Altenkirchen | |
|---|---|
_COA.svg) Coat of arms | |
Location of Altenkirchen within Kusel district  | |
  Altenkirchen  Altenkirchen | |
| Coordinates:49°26′32″N7°19′13″E / 49.44222°N 7.32028°E /49.44222; 7.32028 | |
| Country | Germany |
| State | Rhineland-Palatinate |
| District | Kusel |
| Municipal assoc. | Oberes Glantal |
| Government | |
| • Mayor(2019–24) | Manfred Geis[1] |
| Area | |
• Total | 6.44 km2 (2.49 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 297 m (974 ft) |
| Population (2022-12-31)[2] | |
• Total | 1,287 |
| • Density | 200/km2 (520/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| Postal codes | 66903 |
| Dialling codes | 06386 |
| Vehicle registration | KUS |
| Website | Altenkirchen (Pfalz) |
Altenkirchen (German pronunciation:[ˌaltn̩ˈkɪʁçn̩]ⓘ) is anOrtsgemeinde – amunicipality belonging to aVerbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in theKuseldistrict inRhineland-Palatinate,Germany. It belongs to theVerbandsgemeinde ofOberes Glantal, whose seat is inSchönenberg-Kübelberg.
The municipality lies, like its neighboursDittweiler andFrohnhofen, in the Kohlbach valley in the WesternPalatinate. Altenkirchen lies at an elevation of some 285 m abovesea level, partly in the Kohlbach valley itself and partly in the narrower valleys through which the tributary brooks flow, as well as on their slopes. Roughly a fourth of the municipal area is wooded. The farmland is made up in no small measure ofcherryorchards. Some of the mountains in the area reach heights of more than 400 m (Hühnerkopf 441 m).
The municipal area measures 644 ha, of which 148 ha is wooded.[3]
Altenkirchen borders in the north on the municipality ofFrohnhofen, in the east on the municipality ofOhmbach, in the south on the municipality ofDittweiler and in the west on the municipality ofBreitenbach. Altenkirchen also meets the municipality ofKrottelbach at a single point in the northeast.
Also belonging to Altenkirchen are the outlying homesteads of Wilgenhof and Hainhof. There is also aForsthaus (“forester’s house”) in the Ahlenwald (forest).[4]
The original settlement arose around the church, which stands about 150 m up from the brookside, as does likewise the built-up area, the original village core, around the church with its former graveyard. The important village streets with newer building along their extensions spread out in an almost starlike pattern from the church, Friedhofstraße (“Graveyard Street”, which leads to the new graveyard) running to the north, Breitenbacher Straße running to the west, Hohlstraße running to the south and Schillerstraße, set a bit to the south, running to the east. The rectory stands across the street from the church on Schillerstraße. The graveyard used today lies at the village's north end on the Kohlbach's right bank. On Schulstraße (“School Street”), which branches off from Schillerstraße to the south, stands the former schoolhouse from 1919, which currently is still used forprimary school. Another, older, former schoolhouse from 1783 stands on Bergstraße, which branches off from Breitenbacher Straße to the northwest. This building was used by the Altenkirchen Mine Administration (Altenkirchener Grubenverwaltung) in the earlier half of the 19th century as the mine office, and is nowadays under private ownership. Yet another former schoolhouse, in which classes were held between 1820 and 1919, stands on Friedhofstraße. This building is now used as the town hall and the local history museum.
