mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...
in western
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 ...
and eastern
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
. It occupies parts of southwestern
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...
, northwestern
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 ...
and the southern area of the
German-speaking Community of Belgium
The German-speaking Community (german: links=no, Deutschsprachige Gemeinschaft, or DG; french: links=no, Communauté germanophone; nl, links=no, Duitstalige Gemeenschap), since 2017 also known as East Belgium (german: links=no, Ostbelgien), is ...
.
The Eifel is part of the
Rhenish Massif
The Rhenish Massif, Rhine Massif or Rhenish Uplands (german: Rheinisches Schiefergebirge, : 'Rhenish Slate Uplands') is a geologic massif in western Germany, eastern Belgium, Luxembourg and northeastern France. It is drained centrally, south to n ...
; within its northern portions lies the
Eifel National Park
The Eifel National Park (german: Nationalpark Eifel) is the 14th national park in Germany and the first in North Rhine-Westphalia. The park was founded in 2004, and is classified as a "national park in development".
Eifel National Park is par ...
.
Geography
Location
The Eifel lies between the cities of
Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
to the north,
Trier
Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...
to the south and
Koblenz
Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary.
Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman mili ...
to the east. It descends in the northeast along a line from Aachen via
Düren
Düren (; ripuarian: Düre) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, between Aachen and Cologne on the river Rur.
History
Roman era
The area of Düren was part of Gallia Belgica, more specifically the territory of the Eburones, a people ...
to
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...
into the
Lower Rhine Bay
The Lower Rhine Bay (german: Niederrheinische Bucht), sometimes called the Lower Rhine Bight,Luttig, G.W. (ed.), ''General Geology of the Federal Republic of Germany'', Nagel u. Obermiller, 1980, pp. 29 and 44. is a lowland plain in the German sta ...
. In the east and south it is bounded by the valleys 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 ...
. To the west it transitions in Belgium and Luxembourg into the geologically related
Ardennes
The Ardennes (french: Ardenne ; nl, Ardennen ; german: Ardennen; wa, Årdene ; lb, Ardennen ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Be ...
and the Luxembourg
Ösling
The Oesling or Ösling () is a region covering the northern part of both the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and Eifelkreis Bitburg-Prüm, within the greater Ardennes area that also covers parts of Belgium and France. The Oesling covers 32% of the terri ...
. In the north it is limited by the Jülich-Zülpicher Börde. Within Germany it lies within the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia; in the
Benelux
The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: B ...
the area of
Eupen
Eupen (, ; ; formerly ) is the capital of German-speaking Community of Belgium and is a city and municipality in the Belgian province of Liège, from the German border (Aachen), from the Dutch border (Maastricht) and from the "High Fens" na ...
,
St. Vith
St. Vith (german: Sankt Vith ; french: Saint-Vith ; lb, Sankt Väit ; wa, Sint-Vit) is a city and municipality of East Belgium located in the Walloon province of Liège. It was named after Saint Vitus.
On January 1, 2006, St. Vith had a total ...
and Luxembourg. Its highest point is the volcanic cone of the
Hohe Acht
The Hohe Acht () is the highest mountain ( ) in the Eifel mountains of Germany. It is located on the boundary between the districts of Landkreis Ahrweiler, Ahrweiler and Landkreis Mayen-Koblenz, Mayen-Koblenz in Rhineland-Palatinate.
Geography an ...
(746.9 m). Originally the Carolingian
Eifelgau The Eifelgau was a Frankish '' gau'' in the region of the present day Limestone Eifel in Germany.
Location and history
The Eifelgau derives its name from the Eifel mountains between the Rhine, Ahr, Rur, Our, Sauer and Moselle rivers. It encomp ...
only covered the smaller region roughly around the sources of the rivers
Ahr
Ahr () is a river in Germany, a left tributary of the Rhine. Its source is at an elevation of approximately above sea level in Blankenheim in the Eifel, in the cellar of a timber-frame house near the castle of Blankenheim. After it crosses fro ...
,
Kyll
The Kyll (), noted by the Roman poet Ausonius as ''Celbis'',Ausonius, ''Mosella'', v. 359 is a river in western Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate), left tributary of the Moselle. It rises in the Eifel mountains, near the b ...
,
Urft
Kall is a municipality in the district of Euskirchen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the Eifel hills, approximatively 20 km south-west of Euskirchen
Euskirchen (; Ripuarian: ''Öskerche'') is a town in N ...
and
Erft
The Erft () is a river in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It flows through the foothills of the Eifel, and joins the Lower Rhine (left tributary). Its origin is near Nettersheim, and its mouth in Neuss-Grimlinghausen south of the Josef Cardinal ...
