Villmar
Encyclopedia
Limburg-Weilburg
Limburg-Weilburg is a Kreis in the west of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Lahn-Dill, Hochtaunuskreis, Rheingau-Taunus, Rhein-Lahn, Westerwaldkreis.-History:...
district 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...
. The community is the centre for quarry
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
ing and processing the so-called Lahn Marble.
Location
Lahn
The Lahn River is a -long, right tributary of the Rhine River in Germany. Its course passes through the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia , Hesse , and Rhineland-Palatinate ....
River valley between the Westerwald
Westerwald
The Westerwald is a low mountain range on the right bank of the River Rhine in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a part of the Rhine Massif...
and 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...
, some ten kilometres east of Limburg
Limburg an der Lahn
Limburg an der Lahn is the district seat of Limburg-Weilburg in Hesse, Germany.-Location:Limburg lies in western Hesse between the Taunus and the Westerwald on the river Lahn....
. In terms of the natural environment, the southwestern part of the municipal area comprises the eastern part of the Limburg Basin (Limburger Becken, this part known locally as the Villmarer Bucht), a nearly even two- to three-kilometre-wide plain that opens to the west lying at elevations of 160 to 180 m into which the Lahn’s winding lower valley has cut a channel about 50 metres deep.
Conditioned by the mild climate and the extensive loess
Loess
Loess is an aeolian sediment formed by the accumulation of wind-blown silt, typically in the 20–50 micrometre size range, twenty percent or less clay and the balance equal parts sand and silt that are loosely cemented by calcium carbonate...
soils, intensive crop production prevails here. To the north, the somewhat higher (220–260 m), more richly wooded Weilburger Lahntalgebiet ("Weilburg Lahn valley area") joins up with the Weilburger Lahntal ("Weilburg Lahn valley") and the Gaudernbacher Platte ("Gaudernbach Tableland"), where cropland is limited to scattered loess islands. In the southeast rises the likewise more thickly wooded northwestern part of the Eastern Hintertaunus
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...
(or Langhecker Lahntaunus) with the Villmarer Galgenberg (277 m) as its westernmost outpost, visible from a great distance. The municipal area's highest point (332 m) is found southeast of the outlying centre of Langhecke, and the lowest point (114 m) is on the community's western limit where the Lahn flows into the town of Runkel.
Geology
Lying in the geologicallyGeology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
significant Lahnmulde ("Lahn Hollow"), Villmar is rich in mineral deposits from the Middle 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...
period: silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
, iron ore, 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 limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
. As the reef limestone (called Lahn marble) could be cut and polished, it was of economic importance to the area. In addition to the reef limestone, the extensively mined, mostly greenish diabase
Diabase
Diabase or dolerite is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. In North American usage, the term diabase refers to the fresh rock, whilst elsewhere the term dolerite is used for the fresh rock and diabase refers to altered material...
tuff
Tuff
Tuff is a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected from vents during a volcanic eruption. Tuff is sometimes called tufa, particularly when used as construction material, although tufa also refers to a quite different rock. Rock that contains greater than 50% tuff is considered...
was used for many purposes (for instance, ringwall, parish house and most older buildings' cellars.)
The later deposits from the Tertiary
Tertiary
The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...
, however, are of lesser importance. Small amounts of sand and gravel are quarried near the Villmarer Galgenberg. Tertiary vulcanism
Vulcanism
Vulcanism may refer to* Volcanism or volcanic activity.* Plutonism, a scientific theory of the Earth....
left behind sporadic basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
deposits near Falkenbach, Seelbach and Weyer. These deposits are no longer worked.
Neighbouring communities
Villmar borders in the northwest on the town of RunkelRunkel
Runkel is a town on the Lahn River in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany.- Location :Runkel lies in the Lahn Valley on both sides of the river between the Westerwald and the Taunus, some eight kilometres east of Limburg....
, in the northeast on the community of Weinbach
Weinbach
- Location :Weinbach lies on the Lahn and the Weil between Wetzlar and Limburg an der Lahn.- Neighbouring communities :Weinbach borders in the north on the town of Weilburg, in the east on the community of Weilmünster, and in the west on the community of Villmar and the town of Runkel .-...
, in the east on the community of Weilmünster
Weilmünster
- Geography :Weilmünster is among the most richly wooded places in Limburg-Weilburg. The forestry office looks after not only the State Forest but also twelve municipalities’ woodlands in the south of the Limburg-Weilburg and Lahn-Dill districts.- Location :...