Besides the village street network, there is also the thoroughfare, Sankt Wendeler Straße (Landesstraße 335), which has newer buildings on it, and which runs along the Kohlbach's left bank.[5]
Inprehistoric times, there were already people in what is now Altenkirchen, bearing witness to which arearchaeological finds from neighbouring municipalities. In Altenkirchen itself, aStone Age blade was unearthed, which is now kept atSpeyer. The whereabouts of a find consisting ofCeltic coins unearthed in the 19th century are unfortunately unknown. The remnants of avilla rustica are to be found on the Schlossberg (mountain) near the slopes east of the village. In the several digs that have been undertaken there, coins have been found, as have astatuette (“Mercury of Altenkirchen”) andceramic pieces. Builders who were doing conversion work on the church in 1978 discovered several examples ofRomanspolia. Worthy of note is a stone with an inscription, which unfortunately can now barely be read. Also unearthed was the so-calledEntenstein (“Duckstone”), a fragment of a relief with a naked man with a duck on his shoulders, walking behind whom is a bigger duck. Originally, these stones might have come from earlier, Roman buildings that once stood in the Altenkirchen area.[6]
Altenkirchen lay within the freeImperial Domain (Reichsland) around the town andcastle ofKaiserslautern. When the village was founded is unknown, but what is known is that it belonged to the court ofKübelberg which, beginning in 1312, was taken over time and again by several secular lordships (theCounty of Sponheim, theCounty of Veldenz,Electoral Palatinate) as an Imperial pledged holding. According to the 1290 document in which Altenkirchen had its first documentary mention, the priest at the time, Father Theodoricus von Altenkirchen, stated to theArchbishopric of Mainz that themonks on the Remigiusberg had never in his time at Altenkirchen, nor in his time atHirsau, ever paid taxes or any other tribute to the Archbishop of Mainz. The background to this statement is that the Remigiusberg and theRemigiusland were holdings ofReims, but under ecclesiastical organization, they belonged to the Archbishopric of Mainz. Beginning in 1437, the court of Kübelberg, and along with it the village of Altenkirchen, belonged to the Electoral PalatinateOberamt of Kaiserslautern until the late 18th century.[7]
From the year 1542, aWeistum (cognate withEnglishwisdom, this was a legal pronouncement issued by men learned in law in theMiddle Ages and early modern times) from Altenkirchen has been preserved, according to which the successors of the then already lateJunker Hans Blick von Lichtenberg fromBad Dürkheim, in the presence of, among others, theLandschreiber (in Electoral Palatinate, this was an official at theOberamt level who had certain accounting and legal responsibilities), Job Weidenkopf fromLichtenberg Castle, held farming rights, and theSchultheiß, Heinrich Korb von Kübelberg collected the fees. TheWeistum mainly contains lists about the payments to be made by inhabitants of Altenkirchen andFrohnhofen. It also tells one that at this time, the village was held by the noble family Blick von Lichtenberg, whose members for centuries exercised patronage rights over the village. After the family died out in the early 17th century, the Lords of Günderode inherited their holdings. These passed eventually to the Barons of Fürstenwärter. Like all the villages in the area, Altenkirchen, too, suffered greatly from the effects of the harrowingThirty Years' War, which, it is said, left Altenkirchen with only five families by the time it ended, whereas many local villages in the Kusel area had been utterly wiped out in the war. Newcomers to the area settled in Altenkirchen, thus building the population back up, but then came more war in the late 17th century asKing Louis XIV'sFrench troops swept across the land, leaving devastation behind them. Only in the early 18th century was there once again a steady rise in population. It was also at this time thatemigration toAmerica began. In 1779, the court of Kübelberg, and along with it the village of Altenkirchen, passed in the course of a territorial reorganization between Electoral Palatinate and theDuchy of Palatine Zweibrücken by way of exchange to the latter party for the villages ofDuchroth andOberhausen and part of the village ofNiederkirchen, which until then had been held by Zweibrücken. This was also a transfer from the Electoral PalatinateOberamt of Kaiserslautern to the ZweibrückenOberamt of Homburg. Zweibrücken times, however, did not last very long, for the whole feudal system that had shaped life was swept away by the events of theFrench Revolution. In 1793, the firstFrench Revolutionary troops appeared in the region, and in 1801, Franceannexed the lands on theRhine’s left bank. French rule, too, was short-lived, lasting only until 1814. During this time, Altenkirchen lay in theMairie (“Mayoralty”) of Waldmohr, theCanton of Waldmohr, theArrondissement of Saarbrücken and theDepartment ofSarre, whose capital was atTrier.[8]
In 1814, the French withdrew from the German lands on the Rhine's left bank, and Altenkirchen was at first assigned to the Ottweiler district. After a transition period, theBavarianRheinkreis (“Rhine District”) came into being in 1816, which later was known as the BavarianRheinpfalz (“Rhenish Palatinate”). The administrative structures that had arisen inNapoleonic times were swept aside and Altenkirchen was then assigned to theLandkommissariat of Zweibrücken. In 1818, the village became the seat of its ownBürgermeisterei (“mayoralty”) to whichDittweiler andFrohnhofen (and at first alsoBreitenbach) also belonged, and which lay in the canton of Waldmohr and theLandkommissariat (laterBezirksamt, and thenLandkreis, or district) of Homburg.
