Bad Kreuznach is a district in

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Rhein-Hunsrück,

Mainz-Bingen Mainz-Bingen is a district (''Kreis'') in the east of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from north clockwise) Rheingau-Taunus, the district-free cities Wiesbaden and Mainz, the districts Groß-Gerau, Alzey-Worms, Bad Kreuzna ...

Alzey-Worms Alzey-Worms () is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by (from the east and clockwise) the district Groß-Gerau (Hesse), the city of Worms and the districts of Bad Dürkheim, Donnersbergkreis, Bad Kreuznach and Mainz-Bingen. ...

Donnersbergkreis The Donnersbergkreis is a district (''Kreis'') in the middle of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are Bad Kreuznach, Alzey-Worms, Bad Dürkheim, Kaiserslautern, Kusel. History The district was created in 1969 by merging the dis ...

Kusel Kusel (; written ''Cusel'' until 1865) is a town in the Kusel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the Kusel-Altenglan ''Verbandsgemeinde'' and is also the district seat. The well-known operatic tenor Fritz Wunderlich was ...

and Birkenfeld.

History

The region is full of medieval castles, especially along the

Nahe River The Nahe () is a river in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, Germany, a left tributary to the Rhine. It has also given name to the wine region Nahe (wine region), Nahe situated around it. The name Nahe is derived from the Latin word ''Nava'', w ...

. Best known is the Kyrburg of Kirn, built in the 12th century and sitting in state above the river. In 1815, the district of Kreuznach was established by the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

n government. In 1932, it was merged with the district of Meisenheim. The name of the district officially changed from Kreuznach to Bad Kreuznach in 1969.

Geography

The district is located in the hilly country between the mountain chains of 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 ...

in the north and the

North Palatine Uplands The North Palatine Uplands (german: Nordpfälzer Bergland), sometimes shortened to Palatine Uplands (''Pfälzer Bergland''), is a low mountain range and landscape unit in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and belongs mainly to the Palat ...

in the south. The main axis of the district is the

, which enters the territory in the west, runs through Kirn, Bad Sobernheim and

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 ...

, and leaves to the northeast. The region formed by this district and the adjoining Birkenfeld district is known as the

Naheland The Naheland is the landscape on either side of the river Nahe in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Geography The southern foothills of the Hunsrück and the northern North Palatine Uplands on either side of the Nahe are both described ...

. The banks of the lower Nahe are used for vineyards. Away from the stream, there are sparsely populated forests crisscrossed by the narrow affluents of the Nahe River.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms displays: * the heraldic lion of the Palatinate * the blue and golden pattern of the medieval

county of Sponheim The County of Sponheim (german: Grafschaft Sponheim, former spelling: Spanheim, Spanheym) was an independent territory in the Holy Roman Empire that lasted from the 11th century until the early 19th century. The name comes from the municipality ...

Towns and municipalities

Politics

Kreuznach (electoral district) Kreuznach is an electoral constituency ( German: ''Wahlkreis'') represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 201. It is located ...

for the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

References

External links

* (German)
Naheland tourist website
(German, English)
www.KH-lokal.de - local community with more than 1.800 links to homepages of Bad Kreuznach (district)

A flickr-group with fotos of Bad Kreuznach (district)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bad Kreuznach (District) Districts of Rhineland-Palatinate