. Its name was more recently transferred to the entire region.
Topography
The Eifel belongs to that part of the Rhenish Massif whose rolling plateau is categorised as
peneplain
390px, Sketch of a hypothetical peneplain formation after an orogeny.
In geomorphology and geology, a peneplain is a low-relief plain formed by protracted erosion. This is the definition in the broadest of terms, albeit with frequency the usage ...
highland (''Rumpfhochland''), which was formed by the
erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...
of the ancient mountains of the Variscan mountain building phase and subsequent further uplifting. Individual mountain chains, up to 700 m, such as the
Schneifel
The Schneifel is a range of low mountains, up to , in the western part of the Eifel in Germany, near the Belgian border. It runs from Brandscheid near Prüm in a northeasterly direction to Ormont.
The name Schneifel has nothing to do with the Germ ...
and
High Fens
The High Fens (german: Hohes Venn; french: Hautes Fagnes; nl, Hoge Venen), which were declared a nature reserve in 1957, are an upland area, a plateau region in Liège Province, in the east of Belgium and adjoining parts of Germany, between the ...
, run through the western part of the plateau. In the eastern part, in the
High Eifel
The High Eifel (german: Hocheifel (Ost) or ''Hohe Eifel'') forms part of the Eifel Mountains in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
The landscape here between Adenau, Mendig and Daun rises to a height of 747 m. The region is not to be c ...
and
Volcanic Eifel
The Volcanic Eifel or Vulkan Eifel (german: Vulkaneifel) is a region in the Eifel Mountains in Germany that is defined to a large extent by its volcanic geological history. Characteristic of this volcanic field are its typical explosion crater la ...
, individual
cinder cone
A cinder cone (or scoria cone) is a steep conical hill of loose pyroclastic fragments, such as volcanic clinkers, volcanic ash, or scoria that has been built around a volcanic vent. The pyroclastic fragments are formed by explosive eruptions o ...
s and basalt ''
kuppe
A ''Kuppe'' is the term used in German-speaking central Europe for a mountain or hill with a rounded summit that has no rock formation, such as a tor, on it. A range of such hills is called a ''Kuppengebirge''. In geology the term also refers to ...
n'', like the
Hohe Acht
The Hohe Acht () is the highest mountain ( ) in the Eifel mountains of Germany. It is located on the boundary between the districts of Landkreis Ahrweiler, Ahrweiler and Landkreis Mayen-Koblenz, Mayen-Koblenz in Rhineland-Palatinate.
Geography an ...
and the
Ernstberg
The Ernstberg (also Erresberg) southeast of Hinterweiler is, at 698.8 m, the highest of the west Eifel volcanoes and, after the Hohe Acht, the second highest mountain in the Eifel overall. Its summit consists of pyroclastic rocks (''Schweiß ...
, emerged as a result of
volcanicity
Volcanism, vulcanism or volcanicity is the phenomenon of eruption of molten rock (magma) onto the surface of the Earth or a solid-surface planet or moon, where lava, pyroclastics, and volcanic gases erupt through a break in the surface called ...
in the
Tertiary
Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago.
The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...
and
Quaternary
The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...
periods and rise above the undulating countryside.
The rivers draining into 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 ...
Meuse
The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a t ...
, such as the
Our
Our or OUR may refer to:
* The possessive form of "we"
* Our (river), in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany
* Our, Belgium, a village in Belgium
* Our, Jura, a commune in France
* Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), a Politics of Jamaica#Regulator ...
,
Kyll
The Kyll (), noted by the Roman poet Ausonius as ''Celbis'',Ausonius, ''Mosella'', v. 359 is a river in western Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate), left tributary of the Moselle. It rises in the Eifel mountains, near the b ...
,
Ahr
Ahr () is a river in Germany, a left tributary of the Rhine. Its source is at an elevation of approximately above sea level in Blankenheim in the Eifel, in the cellar of a timber-frame house near the castle of Blankenheim. After it crosses fro ...
Rur
The Rur or Roer (german: Rur ; Dutch and li, Roer, , ; french: Rour) is a major river that flows through portions of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. It is a right (eastern) tributary to the Meuse ( nl, links=no, Maas). About 90 perce ...
, have cut deep into the edge of the Eifel and formed larger valleys.
The Eifel covers an area of 5,300 km² and is geographically divided into the North and South Eifel. It is further divided into several natural regional landscapes, some with further subdivisions.
