Berschweiler bei Kirn 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 Herrstein-Rhaunen, whose seat is in Herrstein. Berschweiler bei Kirn is one of two municipalities in the district with the name Berschweiler. The two are distinguished from each other by their geographical “tags”; the other one is called Berschweiler bei Baumholder.
Berschweiler bei Kirn | |
|---|---|
 Coat of arms | |
Location of Berschweiler bei Kirn within Birkenfeld district  | |
  Berschweiler bei Kirn  Berschweiler bei Kirn | |
| Coordinates: 49°46′14″N 07°23′28″E / 49.77056°N 7.39111°E | |
| Country | Germany |
| State | Rhineland-Palatinate |
| District | Birkenfeld |
| Municipal assoc. | Herrstein-Rhaunen |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2019–24) | Hubert Paal[1] |
| Area | |
| • Total | 7.53 km2 (2.91 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 415 m (1,362 ft) |
| Population (2022-12-31)[2] | |
| • Total | 263 |
| • Density | 35/km2 (90/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| Postal codes | 55608 |
| Dialling codes | 06752 |
| Vehicle registration | BIR |
Geography
editLocation
editThe municipality lies west of the Nahe between Kirn and Herrstein. Berschweiler bei Kirn lies roughly 8 km north of Idar-Oberstein and 5 km west of Kirn. Almost half the municipal area is wooded.
Land use
editAs of 31 December 2010, Berschweiler's 7.53 km2 were by use apportioned thus:[3]
- Agriculture 44.2%
- Woodland 48.4%
- Open water 0.2%
- Settlement and transport 6.9%
- Other 0.2%
Politics
editMunicipal council
editThe council is made up of 6 council members, who were elected by majority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.[4]
Mayor
editBerschweiler's mayor is Hubert Paal.[1]
Coat of arms
editThe municipality's arms might be described thus: Per bend azure a bear's head sinister erased Or langued gules and Or a lion rampant of the third armed and langued of the first.
The charge on the sinister (armsbearer's left, viewer's right) side is the lion borne as an heraldic device by the Waldgraves and Rhinegraves, who held the village in the Middle Ages. The charge on the dexter (armsbearer's right, viewer's left) side, a bear's head, is canting. “Bear” is Bär – both words are pronounced rather similarly – in German, which sounds like the first three sounds in “Berschweiler”.
The arms have been borne since 16 May 1962.[5]
Culture and sightseeing
editBuildings
editThe following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:[6]
- Evangelical church, Hauptstraße 3 – Gothic Revival yellow sandstone block building, 1866-1868, architect Scheepers, Simmern; décor
- Hauptstraße 21 – estate with buildings on three sides of a yard; house, partly timber-frame (plastered), marked 1830, commercial wings newer
Other sites
editBerschweiler is on both the Hunsrück Schiefer- und Burgenstraße (“Hunsrück Slate and Castle Road”) and the Sirona-Weg, a road whose focus is on the region's Celtic-Roman heritage.
Between Berschweiler and Fischbach is the historic Fischbacher Kupferbergwerk, one of Germany's biggest and most important copper mines. To the south stands a memorial stone to the now vanished village of Staufenberg.
Economy and infrastructure
editTransport
editTo the southeast runs Bundesstraße 41. In Kirn is the nearest railway station. It lies on the Nahe Valley Railway (Bingen–Saarbrücken).
References
edit- ^ a b Direktwahlen 2019, Landkreis Birkenfeld, Landeswahlleiter Rheinland-Pfalz, accessed 10 August 2021.
- ^ "Bevölkerungsstand 2022, Kreise, Gemeinden, Verbandsgemeinden" (PDF) (in German). Statistisches Landesamt Rheinland-Pfalz. 2023.
- ^ Berschweiler’s land use
- ^ Kommunalwahl Rheinland-Pfalz 2009, Gemeinderat
- ^ Description and explanation of Berschweiler bei Kirn’s arms
- ^ Directory of Cultural Monuments in Birkenfeld district
External links
edit- Brief portrait of Berschweiler with film at SWR Fernsehen (in German)