In 1848 and 1849, the Kohlbach valley, where Altenkirchen lies, hosted a centre of theRevolutionary movement, in which the schoolteacher Daniel Hirsch is worthy of mention for, among other things, having founded a popular association. After theFirst World War, the district of Homburg was grouped into theFrench- andBritish-ruledSaar Mandate, but the canton of Waldmohr remained in the Free State of Bavaria (theGerman monarchy had been overthrown, andBavaria's last king hadabdicated), and thus still within Germany. It belonged with a branch location of the administration, which existed until 1940, to theBezirksamt (district) of Kusel. In 1940, the branch location of the administration was dissolved and also administratively merged with the district of Kusel. Only in the 1968 administrative and territorial reform inRhineland-Palatinate was theBürgermeisterei of Altenkirchen dissolved. Since 1972, the municipality has belonged to theVerbandsgemeinde of Schönenberg-Kübelberg.[9]
Altenkirchen was a farming village and is today still known far and wide for itscherry growing. In the latter half of the 18th century, the first coalmines were opened (Carls-Fundgrube, Sankt-Paulsgrube and Maximiliansgrube). With mining came the opportunity for some villagers to work at the collieries. One prominent figure in the growth of the Altenkirchen coalmining industry was Johann Paul Weiß fromSaxony, who, before his arrival in Altenkirchen, had been undertaking important activities in theElectoral Palatinate mining establishment, and he had even brought experienced miners from his homeland to the Palatinate. Thus, there was a gradual switchover from a farming village to a workers’ village, which even saw many inhabitants seeking mining work in the nearby Saarland. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, work at the pits came to an end in Altenkirchen itself, forcing almost all the local miners to commute elsewhere to work. Of course, there were opportunities in other lines of work, especially in the multifaceted handicraft industry. Population figures were already rising steeply during the 18th century, and rose threefold in the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. Also noted in that time was the highemigration toNorth America, especially to theUS state ofOhio. With regard to religious affiliation, the inhabitants quite early on were allEvangelical. Even today,CatholicChristians and members of other denominations are in the minority.
The following table shows population development over the centuries for Altenkirchen, with some figures broken down by religious denomination:[10]
| Year | 1825 | 1835 | 1871 | 1905 | 2939 | 1961 | 1999 | 2007 |
| Total | 496 | 581 | 646 | 773 | 1,043 | 1,316 | 1,497 | 1,376 |
| Catholic | – | 67 | 45 | |||||
| Evangelical | 496 | 1,243 | 1,402 |
Altenkirchen arose near an old church, so called because it somehow related to a “new church” somewhere. This explains its name (alt means “old” inGerman andKirche means “church”), but what is not thoroughly explained is just what was meant by this “new church”. Regional historianErnst Christmann was convinced that this referred to the church atOhmbach. Other regional historians, though, have put forth the churches atBreitenbach orKübelberg as candidates. In 1290, Altenkirchen had its first documentary mention asAldekierke. Other mentions rendered the nameAldenkirchen (1372),Aldenkirch (1410),Allenkirchen (1480) or Altenkirchen (1601), the current form. The local dialectal form of the name isAhlekerje.[11]
Within Altenkirchen's current limits once lay two other villages, both of which vanished even before theThirty Years' War. They were called Achtweiler and Staßweiler. The former lay southwest of Altenkirchen, while the latter lay northeast. Achtweiler was mentioned in a document in 1571, but all that now bears witness to Staßweiler's existence is rural cadastral toponyms.[12]
The council is made up of 16 council members, who were elected bymajority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.[13]
Altenkirchen's mayor is Manfred Geis.[1]
The municipality'sarms might be described thus: Argent a church affronty gules, the helm-spire azure, the door and windows Or ensigned with a cross of the same, the chief per fess Or and sable.
Thetinctures of the two stripes forming thechief are the colours of bothElectoral Palatinate and theDuchy of Palatine Zweibrücken. The church is acantingcharge for the village's name, which means “old church”. The arms have been borne since 1986 when they were approved by the now defunctRegierungsbezirk administration inNeustadt an der Weinstraße.[14]
The following are listed buildings or sites inRhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:[15]
Altenkirchen holds a village festival on the first weekend in July. The church consecration festival, locally known as theKerwe, goes back to the year 1839 and is held on the first weekend in October. AChristmas Market is held on the first day ofAdvent. In the 1950s, there was also a Cherry Blossom Festival at which a Blossom Queen was chosen.[16]
TheHeimatmuseum Altenkirchen, opened in 1987, shows life and work as it was in days of yore.
