Desloch is an ''
Ortsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde (; plural Verbandsgemeinden) is a low-level administrative unit in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A Verbandsgemeinde is typically composed of a small group of villages or towns.
Rhineland ...
'' – a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
belonging to a ''
Verbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde (; plural Verbandsgemeinden) is a low-level administrative unit in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A Verbandsgemeinde is typically composed of a small group of villages or towns.
Rhinelan ...
'', a kind of collective municipality – in the
Bad Kreuznach district
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...
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 belongs to the
''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Meisenheim, whose seat is in the
like-named town. Desloch is a
farming
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...
and
winegrowing
Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...
village.
Geography
Location
Desloch is a
linear village
Linearity is the property of a mathematical relationship ('' function'') that can be graphically represented as a straight line. Linearity is closely related to '' proportionality''. Examples in physics include rectilinear motion, the linear ...
(by some definitions, a “thorpe”) lying 3 km northwest of
Meisenheim
Meisenheim () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the like-named ''Verbandsgemeinde'', and is also its seat. Meisenheim is a state-recognized recreational resort (''Erholungsort'') and it is s ...
on the
Glan at the north edge of 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 ...
. The municipal area measures 637 ha, of which 129 ha is wooded. Desloch lies on an old
Roman road between the
Nahe and the Glan.
Neighbouring municipalities
Clockwise from the north, Desloch's neighbours are the municipality of
Lauschied, the municipality of
Abtweiler (at a single point only), the municipality of
Raumbach, the town of
Meisenheim
Meisenheim () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the like-named ''Verbandsgemeinde'', and is also its seat. Meisenheim is a state-recognized recreational resort (''Erholungsort'') and it is s ...
, the municipality of
Breitenheim
Breitenheim is an '' Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Meisenheim, ...
and the municipality of
Jeckenbach.
Constituent communities
Also belonging to Desloch is the outlying homestead of Neuwieser Hof.
History
The village's name is of
Celtic origin, meaning “pool at the mountain”. As long ago as 400 BC,
Celts
The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...
were living on the heights around what is now Desloch. Over the centuries that followed, these Celts were supplanted by
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and e ...
who thrust their way from the
Rhine
), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source1_coordinates=
, source1_elevation =
, source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein
, source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source2_coordinates=
, so ...
’s right bank into the lands on the left bank only sporadically. From 50 BC to AD 450 – fully 500 years – the
Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
held sway in the region, for a time even under Emperor
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...
. With the onset of the
Migration Period and
Rome’s downfall, the Romans vanished from the land. For a short time, Germanic tribes dwelt in the region before having to give way to the
Franks
The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...
, who founded new villages and farms, worked very hard, and were the lords at all the estates. It was in Frankish times, the time of the widespread woodland clearing, that the name Desloch – earlier called ''Tageslach'', and then ''Denslach'' – arose. In 1184, Desloch had its first documentary mention. It had its beginnings in a monastic complex that was a branch of
Disibodenberg Abbey. Desloch was in the
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...
the seat of a
high court of 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 the
Counts Palatine
A count palatine (Latin ''comes palatinus''), also count of the palace or palsgrave (from German ''Pfalzgraf''), was originally an official attached to a royal or imperial palace or household and later a nobleman of a rank above that of an ord ...
. Even today, the local speech refers to the place before the
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* C ...
as ''Auf der Linde'' (“At the
Limetree”). This was where the court sat. An old stone still recalls this today. In the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...
, Desloch was laid waste together with its church, which stood on the same spot as today's church. The wooden
chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...
that had stood in the beginning was replaced with a sturdier church in 1570. This was the one that was destroyed, and a new one arose in its stead only in 1751. It still looms over the village today. In the 16th century, Desloch, which hitherto had belonged to the Waldgraves and Rhinegraves at Kyrburg since 1128, was acquired through marriage by the
Counts Palatine
A count palatine (Latin ''comes palatinus''), also count of the palace or palsgrave (from German ''Pfalzgraf''), was originally an official attached to a royal or imperial palace or household and later a nobleman of a rank above that of an ord ...
of
Zweibrücken
Zweibrücken (; french: Deux-Ponts, ; Palatinate German: ''Zweebrigge'', ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach river.