, in the south on the communities of Selters and Brechen
Brechen
-Location:Brechen lies in the southeastern part of the Limburg Basin between the Taunus and the Westerwald. The sparsely wooded land of loess hills is crossed here from southeast to northwest by the Emsbach, which is fed near Niederbrechen by the Wörsbach and drains the area down to the Lahn...
, and in the west on the town of Limburg
Limburg an der Lahn
Limburg an der Lahn is the district seat of Limburg-Weilburg in Hesse, Germany.-Location:Limburg lies in western Hesse between the Taunus and the Westerwald on the river Lahn....
(all in Limburg-Weilburg).
Constituent communities
Villmar’s Ortsteile are Aumenau, Falkenbach, Langhecke, Seelbach, Villmar and Weyer.History
Villmar's main centre had its first documentary mention in 1053 when Emperor Heinrich IIIHenry III, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry III , called the Black or the Pious, was a member of the Salian Dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors...
donated the royal estate of Villmar to the Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
Abbey of Saint Matthew in Trier
Trier
Trier, historically called in English Treves is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC....
. The landholding bound to this and the abbey's earnings was more closely circumscribed in later confirmations. Of particular importance in this is the abbot's right, already falsely appended to the donation document, to employ a secular Schutzvogt
Vogt
A Vogt ; plural Vögte; Dutch voogd; Danish foged; ; ultimately from Latin [ad]vocatus) in the Holy Roman Empire was the German title of a reeve or advocate, an overlord exerting guardianship or military protection as well as secular justice...
, which amounted to a noble title. In 1154, the abbey's ownership rights were assigned by Archbishop Hillin of Trier to the Villmar Church. A list was drawn up of places owing tithes, among them the current constituent communities of Seelbach, Aumenau and Weyer.
It is believed that in the same year, a falsification of the original document, backdated to 1054, appeared, which dealt with the Vogt rights as well as the parish’s extent, and thereby with tithe
Tithe
A tithe is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques, or stocks, whereas historically tithes were required and paid in kind, such as agricultural products...
s. The centres of Aumenau and Weyer were already being mentioned in writing in the 8th century, and Falkenbach and Langhecke followed in the 13th and 14th, respectively. Scholars have concluded, indirectly from other documents, that an autonomous parish of Villmar must already have arisen by 910. Even the placename “Villmar” suggests that the community had its beginnings before Frankish times.
In 1166 a Trier ministerial family named “von Villmar”, who had apparently moved to the community not long before this, was living here. The name “von Koblenz” for this family also crops up later, although by the late 13th century, the former seems to have definitively become the family’s name. Their coat 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...
was quartered in gules (red) and argent (silver or white). In the 14th century, a side-branch of the family formed in Hadamar
Hadamar
Hadamar is a small town in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany.Hadamar is known for its Clinic for Forensic Psychiatry/Centre for Social Psychiatry, lying at the edge of town, in whose outlying buildings is also found the Hadamar Memorial...
. There is evidence that the family’s holdings lay around Limburg, Montabaur
Montabaur
Montabaur is a town and the district seat of the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. At the same time, it is also the administrative centre of the Verbandsgemeinde of Montabaur – a kind of collective municipality – to which 24 other communities belong...
and Delkenheim Castle in 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...
, and in the Wetterau
Wetterau
The Wetterau is a fertile undulating tract, watered by the Wetter, a tributary of the Nidda River, in the western German state of Hesse, between the hilly province Oberhessen and the north-western Taunus mountains....
. In 1428, the family died out.
Acting as Vögte (plural of Vogt) beginning in the 13th century were counts from the House of Isenburg
Isenburg
Isenburg was a region of Germany located in southern present-day Hesse, located in territories north and south of Frankfurt. The states of Isenburg emerged from the Niederlahngau , which partitioned in 1137 into Isenburg-Isenburg and Isenburg-Limburg-Covern...
, in whose service also stood the House of Villmar. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the House of Solms also had Vogt rights. The Landeshoheit (roughly, “Holy Roman Ascendancy”) over Villmar’s municipal area, to which today’s constituent community of Arfurt also belonged, was contested in later times by the Gaugrafen (“Regional Counts”) of Diez, and later, as their successors in the tithing area (Cent) of Aumenau after 1366, by the Counts of Wied-Runkel. As of the 13th century, the historical record also shows Trier’s ambition to wrest ascendancy over Villmar from the local overlords.