National and nature parks
Since 2004, part of the
North Eifel The North Eifel (german: Nordeifel), the northern part of the Eifel, a low mountain range in Germany and East Belgium, comprises the following six sub-regions:
* Venn Foreland,
*Hohes Venn,
*Rur Eifel,
*Limestone Eifel,
* Our Valley and
*High Eifel. ...
has been designated as the
Eifel National Park
The Eifel National Park (german: Nationalpark Eifel) is the 14th national park in Germany and the first in North Rhine-Westphalia. The park was founded in 2004, and is classified as a "national park in development".
Eifel National Park is par ...
. From north to the south, there are also four nature parks in the Eifel:
Rhineland
The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section.
Term
Historically, the Rhinelands ...
Volcanic Eifel
The Volcanic Eifel or Vulkan Eifel (german: Vulkaneifel) is a region in the Eifel Mountains in Germany that is defined to a large extent by its volcanic geological history. Characteristic of this volcanic field are its typical explosion crater la ...
,
South Eifel The South Eifel (german: Südeifel) refers to that part of the Eifel mountain region around the Bitburg-Prüm district in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
It is bordered to the south and southeast by the river Moselle, to the northwest by ...
, although the first-named park only extends into the northern foothills of the Eifel.
Divisions
Overview
There are several distinct chains within the Eifel.
* The northernmost parts are called
North Eifel The North Eifel (german: Nordeifel), the northern part of the Eifel, a low mountain range in Germany and East Belgium, comprises the following six sub-regions:
* Venn Foreland,
*Hohes Venn,
*Rur Eifel,
*Limestone Eifel,
* Our Valley and
*High Eifel. ...
("Nordeifel") including
Rur Eifel The Rur Eifel (german: Rureifel) lies in the district of Düren in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and is a local recreation area from the regions of Cologne, Aachen, Düsseldorf, Krefeld, Mönchengladbach and Bonn. Its name comes from t ...
the origin of the river Rur,
High Fens
The High Fens (german: Hohes Venn; french: Hautes Fagnes; nl, Hoge Venen), which were declared a nature reserve in 1957, are an upland area, a plateau region in Liège Province, in the east of Belgium and adjoining parts of Germany, between the ...
("Hohes Venn") and the Limestone Eifel (''Kalkeifel'').
* The northeastern part is called
Ahr Hills
The Ahr HillsElkins, T.H. (1972). ''Germany'' (3rd ed.). London: Chatto & Windus, 1972. . (german: Ahrgebirge or ''Ahreifel'' ) are a range of low mountains and hills up to and long in the Eifel region of Germany, which lie roughly southwest of ...
Elkins, T.H. (1972). ''Germany'' (3rd ed.). London: Chatto & Windus, 1972. . (german: Ahrgebirge) and rise north of the
Ahr
Ahr () is a river in Germany, a left tributary of the Rhine. Its source is at an elevation of approximately above sea level in Blankenheim in the Eifel, in the cellar of a timber-frame house near the castle of Blankenheim. After it crosses fro ...
river in the district of
Ahrweiler
Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler () is a spa town in the German Bundesland of Rhineland-Palatinate that serves as the capital of the Ahrweiler district. The A61 motorway connects the town with cities like Cologne and Mainz. Formed by the merging of the ...
.
* South of the Ahr is the
High Eifel
The High Eifel (german: Hocheifel (Ost) or ''Hohe Eifel'') forms part of the Eifel Mountains in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
The landscape here between Adenau, Mendig and Daun rises to a height of 747 m. The region is not to be c ...
(''Hohe Eifel''), with the
Hohe Acht
The Hohe Acht () is the highest mountain ( ) in the Eifel mountains of Germany. It is located on the boundary between the districts of Landkreis Ahrweiler, Ahrweiler and Landkreis Mayen-Koblenz, Mayen-Koblenz in Rhineland-Palatinate.
Geography an ...
(747 m) being the highest mountain of the Eifel.
* In the west, on the
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...
border, the hills are known as
Schneifel
The Schneifel is a range of low mountains, up to , in the western part of the Eifel in Germany, near the Belgian border. It runs from Brandscheid near Prüm in a northeasterly direction to Ormont.
The name Schneifel has nothing to do with the Germ ...
(part of the ''Schnee-Eifel'' or "Snowy Eifel"), rising up to 698 m. Also in the west, by the Belgian and
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
border, the region is known as
Islek The Islek (Aquilania) is a part of the German Eifel region (Rhineland-Palatinate), in the Bitburg-Prüm district next to the Luxembourg and Belgian border.