Name
The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; olde ...
, who then annexed it to
Meisenheim
Meisenheim () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the like-named ''Verbandsgemeinde'', and is also its seat. Meisenheim is a state-recognized recreational resort (''Erholungsort'') and it is s ...
. After the Thirty Years' War, the Count Palatine of Zweibrücken organized some
immigration
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...
for the now depopulated region, bringing people from the
Tyrol
Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...
,
Switzerland,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
and
Holland
Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...
to settle the land. Under
King Louis XIV, the region was
French from 1684 to 1697, and later became French a second time in
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
ary times and the
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
ic Era that followed, from 1795 to 1815. In
Frederick the Great
Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the S ...
’s time (18th century), many peasants
emigrated
Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...
to
Pomerania
Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...
and
Lithuania. In 1823, many people emigrated to
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, whereas from 1837 to 1860 the destination was
North America. From 1782 to 1785, there was a mass emigration to
Galicia and
Bačka
Bačka ( sr-cyrl, Бачка, ) or Bácska () is a geographical and historical area within the Pannonian Plain bordered by the river Danube to the west and south, and by the river Tisza to the east. It is divided between Serbia and Hunga ...
in the
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...
(although most of Bačka now lies within
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...
). After the
German campaign in the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
, Desloch, together with the rest of the region south of the
Nahe, passed as the ''
Oberamt'' of Meisenheim to the Landgraves of
Hesse-Homburg
Hesse-Homburg was formed into a separate landgraviate in 1622 by the landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt; it was to be ruled by his son, although it did not become independent of Hesse-Darmstadt until 1668. It was briefly divided into Hesse-Homburg and ...
, to whom the village and region belonged for 50 years before passing in 1866 first to the
Grand Duchy of Hesse and then, later that same year, to the Kingdom of
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 ...
. Thereafter, the village lived through the glory of the
German Empire’s rise in 1870 and 1871 and the ignominy of defeat in both the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
(1914-1918) and the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
(1939-1945). Both world wars exacted their toll on Desloch: in all, 55 men fell. Since the Second World War, the villagers have been working hard to beautify their village, winning several distinctions in the contest ''Unser Dorf soll schöner werden'' (“Our village should become lovelier”): first place at the district level in 1962; the same in both 1963 and 1964 but in the special class; first place at the regional level in 1964, and also the silver badge at the state level.
Religion
As at 31 August 2013, there are 363 full-time residents in Desloch, and of those, 292 are
Evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...
(80.441%), 28 are
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
(7.713%), 1 (0.275%) belongs to another religious group and 42 (11.57%) either have no religion or will not reveal their religious affiliation.
Politics
Municipal council
The council is made up of 8 council members, who were elected by
majority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
Mayor
Desloch's mayor is Udo Reidenbach.
[
]
Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: ''Gespalten von Schwarz und Gold über einem Dreiberg in vertauschten Farben, darin vorne ein schwarzer, hinten ein goldener fünffstrahliger Stern. Oben zwei einander zugewandte Löwen, einen fünfstrahligen Stern in der mitte in vertauschten Farben haltend. Vorne der Löwe gold, rotbewehrt und gekrönt, hinten der Löwe rot, blaubewehrt und gekrönt.''
The municipality's 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 in English heraldic
Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known bran ...
language be described thus: Per pale sable and Or a trimount counterchanged charged with two mullets of five in fess, each of the field, and upon which lions combatant, the dexter of the second armed, langued and crowned gules, the sinister of the third armed, langued and crowned azure, between their paws a mullet of five counterchanged.
