voters in the form of a registered association . In most cases, Free Voters are active only at the... |
35.6 (−8.7) | 5 (−2) |
| SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
12.4 (+5.7) | 2 (+1) |
Mayor
Ruppertsberg’s mayor since 2004 has been Ursula Knoll (CDU). At the mayoral election held on 7 June 2009, in which she faced no challengers, she was reëlected with 87.9% of the vote.Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: In Gold ein in den Ecken gemauerter schwarzer Turm mit vier Zinnen über einer schwarzen Mauer mit je einer Zinnen rechts und links und mit einem offenen Spitztor, darin in Gold eine grünbestielte blaue Traube.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: Or a tower embattled of four and masoned at the corners sable on a wall of the same with a merlon at each end, in base a gateway with pointed arch of the field in which a bunch of grapes azure slipped vert.
The arms were approved in 1955 by the Mainz Ministry of the Interior. They replaced the old armorial bearing which bore the letters “BS” flanking a charge
Charge (heraldry)
In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon . This may be a geometric design or a symbolic representation of a person, animal, plant, object or other device...
that does not seem to be identifiable. It looked like a rake or perhaps a harrow. Many explanations have been put forth (a tool of some kind, a village symbol, somebody’s monogram, a charge from the arms borne by the old feudal lords, and still others). The current arms are meant to represent the Knights’ castle and, with the bunch of grapes, the local winegrowing.
Town partnerships
Ruppertsberg fosters partnerships with the following places: CourpièreCourpière
Courpière is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France.-References:*...
, Puy-de-Dôme
Puy-de-Dôme
Puy-de-Dôme is a department in the centre of France named after the famous dormant volcano, the Puy-de-Dôme.Inhabitants were called Puydedomois until December 2005...
, 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...
Höchstädt an der Donau
Höchstädt an der Donau
Höchstädt an der Donau is a town in the district of Dillingen, Bavaria, Germany. It is situated near the banks of the River Danube. It consists of the following neighborhoods: Höchstädt an der Donau, Deisenhofen, Oberglauheim, Schwennenbach and Sonderheim....
, Dillingen
Dillingen (district)
Dillingen is a district in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Donau-Ries, Augsburg and Günzburg, and by the state of Baden-Württemberg .-History:...
, Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
Culture and sightseeing
Buildings
Saint Martin’sMartin of Tours
Martin 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 (Katholische Pfarrkirche St. Martin) in Ruppertsberg is a three-naved Late Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic 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 from the early 16th century. Particularly worth seeing is the stone pulpit, created about 1510 with its images of saints and prophets.
The former Teehaus (tea house) is Ruppertsberg’s landmark. It was built in 1840 a few hundred metres west of the village in the vineyards on the model of the one at the English Garden in Munich
Munich
Munich 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...
. The former tea house is a big rectangular pavilion
Pavilion (structure)
In architecture a pavilion has two main meanings.-Free-standing structure:Pavilion may refer to a free-standing structure sited a short distance from a main residence, whose architecture makes it an object of pleasure. Large or small, there is usually a connection with relaxation and pleasure in...
with a glazed upper floor.
Of the moated castle (Wasserburg) on the northeast side of the municipality, expanded into a residential castle (Schloss) in the 18th century under Damian Hugo von Schönborn
Schönborn
- Places :* Schönborn, Brandenburg, in the Elbe-Elster district, Brandenburg* Bad Schönborn, in the district of Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg* Schönborn, Rhein-Hunsrück, in the Rhein-Hunsrück district, Rhineland-Palatinate...
, two of the original four wings have been preserved. Owing to later conversions, the building’s character as a residential castle has been all but lost.
Regular events
The Ruppertsberger Weinkerwe (wine fair) is held each year on the last weekend in August. The Sunday of this weekend is also Erlebnistag Deutsche Weinstraße (“German Wine Route Adventure Day”).Winegrowing
The municipality is characterized to a considerable extent by winegrowing and is among the PalatinatePalatinate (wine region)
Palatinate is a German wine-growing region in the area of Bad Dürkheim, Neustadt an der Weinstraße, and Landau in Rhineland-Palatinate. Before 1993, it was known as Rhine Palatinate . With under cultivation in 2008, the region is the second largest wine region in Germany after Rheinhessen...
’s biggest winegrowing centres.
Appellations are:
- Linsenbusch
- Hoheburg
- Gaisböhl
- Nußbien
- Spieß
- Reiterpfad
Transport
Nearby Deidesheim station on the Pfälzische Nordbahn affords rail links to Bad DürkheimBad Dürkheim
Bad Dürkheim is a spa town in the Rhine-Neckar urban agglomeration, and is the seat of the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...
and Neustadt an der Weinstraße
Neustadt an der Weinstraße
Neustadt an der Weinstraße is a town located in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. With 53,892 inhabitants as of 2002, it is the largest town called Neustadt.-Etymology:...
. Moreover, buslines lead to surrounding places. Public transport is integrated into the VRN
Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar
Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar is a public transport network covering parts of the German states of Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse in south-west Germany...
, whose fares therefore apply.
East of the municipality runs Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
271. In the southeast there is a connection to the Autobahn A 65
Bundesautobahn 65
is an autobahn in southwestern Germany. The newest section, between Neustadt and Landau, was opened only in the early 1990s.Plans to build a final stretch between Kandel or Wörth am Rhein and the French autoroute towards Haguenau and Strasbourg were not implemented during the 1990s when the focus...
through the Deidesheim 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...
.
Sons and daughters of the town
- Eduard Nortz (1868–1939), politician (BBB)
- Edmund Bien (1927–2007), Bundesliga referee
Famous people associated with the municipality
- Johann Kaspar Adolay (1771–1825), politician