Bergen is an ''

Ortsgemeinde A Verbandsgemeinde (; plural Verbandsgemeinden) is a low-level administrative division, administrative unit in the Germany, German States of Germany, federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A Verbandsgemeinde is typically compose ...

'' – a municipality belonging to a '' Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the

Birkenfeld Birkenfeld () is a town and the district seat of the Birkenfeld district in southwest Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is also the seat of the like-named ''Verbandsgemeinde''. The town itself has approximately 7,000 inhabitants. Geography ...

district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Herrstein-Rhaunen, whose seat is in

Herrstein Herrstein is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Herrstein-Rhau ...

Geography

Location

The municipality lies in the

Hunsrück The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued by the Taunus mountains, past ...

, 3 km west of Kirn and 9 km northeast of Idar-Oberstein.

Land use

The greater part of municipal area is covered by a 4.5 km² forest, and most of the rest of this rural village's land is taken up by cropland.

History

In 926, Bergen had its first documentary mention. To the southwest once lay the now vanished village of Staufenberg. After the Second World War, the village still had more than sixty businesses that were active in agriculture. Nowadays there are only seven, most of which are run as sidelines. Until 1969, Bergen still had its own primary school; after it closed that year, schoolchildren were transferred to the nearby town of Kirn in

Bad Kreuznach Bad Kreuznach () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a spa town, most well known for its medieval bridge dating from around 1300, the Alte Nahebrücke, which is one of the few remaining bridges in th ...

district. In 1995, the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Herrstein opened a two-group kindergarten with an intake capacity of 50 three- to six-year-olds. This is meant to serve not only Bergen, but also the neighbouring municipalities of Berschweiler,

Griebelschied Griebelschied 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 ...

and

Sonnschied Sonnschied 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, w ...

Politics

Municipal council

The council is made up of 8 council members, who were elected by

majority vote A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Webster arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

might be described thus: Per bend sable a mount of three per bend argent and Or a lion rampant gules armed and langued azure. The charge on the sinister (armsbearer's left, viewer's right) side is the lion borne as an heraldic device by the

Waldgrave The noble family of the Waldgraves or Wildgraves (Latin: ''comites silvestres'') descended of a division of the House of the Counts of Nahegau in the year 1113. When the (a countship named after the river Nahe) split into two parts in 1113 ...

s and Rhinegraves who held the village in the Middle Ages. The charge on the dexter (armsbearer's right, viewer's left) side is canting for the village's name. It is taken to be three mountains (''Berge'' in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

; ''Bergen'', however, would be the form in the dative case). The arms have been borne since 23 May 1962.

Culture and sightseeing

Buildings

The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:Directory of Cultural Monuments in Birkenfeld district
/ref> * Evangelical parish church, Hauptstraße 62a –

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

aisleless church An aisleless church (german: Saalkirche) is a single-nave church building that consists of a single hall-like room. While similar to the hall church, the aisleless church lacks aisles or passageways on either side of the nave and separated fro ...

strongly characterized by Classicism, 1860-1862, architects L. Rhumbler,

Alzey Alzey () is a ''Verband''-free town – one belonging to no ''Verbandsgemeinde'' – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the fifth-largest town in Rhenish Hesse, after Mainz, Worms, Germany, Worms, Ingelheim am Rhein ...

, and J. Lang,

Kreuznach Bad Kreuznach () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a spa town, most well known for its medieval bridge dating from around 1300, the Alte Nahebrücke, which is one of the few remaining bridges in th ...

; in the tower foyer a gravestone, 1686 * Hauptstraße 55 – ''Quereinhaus'' (a combination residential and commercial house divided for these two purposes down the middle, perpendicularly to the street), marked 1874, five-axis sandstone dwelling wing with knee wall, commercial part, partly timber-frame, possibly from the 1850s; stable, marked 1856 * Mühlenweg 3 – ''Quereinhaus'' with knee wall, half-hipped roof, after the middle of the 19th century

Clubs

Besides the sport club, SV 07, there are the promotional club of the Bergen fire brigade (''Förderverein der Freiwilligen Feuerwehr Bergen''), an angling club, a countrywomen's club (''Deutscher Landfrauenverband'') and the Evangelical Women's Aid.

Economy and infrastructure

Besides the farming operations, there are craft businesses and one inn with

pension A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...

lodging.

References

External links

Municipality’s official webpage
{{Authority control Birkenfeld (district)