Known to history are two former local lordships: 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 Palatinate-Zweibrücken. Both bore the lion as an heraldic device, the Waldgraves a red one on a gold field, seen in Desloch's arms as the charge
Charge or charged may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* '' Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary
Music
* ''Charge'' (David Ford album)
* ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album)
* ''Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...
on the sinister (armsbearer's left, viewer's right) side, and the Counts Palatine of Zweibrücken a gold one on a black field, seen here as the charge on the dexter (armsbearer's right, viewer's left) side, although in Desloch's arms, he has been turned round to become “sinister” (facing heraldic left) so that the two lion charges in the arms are “combatant”. There was a happy circumstance with these arms insofar as, unlike many other coats of arms, this one actually obeys the rule of tincture. To distinguish Desloch's arms from Alsenz’s, which are similar, the village’s location was also considered. Desloch lies in a high dale, and at night can only be seen by stars. Thus, the two lions in the arms hold a star (“mullet of five” in blazon), while two others appear on the trimount In heraldry, a mount (also mountain, hill, hillock) is a representation of a hill or mountain as a curved terrace in base. When the mount is included in the lower part of the shield, it may be considered an ordinary rather than a charge.
A trimou ...
to fill in what would otherwise be empty space. The tincture
A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...
s used in Desloch's arms are drawn from those formerly borne by the Waldgraves and the Counts Palatine of Zweibrücken. The arms have been borne since 2003.
File:Wappen Deslochn.png, Desloch's arms
File:Wildgraf Dhaun COA.png, Waldgravial arms
File:Palatinate Arms.svg, Palatinate-Zweibrücken's arms
File:DEU Alsenz COA.svg, Alsenz's “similar” arms
Culture and sightseeing
Buildings
The following are listed buildings or sites 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 ...
’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
* Evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* C ...
, Hauptstraße – Baroque 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 fr ...
, marked 1751, tower made taller in 1857 (see also below)
* Hauptstraße 43 – former school
A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes comp ...
, Late Classicist plastered building, mid 19th century
* Neuwieser Straße 6 – Baroque timber-frame
Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...
house, plastered, 18th century
* Schulstraße 9 – Late Classicist house with single roof ridge, quarrystone, marked 1869
More about the church
The Desloch church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* C ...
, aligned towards the north, lies somewhat hidden on the main road going towards Jeckenbach. Shortly before reaching the former school
A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes comp ...
house, one reaches, by way of a small stairway and then under two old limetrees, the way into the churchyard. In earlier times, the churchyard was Desloch's graveyard, but after 1833, when a new graveyard was laid out on the village's northeastern outskirts, it was used by the neighbouring school as an exercise yard and schoolyard. Anyone entering the church itself through the entrance on the east side is surprised and impressed by the unexpected wealth of artistic creativity that has gone into the windows and visual art inside. Information about the former church that once stood on this same spot, renovated in 1663/1664 and torn down in 1747, comes from a plan dating from the year of its demolition. It was a right-angled, two-naved building aligned east-west with a three-sided quire at the east end of the north nave, and a tower abutting it at the east end of the south nave. The church that stands today is a simpler building aligned towards the north with a three-sided quire onto which a hefty tower, which was made taller in 1857, is joined, and whose lower level may well go back to a mediaeval defensive tower. After the interior renovation in 1959, the inside of the church changed markedly, in three phases. The former eastern gallery was removed, thus making considerably more room inside the church. The whole quire was newly created. The altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...
, the baptismal font, the 18th-century pulpit, the carved confessional
A confessional is a box, cabinet, booth, or stall in which the priest in some Christian churches sits to hear the confessions of penitents. It is the usual venue for the sacrament in the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Churches, but si ...
, believed to have been similar to the one at the Evangelical church in Staudernheim, and the choir bench behind the altar but within the congregation's sight all fell victim to the renovation work. The appointments in the church, with a small pulpit on a sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...
pedestal, a plain altar table and a stand for a baptismal bowl with a brass
Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...
lid, all made of wood, had a rather humble look to them. The same went for the plain positive organ
A positive organ (also positiv organ, positif organ, portable organ, chair organ, or simply positive, positiv, positif, or chair) (from the Latin verb ''ponere'', "to place") is a small, usually one-manual, pipe organ that is built to be more o ...
made by the firm Oberlinger that in the 1960s replaced the imposing organ that had unfortunately become unusable. The Desloch church's plain and cold-looking interior décor motivated Manfred Herzhoff, then the pastor, to contact his friend Vilmo Gibello in the late 1970s. Gibello was a painter from Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, although he now lived in England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. He was born on 23 November 1916 in Occhieppo Superiore
Occhieppo Superiore is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Biella in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about southwest of Biella.