In 1346, in a move instigated by Archbishop Balduin of Luxembourg
Baldwin, Archbishop of Trier
Baldwin of Luxembourg was the Archbishop-Elector of Trier and Archchancellor of Burgundy from 1307 to his death. From 1328 to 1336, he was the diocesan administrator of the archdiocese of Mainz and from 1331 to 1337 of those of Worms and Speyer...
, Villmar was granted town rights in the Archbishop’s hopes that this might further his goal of annexing the town. In the end, though, this ambition never came to fruition, as a basis for this deed in law could not be established. Trier did not succeed in conquering Villmar in 1359 despite the would-be conquerors’ attack of the fortifications. The conflict with the Villmar Vögte reached its high point in 1360 when the Trier coadjutor bishop
Coadjutor bishop
A coadjutor bishop is a bishop in the Roman Catholic or Anglican churches who is designated to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese, almost as co-bishop of the diocese...
Kuno von Falkenstein destroyed the Burg Gretenstein (castle), built near Villmar by Philipp von Isenburg.
The dispute over the territory’s overlordship was settled in the 16th century when, with Saint Matthew’s Abbey’s (Abtei St. Matthias) consent in 1565, the Villmar Vogt rights held by the Isenburg-Büdingens and the Solms-Münzenbergs were sold to the Electorate of Trier for 14,000 Frankfurt guilders. In 1596, the area was united with Wied-Runkel, which forwent Ascendancy over the Villmar-Arfurt municipal area. It was made into a Trier bailiwick. This also had consequences for religious affiliation: while Villmar (and Arfurt) remained uninfluenced by the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
, the centres of Seelbach, Falkenbach, Aumenau and Weyer in the Runkel domain were converted, first in 1562 to Lutheranism
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
, and as of 1587 and 1588 to Calvinism
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
. Despite the Reformation, the Abbey continued to derive income as the landlord, including church tithes, until 1803.
After the Electorate’s and the Holy Roman Empire’s fall between 1803 and 1806, Villmar passed in 1806 to the newly created Duchy of Nassau. In 1866 it was annexed by 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...
. After the Second World War, Villmar became part of the new state (Bundesland
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 Hesse.
Within the framework of municipal reform in Hesse, the above-named constituent communities (all former self-administering communities in the old Oberlahnkreis district) merged in 1970 and 1971 to form the new collective community of Villmar. Since 2002 it has been designated a Marktflecken (“market town”).
Community 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 | 42.9 | 13 | 41.4 | 13 |
| 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... |
41.8 | 13 | 45.9 | 14 |
| FDP | Free Democratic Party Free Democratic Party (Germany) The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government... |
2.2 | 1 | – | – |
| FWG | Freie Wählergemeinschaft Gesamtgemeinde Villmar | 7.7 | 2 | 7.8 | 2 |
| AAV | Aktive Alternative Villmar | 5.5 | 2 | 4.9 | 2 |
| Total | 100.0 | 31 | 100.0 | 31 | |
| Voter turnout in % | 53.7 | 58.8 | |||
St. Peter’s and Paul’s Parish Church
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque 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,...
church which had been called a “basilica”. It was built with a five-arched nave with buttresses and flat groin vaulting. The somewhat narrower quire with its arch and 5/8 end is set to the east, ahead of the tower. The latter was given a new neo-Gothic pinnacle after a lightning strike in 1885.
Inside is found rich Late 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...
décor (1760–64) from the Hadamar school (Johann Thüringer, Jakob Wies) as well as works made in the 18th and 19th centuries from local Lahn marble. The Jakobusaltar, nowadays in the Baroque style, was mentioned as early as 1491 as the Jakobus- und Matthias-Altar (see References).
In 1957 architect Paul Johannbroer (Wiesbaden) designed an expansion similar to a quire towards the west. A Celebration altar and an ambo
Ambo
Ambo may refer to:* Ambo Village in Kiribati where the parliament of Kiribati sits, also known for the Ambo declaration issued at the Tarawa Climate Change Conference, an international diplomatic conference held in Kiribati in November 2010...
made of French lime sand brick were carved by sculptor Walter Schmitt (Villmar) in the 1980s and 1990s. The organ was built in 1754 and 1755 by Johann Christian Köhler (Frankfurt). After several overhauls (1885/86 Gebr. Keller, Limburg, 1932 and 1976 Johannes Klais, Bonn), today it comprises 27 stops on two keyboards and one pedalboard. Its Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
design has been preserved.