Altenkirchen has an old tree at theRömerbrunnen (“Romans’ Spring”) known as theDicke Eiche (“Fat Oak”).[17]
Originally, the village's commercial life was oriented towardsagriculture, in whichsweet cherry growing, begun in 1742, promoted byElector Karl Theodor, played a role. Cherry growing is still important today. Beginning in the mid 18th century,coal for household heating was also mined within municipal limits, at first only for a few families’ needs, but later very extensively. The biggest collieries were Carls-Fundgrube (founded in 1768) and Maximiliansgrube. In 1775, the Elector Palatine bestowed bequests upon the mine foremen Meixner and Weiß, thereby starting the more extensive phase of local coalmining. In the 1880s, mining ceased. There was further mining after each of theworld wars, but neither revival lasted long. Today, Altenkirchen is a residential community for people in many occupations, and local businesses are mainlyservice businesses or smallproduction facilities.[18]
Altenkirchen lies onLandesstraße 355, which leads toSchönenberg-Kübelberg, and which meetsLandesstraße 352 (Quirnbach-Ottweiler) north of the village.Kreisstraße (District Road) 5 links the village directly with the village ofBreitenbach to the west. To the southeast runs theAutobahnA 6, and to the northeast is the AutobahnA 62 (Kaiserslautern–Trier). TheGlan-Münchweiler, Miesau andWaldmohrinterchanges each lie some 12 km.[19]
Serving nearbyGlan-Münchweiler isGlan-Münchweiler station on theLandstuhl–Kusel railway. There are hourly trains at thisstation throughout the day, namelyRegionalbahn service RB 67 betweenKaiserslautern andKusel, namedGlantalbahn after a former railway line that shared a stretch of its tracks with the Landstuhl–Kusel railway.
It is likely that there were efforts to introduce schooling into Altenkirchen even before theThirty Years' War. Records show that in 1782, some 70 or 80 schoolchildren were being taught. The schoolhouse fell into disrepair and was renovated beginning in 1785. Schoolchildren fromDittweiler andFrohnhofen also attended lessons in Altenkirchen. In those days, the married teacher received as a year's remuneration fourMalter of grain, worth 16Gulden, and also 10Gulden in cash. He also received aGlockenkorn of grain worth 44Gulden and 24Gulden’s worth of wood. The schoolchildren also had to pay a school fee, which all together amounted to 10Gulden. Furthermore, the teacher even worked a major cropfield and a meadow, bringing him a further 10Gulden. In the 19th century, there were an “upper” school and a “lower” school, each one with an average of 60 pupils. Expenditures for teaching and learning materials and for the teacher's own needs were suggested by the municipality and finalized by theLandkommissariat of Homburg, which usually raised the amount suggested by the municipality. In 1862, expenses for the upper school were assessed at 47.33Gulden for the garden and fields, 5.00Gulden for a cord of wood, 12.00Gulden for the teacher's dwelling and 285.27Gulden from the municipal coffers. The 350.00Gulden in school fees from the parents was no longer levied. The grand total was therefore 349.60Gulden; the municipality had only wanted to pay 323.33Gulden.
For the “second school” (or “preparatory school”), a similar pattern prevailed, along with a similar total, namely 350Gulden. The municipality had great difficulty raising this sum, as the families in question mostly found it very hard to pay or could not pay at all. The 146 families owned on average about 3 ha of land each. In a municipal council decision, it says “…although it is very timely for the teacher’s support to be raised, it is also to be seen that the municipality is overburdened with costs.”
Of special importance is that schooling in Altenkirchen has a link with a famous revolutionary's name: Daniel Hirsch. In 1835, Hirsch came to Altenkirchen as a young teacher, aged 21. He succeeded the old,alcoholic teacher Peter Dennis, an old playmate of the later king ofBavaria,Maximilian Joseph I, when Dennis had spent part of his childhood at Schloss Pettersheim inHerschweiler-Pettersheim. Hirsch himself was deemed to be a hardworking and successful teacher, but because of his participation in the 1849 Badish-Palatine Uprising, he was fired, and in 1850, heemigrated to theUnited States.
In the course of the 20th century, the school began by holding three classes. The teachers often complained about their inadequate living quarters. As a result of school reform after theSecond World War, the school was expanded in 1970 to accommodate sevenprimary school classes, which were also attended by children from neighbouring villages.Hauptschule students have since then attended the Hauptschule at theSchönenberg-Kübelberg school centre. The Altenkirchen primary school has so far been retained.[20]
A clergyman's son from Altenkirchen, he attended the grammar school atKaiserslautern and the Bipontinum atZweibrücken, going on to studynatural sciences inMunich. Having graduated in 1868, he became a battalion doctor in theFranco-Prussian War (1870–1871), and thereafter a member of the board of the Medical Association atZurich and a professor ofpathological anatomy and comparative pathology in Munich. In this capacity he published many medical-scientific works. He was highly decorated, becoming, among other things, a Knight of theMerit Order of the Bavarian Crown. He also discoveredactinomycosis.
Johann Peter Müller (b. 1709 inRutsweiler an der Lauter; d. 1796 inEphrata,Pennsylvania,USA)
Later known as John Peter Miller, or simply Peter Miller, before leaving Germany in 1730, he lived for a few years as a boy in Altenkirchen, where his father, Johann Müller, was the minister. Over in theColonies, Müller made a name for himself in the religious community inPennsylvania, becoming a prior at theEphrata Cloister inEphrata.[21]
Authority control databases: National |
|---|