In Luxembourg the area extends further known as Éislèck or Ösling-Gau, in Belgium locals ...
(Aquilania).
* The southern half of the Eifel is lower. It is cut by several rivers running north-south towards the Moselle. The largest of these is the
Kyll
The Kyll (), noted by the Roman poet Ausonius as ''Celbis'',Ausonius, ''Mosella'', v. 359 is a river in western Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate), left tributary of the Moselle. It rises in the Eifel mountains, near the b ...
, and the hills on either side of this river are called the
Kyllwald
The Kyll (), noted by the Roman poet Ausonius as ''Celbis'',Ausonius, ''Mosella'', v. 359 is a river in western Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate), left tributary of the Moselle. It rises in the Eifel mountains, near the b ...
.
* In the south the Eifel is concluded by the
Voreifel
The Voreifel ("Fore-Eifel" or "Pre-Eifel") is the name of a settlement area in the southern part of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a term that grew out of the local speech.
The region of the Voreifel includes the towns and vil ...
above the Moselle.
Since 2004, about 110 km² of the Eifel within the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia have been protected as the
Eifel National Park
The Eifel National Park (german: Nationalpark Eifel) is the 14th national park in Germany and the first in North Rhine-Westphalia. The park was founded in 2004, and is classified as a "national park in development".
Eifel National Park is par ...
nature reserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...
.
Natural regional divisions
Up to 1960, the German part of the Eifel, which belonged to the natural region of the
Rhenish Massif
The Rhenish Massif, Rhine Massif or Rhenish Uplands (german: Rheinisches Schiefergebirge, : 'Rhenish Slate Uplands') is a geologic massif in western Germany, eastern Belgium, Luxembourg and northeastern France. It is drained centrally, south to n ...
, was, according to the
Handbook of the Natural Region Divisions of Germany
The ''Handbook of Natural Region Divisions of Germany'' (german: Handbuch der naturräumlichen Gliederung Deutschlands) was a book series resulting from a project by the former German Federal Institute for Regional Studies ('' Bundesanstalt für La ...
, divided into three major unit (i.e. two-digit) groups and these were subdivided into (three-digit) major natural units.E. Meynen, J. Schmithüsen et al.: ''
Handbook of the Natural Region Divisions of Germany
The ''Handbook of Natural Region Divisions of Germany'' (german: Handbuch der naturräumlichen Gliederung Deutschlands) was a book series resulting from a project by the former German Federal Institute for Regional Studies ('' Bundesanstalt für La ...
'' Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde, Remagen/Bad Godesberg, 1953–1962 (9 issued in 8 books, 1:1,000,000 scale map with major units, 1960). These divisions were subsequently refined in the ''individual map sheets'' ''Trier/Mettendorf'', ''Cochem'' (both 1974) and ''Cologne/Aachen'' (1978) as follows;Ewald Glässer: ''Geographische Landesaufnahme: the natural regional units on map sheet 122/123 Cologne/Aachen.'' Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde, Bad Godesberg, 1978. →&nbs online map (pdf; 8.7 MB)Heinz Fischer, Richard Graafen: ''Geographische Landesaufnahme: the natural regional units on map sheet 136/137 Cochem.'' Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde, Bad Godesberg, 1974. →&nbs online map (pdf; 5.6 MB)Otmar Werle: ''Geographische Landesaufnahme: the natural regional units on map sheet 148/149 Trier/Mettendorf.'' Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde, Bad Godesberg, 1974. →&nbs online map (pdf; 4.5 MB) for the most detailed natural region divisions in Rhineland-Palatinate, fact files were produced by the state information system of the conservation administration (LANDIS):
The
BfN
The German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (german: Bundesamt für Naturschutz, ''BfN'') is the German government's scientific authority with responsibility for national and international nature conservation. BfN is one of the government' ...
groups the 3 (two-digit) major unit groups under the combined group designated ''D45''.
Mountains and hills
Apart from its valleys, the Eifel is a gently rolling plateau from which elongated mountain ridges and individual mountains rise. The majority of these summits do not attain a great height above the surrounding terrain. Several, however, like the
Schwarzer Mann
The Schwarzer Mann ("Black Man") is a mountain in the western part of the Eifel which is known as Schnee Eifel. With a height of 697.8 meters it is the highest peak in the Schnee Eifel and third highest in the Eifel.