Lahn marble
- The Marmorbrücke (Marble Bridge) across the Lahn River was built 1894/95. The span is supported by two piers surmounted by three segmental archesArches-Places:* Arches National Park in the U.S. state of Utah* Arches, Cantal, a commune of the Cantal département, in France* Arches, Vosges, a commune of the Vosges département, in France-Other:* Arches of the foot...
; its length to the abutments is 21.5 m. The piers and arches are made out of massive Lahn marble blocks, and the sides are dressed with decorative Lahn marble stones of various kinds. This bridge, an outstanding example of its kind in Germany, has been protected as a Technical Monument since 1985. - The Unica-Bruch, an abandoned Lahn marble quarryQuarryA quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
, holds the centre of a 380-million-year-old fossilFossilFossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
coralCoralCorals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
reefReefIn nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....
(limestone) from the Middle Devonian. - The Lahnmarmor-Museum, opened in 2004, shows how Lahn marble came into being, was quarried, and was used.
- At the Museum WiesbadenMuseum WiesbadenMuseum Wiesbaden is a museum in the Hessian capital Wiesbaden, Germany. Besides the museums in Kassel and Darmstadt, it is one of the three Hessian state museums. The museum comprises an art collection, a natural history collection and a collection of Nassauian antiquities.-External links:***...
, many exhibits about Lahn marble are displayed. Moreover, many buildings in WiesbadenWiesbadenWiesbaden 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...
are dressed with the stone. - The Villmarer Lahnmarmor-Weg offers a glimpse into how the varieties of marble were quarried and processed.
- The marble from Villmar was used in building, among other structures, the Empire State BuildingEmpire State BuildingThe Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...
in New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, United States.
Other landmarks
- King Konrad Memorial. In 1894, a statue of King Conrad I of GermanyConrad I of GermanyConrad I , called the Younger, was Duke of Franconia from 906 and King of Germany from 911 to 918, the only king of the Conradine dynasty...
(911-918) was erected on the Bodensteiner Lay, a cliff downstream towards Runkel on the Lahn’s left bank. It was made of Devonian limestone.
- Fortification remains: A circular rampartCircular rampartA circular rampart is an embankment built in the shape of a circle that was used as part of the defences for a military fortification, hill fort or refuge, or was built for religious purposes or as a place of gathering....
was recorded in 1250 and girded the community until the early 19th century. Originally it had three crenellated gates and seven towers. Now all that remains is the bottom part of the Mattheiser Turm (Matthews' Tower) and a few wall remnants, mostly in the former Kellerei-Bezirk (wine cellar quarter). There are two well-preserved gateway arches (Matthiaspforte and Valeriuspforte). The Vogteiburg (“sheriff’s castle”) from the 13th century, built as a residential tower, can be discerned through the remains of its lower walls. The Vögte held authority over the high court, which was sited on the DingplatzThing (assembly)A thing was the governing assembly in Germanic and introduced into some Celtic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a thingstead...
, between the castle and the church. In the 18th century this was called the alter Burg Platz. Today it is a former graveyard. The execution site lay roughly 2 km southeast of town on Galgenberg (Gallows Mountain). In 1890 the diocesan building master Max Meckel replaced the wine-cellar building with a new parish house built in English neo-Gothic style. He incorporated a tower from the old building.
- NaturFreundehaus “Wilhelmsmühle” or Lahntalhaus, between Villmar and Aumenau, used since 1928; a new building was constructed in 1932. Many prominent politicians and like-minded people came here for relaxation and quiet. Among them were the Social Democrat Philipp ScheidemannPhilipp ScheidemannPhilipp Scheidemann was a German Social Democratic politician, who proclaimed the Republic on 9 November 1918, and who became the second Chancellor of the Weimar Republic....
, who after the First World War had proclaimed the First German Republic in Berlin in 1918; the longtime SPD chairman Erich Ollenhauer; and the former Mayor (Oberbürgermeister) of the state capital Wiesbaden, Georg Buch. For a time he acted as President of the Hesse Landtag. Unique among the events at the Lahntalhaus before the Second World War were the Kinderrepubliken (Children’s Republics). Several hundred participants would stay at the tent camp, which bore the motto Ordnung, Freundschaft, Solidarität (Order, Friendship, Solidarity).
