The Eifelkreis Bitburg-Prüm ( lb, Äifelkrees Béibreg-Prüm) is a district in
Rhineland-Palatinate,
Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise)
Luxembourg,
Belgium and the districts of
Euskirchen,
Vulkaneifel,
Bernkastel-Wittlich
Bernkastel-Wittlich (German: ''Landkreis Bernkastel-Wittlich'') is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Vulkaneifel, Cochem-Zell, Rhein-Hunsrück, Birkenfeld, Trier-Saarbur ...
and
Trier-Saarburg.
History
There are three different historical regions: the abbey and the city of Prüm have been directly subordinate to the
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...
in medieval times; later the free city became the principality of Prüm, occupying large portions in the north.
The southwest including the town of Bitburg was a part of the
Duchy of Luxemburg
The Duchy of Luxemburg ( nl, Luxemburg; french: Luxembourg; german: Luxemburg; lb, Lëtzebuerg) was a state of the Holy Roman Empire, the ancestral homeland of the noble House of Luxembourg. The House of Luxembourg, now Duke of Limburg, becam ...
from the 10th to the 15th century. Later it was a part of the
Seventeen Provinces and hence under
Spanish and then
Austrian rule. After the
Napoleonic Wars the region was handed over to
Prussia.
The eastern parts of the district, including the town of Kyllburg, were part of the
Prince-bishopric of Trier.
When Prussia gained all these regions about 1815, it established the three districts of Bitburg, Prüm and Trier. In 1970 the districts of Bitburg and Prüm were merged with parts of the former district of Trier in order to form the present district.
On 1 January 2007 the full name of the district was changed to be ' instead of '.
Geography
The district covers the sparsely populated southwestern part of the
Eifel
The Eifel (; lb, Äifel, ) is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of ...
Mountains. The portions along the western borders are occupied by a common German-Belgian nature park and a German-Luxembourgian nature park. A great number of rivers rise from the
Schneifel in the northwest and from the Kyllwald in the east, and runs southward to the river
Sauer (French: ''Sûre''), which is an affluent of the
Moselle
The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it jo ...
.
Coat of arms
The coat of arms displays:
* The red cross symbolising the close city of
Trier
* The golden tower from the arms of Bitburg
* The silver lamb from the arms of Prüm
* The blue and white pattern from the arms of Luxembourg
Towns and municipalities
References
External links
* (German)
German-Belgian Nature Park Hohes Venn / Eifel(German, French)
German-Luxembourgian Nature Park Southern Eifel(German, English, French, Dutch)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bitburg-Prum
Districts of Rhineland-Palatinate