Occhieppo Superiore borders the following municipalities: Biella, ...
in northern Italy's Piedmont
it, Piemontese
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 =
, demographics1_info1 =
, demographics1_title2 ...
region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...
. It was said of him that he bore the love of God within himself. This love for God may well have been the cause of Vilmo Gibello's decision to give a church an artistic makeover as praise to God after having travelled through Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...
and seen the many destroyed churches there. The Reverend Manfred Herzhoff arranged for the room in the Desloch Evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...
church that Vilmo Gibello sought for his work, and also put the municipality in touch with his artist friend. After visiting the church, Gibello produced the pictures in England. The municipal bus was then used to bring these pictures to Desloch, where they were framed and placed. The sequence of the pictures alone defined optical aspects. The three glass windows, which each have an especially impressive effect on the observer according to how the sun shines through them, were made in Desloch at the nearby schoolhouse, which was made available to Vilmo Gibello for the duration of his stay as both a lodging and a studio. On 17 May 1981, the “oil paintings created on wooden tables and the stained glass designed on new indoor windows – united into a cycle of Biblical motifs from Creation
Creation may refer to:
Religion
*''Creatio ex nihilo'', the concept that matter was created by God out of nothing
* Creation myth, a religious story of the origin of the world and how people first came to inhabit it
* Creationism, the belief tha ...
to Revelation
In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities.
Background
Inspiration – such as that bestowed by God on the ...
, the end of the world” were presented to the congregation during a church service. As for the artist himself, he is spending his twilight years at his house near Málaga in southern Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
’s Andalusia
Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The t ...
, and despite his great age, he still creates, making the proceeds of any sale of his artworks available to charitable bodies. The church is nowadays used on Sundays, alternating between regular church services and children’s church services, by the Jeckenbach Evangelical community, which was formed on 1 July 1972 out of the formerly separate communities of Desloch and Jeckenbach. Under the church’s roof, the grey long-eared bat
The grey long-eared bat (''Plecotus austriacus'') is a fairly large European bat. It has distinctive ears, long and with a distinctive fold. It hunts above woodland, often by day, and mostly for moths. In captivity, it has also been recorded t ...
(''Plecotus austriacus''), a species of bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most ...
indigenous to the Nahe region but threatened with extinction
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
(at least locally; it is otherwise a Least Concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...
species), has made its summer home – and its nursery roost – for years.
Wells
Anybody who is willing to walk in the Romans’ footsteps over the Desloch Heights towards Jeckenbach will find the ''Römerbrunnen'', or “Roman Well”. Lying just inside neighbouring Jeckenbach's limits, this is an ancient scoop well complex that served Roman troops as a resting place, as this spot lay right on a Roman road that led across the heights. In the middle of the village itself is found the well at the fire pond. The well was built in the course of laying the sewerage at the square where the former fire pond once lay, sometime in the 20th century. The former fire pond, as the name suggests (it is called the ''Brandweiher'' 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
**Ge ...
, with the same literal meaning), was used on the one hand by the Desloch fire brigade
A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...
as a reservoir in case of fire. On the other hand, it was from days of yore also a central gathering place for the villagers. There is a group in the village that stages the ''Brunnenfest'' (“well festival”) each year.
Sport and leisure
For children, Desloch has a playground with a variety of playground equipment. Anybody wishing to take a hike around Desloch can contact the municipality to arrange a guided hike.
Economy and infrastructure
Transport
Running to Desloch's east is ''Bundesstraße
''Bundesstraße'' (German for "federal highway"), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.
Germany
Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km.
German ''Bundesstraßen'' ...
'' 420. Serving Staudernheim is a railway station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...
on the Nahe Valley Railway
The Nahe Valley Railway (german: Nahetalbahn) is a two-track, partially electrified main line railway in the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, which runs for almost 100 kilometres along the Nahe. It was built by the Rhine-Nahe R ...
( Bingen– Saarbrücken).
Public institutions
Desloch's community centre underwent a conversion in the 1980s. Now, it will soon be undergoing renovation work.Public institutions
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References
External links
Municipality’s official webpage
Private website about Desloch
{{Authority control
Bad Kreuznach (district)
Districts of the Rhine Province