Economy and infrastructure
Villmar’s economic importance lay in marble processing, which began in the 17th century. From 1790 onwards, twelve quarries are known to have been worked, with others in the outlying area. In the second half of the 20th century, Lahn marble came up against competition from cheaper imports, disrupting mining operations. Processing continued, however, even as smaller works disappeared over time, often owing to lack of growth. Among the greater operations, the Nassauische Marmorwerke closed its gates in 1979 after becoming insolvent. Likewise, the Steinverarbeitungsbetrieb Engelbert Müller, which had been known since the War for great building projects of sacred objects, shut down in 2001. The last quarrying in Villmar was done in 1989 for the reconstruction of the high altar at the Jesuitenkirche MannheimJesuit Church (Mannheim)
The Mannheim Jesuit Church is a church in Mannheim, Germany.-History:The church was built between 1733 in 1756 as the Court Church of the Mannheim electors Charles Philip III and Charles Theodore to a design of the Italian architect Alessandro Galli da Bibiena. It was completed in 1760 and...
, which had been heavily damaged in the Second World War. Four stoneworking businesses are still running in town today.
In the 17th century, silver was mined, although the lode was soon exhausted.
Since the 1950s, Villmar has changed into a residential community with moderate tourism
Tourism
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...
. The great majority of workers earns its livelihood in Limburg an der Lahn
Limburg an der Lahn
Limburg an der Lahn is the district seat of Limburg-Weilburg in Hesse, Germany.-Location:Limburg lies in western Hesse between the Taunus and the Westerwald on the river Lahn....
, Wetzlar
Wetzlar
Wetzlar is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany. Located at 8° 30′ E, 50° 34′ N, Wetzlar straddles the river Lahn and is on the German Timber-Framework Road which passes mile upon mile of half-timbered houses. Historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Lahn-Dill-Kreis on the north edge of...
, Gießen
Gießen
Gießen, also spelt Giessen is a town in the German federal state of Hesse, capital of both the district of Gießen and the administrative region of Gießen...
and, given the favourable transport connections, the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region.
Transport
Villmar is linked to the long-distance road network by the Limburg-Süd Autobahn interchangeInterchange (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...
on the A 3 (Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
–Frankfurt), 10 km away.
Within the community lie Villmar and Aumenau railway stations on the Lahn Valley Railway, serving Koblenz
Koblenz Hauptbahnhof
is the Hauptbahnhof for the city of Koblenz in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is the focal point of rail transport in the Rhine-Moselle-Lahn area. It is a through station in southern Koblenz built below Fort Großfürst Konstantin and opened in 1902 in the Neustadt , which was built...
, Limburg
Limburg (Lahn) station
Limburg station is a station of the city of Limburg an der Lahn in the German state of Hesse. It is on the Lahn Valley Railway , running between Koblenz and Gießen. The only section of this that is electrified in the Limburg area is between Limburg freight yard and Eschhofen station...
, Villmar, Wetzlar
Wetzlar station
Wetzlar station is a through station in the city of Wetzlar in the German state of Hesse on the Dill and Lahn Valley Railways. It is the most important public transport node in Wetzlar together with the adjacent bus station.-History:...
and Gießen
Gießen station
Gießen railway station is the main railway station in Gießen, Hesse, Germany. The station is a Category 2 station is used by 20,000 passengers daily. The station was opened on 25 August 1850 and is located on the Main-Weser Railway and Dill railway . The current station reception building was...
. 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...
trains stop here, running the DB Regio AG Limburg–Gießen service. The nearest InterCityExpress
InterCityExpress
The Intercity-Express or ICE is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany and neighbouring countries. It is the highest service category offered by DB Fernverkehr and is the flagship of Deutsche Bahn...
stop is the railway station at Limburg Süd
Limburg Süd railway station
Limburg Süd is a railway station in Germany, connecting the town of Limburg an der Lahn to the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line...
on the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line.
Villmar’s main centre and outlying centres of Aumenau and Falkenbach abut the Lahn, which is not only a river, but also a federal waterway. Along the Lahn also runs the heavily used R7 bicycle path.
