Rivenich | |
|---|---|
 Coat of arms | |
Location of Rivenich within Bernkastel-Wittlich district  | |
  Rivenich  Rivenich | |
| Coordinates:49°52′39″N6°50′46″E / 49.87750°N 6.84611°E /49.87750; 6.84611 | |
| Country | Germany |
| State | Rhineland-Palatinate |
| District | Bernkastel-Wittlich |
| Municipal assoc. | Wittlich-Land |
| Government | |
| • Mayor(2019–24) | Peter Knops[1] |
| Area | |
• Total | 7.78 km2 (3.00 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 140 m (460 ft) |
| Population (2022-12-31)[2] | |
• Total | 748 |
| • Density | 96/km2 (250/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| Postal codes | 54518 |
| Dialling codes | 06508 |
| Vehicle registration | WIL |
| Website | www.rivenich.de |
Rivenich is anOrtsgemeinde – amunicipality belonging to aVerbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in theBernkastel-Wittlichdistrict inRhineland-Palatinate,Germany.
The municipality lies in theEifel on the riverSalm. The municipal area is 33% wooded. The nearest city isTrier, some 24 km away to the southwest. Rivenich belongs to theVerbandsgemeinde of Wittlich-Land, whose seat is inWittlich, although that town is itself not in theVerbandsgemeinde.
In 748, Rivenich had its first documentary mention asRiveniacus. After theFrench Revolution, the village became part of theDepartment ofSarre. In 1814 it was assigned to the Kingdom ofPrussia at theCongress of Vienna. Since 1947, it has been part of the then newly foundedstate ofRhineland-Palatinate.
The council is made up of 12 council members, who were elected byproportional representation 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:[3]
| Year | SPD | FWG | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 7 | 5 | 12 seats |
| 2004 | 5 | 7 | 12 seats |
The German blazon reads:Schild schräglinks stufenförmig geteilt, vorne in Silber ein roter Drache, hinten in Rot drei goldene Ähren.
The municipality'sarms might in Englishheraldic language be described thus: Per bend sinister indented, argent a dragon segreant gules and gules three ears of wheat conjoined on one stem slipped Or.
Written history records that on 30 December 1704, Count Hugo Ernst Cratz von Scharfenstein donated all his rights to the villages of Rivenich and Erlenbach to Baron Karl Kaspar von Kesselstatt, Provost of the Trier Monastery of St. Paulin. With the family von Kesselstatt's approval, thecharge borne by the former barons (later Imperial counts) appears on the dexter (armsbearer's right, viewer's left) side. The step-shaped division of the field recalls the “fess dancetty” (horizontal zigzag stripe) formerly borne as an heraldic device by the Lords of Manderscheid, and thereby also Rivenich's time under the Manderscheid-Bruch high court. Likewise, the charge on the sinister (armsbearer's left, viewer's right) side recalls a composition once seen on a court seal (from 1765). These three ears of wheat stand for the parish's patron saint,Brice of Tours.[4]
Rivenich was granted the right to bear its own arms in 1975 by theRegierungsbezirk administration.
Northwest of Rivenich runs theAutobahnA 1. In nearbyHetzerath is arailway station on the Koblenz-Trierrailway line.
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