Education
Villmar is home to the Johann-Christian-Senckenberg-Schule, a primary school, HauptschuleHauptschule
A Hauptschule is a secondary school in Germany and Austria, starting after 4 years of elementary schooling, which offers Lower Secondary Education according to the International Standard Classification of Education...
and Realschule
Realschule
The Realschule is a type of secondary school in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia , Denmark , Sweden , Hungary and in the Russian Empire .-History:The Realschule was an outgrowth of the rationalism and empiricism of the seventeenth and...
all in one, as well as to a primary school in the outlying centre of Aumenau. Higher schools are to be found in Limburg
Limburg an der Lahn
Limburg an der Lahn is the district seat of Limburg-Weilburg in Hesse, Germany.-Location:Limburg lies in western Hesse between the Taunus and the Westerwald on the river Lahn....
, Weilburg
Weilburg
Weilburg is, with just under 14,000 inhabitants, the third biggest town in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany, after Limburg an der Lahn and Bad Camberg.- Location :...
and Weilmünster
Weilmünster
- Geography :Weilmünster is among the most richly wooded places in Limburg-Weilburg. The forestry office looks after not only the State Forest but also twelve municipalities’ woodlands in the south of the Limburg-Weilburg and Lahn-Dill districts.- Location :...
.
Institutions
- Gemeindliche Kindertagesstätte Villmar (municipal daycare)
- Gemeindliche Kindertagesstätte Aumenau (municipal daycare)
- Gemeindlicher Kindergarten Seelbach (municipal kindergarten)
- Gemeindlicher Kindergarten Weyer (municipal kindergarten)
- Katholischer Kindergarten Villmar (Catholic kindergarten)
- Villmar Volunteer Fire Brigade, founded in 1929 (includes youth fire brigade)
- Aumenau Volunteer Fire Brigade, founded in 1932 (includes youth fire brigade)
- Falkenbach Volunteer Fire Brigade, founded in 1934 (includes youth fire brigade)
- Langhecke Volunteer Fire Brigade, founded in 1934 (includes youth fire brigade)
- Seelbach Volunteer Fire Brigade, founded in 1932 (includes youth fire brigade)
- Weyer Volunteer Fire Brigade, founded in 1933 (includes youth fire brigade since 1983)
Sons and daughters of the town
- Willy Bokler (b.1 September 1909 in Villmar; d. 12 February 1974), Prelate and Federal President of the Bund der deutschen katholischen Jugend (BDKJ, “Federation of German Catholic Youth) 1952-1965
- Bernhard Falk (b. 5 August 1948 in Villmar), Vice-president of the BundeskriminalamtFederal Criminal Police OfficeFederal Criminal Police Office, or Bundeskriminalamt , can refer to:*Federal Criminal Police Office *Federal Criminal Police Office...
- Prof. Dr. Dr. habil. Ernst O. Göbel (b. 24 March 1946 in Seelbach), President of the Physikalisch-Technische BundesanstaltPhysikalisch-Technische BundesanstaltThe Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt is based in Braunschweig and Berlin. It is the national institute for natural and engineering sciences and the highest technical authority for metrology and physical safety engineering in Germany....
Honorary citizens
- Dr. Jakob Hartmann (b. 22 February 1879; d. 7 May 1961), Physician in Villmar 1905-1956
- Nikolaus Homm (b. 6 May 1909; d. 22 October 2004), Catholic priest in Villmar 1952-1976
- Peter Weyand (b.16 May 1875; d. 4 February 1963), Catholic priest in Villmar 1924-1952
Famous people who have worked in town
- Heinrich Joseph Rompel (b. 1746), Cubist from Mainz in 1792/93, was among the leaders in the "Mainz Revolution".
- Hubert Aumüller (b. 26 October 1927), Former mayor of the greater community of Villmar. He was elected mayor of Villmar on 31 May 1952. After 36 years in office, he retired on 30 June 1988. He was formerly the youngest, and by years of service, the oldest mayor in Hesse. His service was recognized with a series of honours, among them the BundesverdienstkreuzBundesverdienstkreuzThe Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany is the only general state decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has existed since 7 September 1951, and between 3,000 and 5,200 awards are given every year across all classes...
(1982) and, on the occasion of his retirement, the Freiherr-vom-Stein-Plakette. - Bernhard Hemmerle (b. 25 December 1949), Church music director, cantor in Villmar 1975-1994.
- Paul Theodor Lüngen (b. 29 June 1912; d. 17 February 1997), Army music master, retired; founder of the Villmar Volunteer Fire Brigade’s wind orchestra, leader from December 1979 - August 1985.