Geography Location
The '' ...
in the
Schnee-Eifel
The Schnee Eifel is a heavily wooded landscape in Germany's Central Uplands, up to , that forms part of the western Eifel in the area of the German-Belgian border. The name may have been derived in the 19th century from the Schneifel chain of ...
, stand out from a long way off as long, forested ridges or clearly isolated mountaintops.
The highest mountain in the whole Eifel is the
Hohe Acht
The Hohe Acht () is the highest mountain ( ) in the Eifel mountains of Germany. It is located on the boundary between the districts of Landkreis Ahrweiler, Ahrweiler and Landkreis Mayen-Koblenz, Mayen-Koblenz in Rhineland-Palatinate.
Geography an ...
at 746.9 m. It is the only Eifel summit above 700 m. However, many peaks, mountain ridges and large regions, such as the ''Zitterwald'' reach heights of over 600 m. These include two dozen peaks with good all-round views, of which many have an
observation tower
An observation tower is a structure used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision to conduct long distance observations. Observation towers are usually at least tall and are made from stone, iron, an ...
. From north to south they are: the Michelsberg, Häuschen and Teufelsley in the north; the Adert, Hohe Acht and Raßberg in the northeast; the Hochkel, Nerotherkopf, Dietzenley and ruins of the
Kasselburg
The Kasselburg is a ruined hill castle on a 490-metre-high basalt massif in Pelm near Gerolstein in the county of Vulkaneifel in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Description
The symbol of the Kasselburg is its 37-metre-high, double ...
in the central area; the Prümer Kalvarienberg, Hartkopf and Prümer Kopf in the east, the Steineberg and Mäuseberg near Daun, the Hochsimmer and Scheidkopf near Mayen; the Eickelslay and Absberg in the southeast; and the Krautscheid and Hohe Kuppe in the southwest.
The mountains and hills of the Eifel include the following (in order of height in metres above
sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...
):
For a list of these and other Eifel mountains and hills see the
List of mountains and hills of the Eifel
This List of mountains and hills in the Eifel contains a selection of mountains (2000 feet or higherThere is no universally agreed definition of a mountain, but Whittow (1984) suggests 2,000 feet or ~600 metres as common) and hills (below 2000 feet ...
.
Many of these prominent points are linked by the Eifel-Ardennes Green Route, which crosses the east and south of the region, the
German Volcano Route
The German Volcano Route or, less commonly, German Volcano Road (german: Deutsche Vulkanstraße) is a 280-kilometre-long tourist route from the River Rhine to the mountains of the High Eifel. It links 39 sites within the Geopark Vulkanland Eifel ...
, the
German Wildlife Route The German Wildlife Route (german: Deutsche Wildstraße) runs through the Eifel mountains.
It was opened on 26 July 1970. Following a 180-kilometre-long circular route from the red deer park in the town of Daun, it runs past various other wildlif ...
and the South Eifel Holiday Route.
Water bodies
Due to its moist and mild Atlantic climate, the Eifel is bisected by numerous streams and small rivers. Impoundment of these streams, especially in the North Eifel has led to the creation of very large
reservoir
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
, such as the Rursee, which is the second largest in Germany by volume, and the Urftsee.
A feature of the Eifel are its natural lakes of volcanic origin. The largest, the
Laacher See
Laacher See (), also known as Lake Laach or Laach Lake, is a volcanic caldera lake with a diameter of in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, about northwest of Koblenz, south of Bonn, and west of Andernach. It is in the Eifel mountain range, and ...
, is a collapsed, water-filled
caldera
A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...
, whilst the many
maar
A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot lava or magma). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow ...
s are water-filled volcanic eruption bowls. The largest maar lake is the
Pulvermaar
The Pulvermaar is a water-filled maar that lies southeast of Daun in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Together with the Holzmaar it is one of the Gillenfeld maars.
Description
A tuff site in the bog formations of the neighbouring Stro ...
. The
Meerfelder Maar
The Meerfelder Maar is a maar by the village of Meerfeld not far from the town of Manderscheid in the Eifel in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Formation
The maar is at least 30,000 years old and, according to the more recent i ...
has an even bigger basin, but three-quarters of it has silted up.
Rivers and streams
The many rivers and streams of the Eifel drain into the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
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 ...
) and the
Meuse
The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a t ...
(with its tributaries, the
Rur
The Rur or Roer (german: Rur ; Dutch and li, Roer, , ; french: Rour) is a major river that flows through portions of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. It is a right (eastern) tributary to the Meuse ( nl, links=no, Maas). About 90 perce ...
and
Ourthe
The Ourthe (; Walloon: ''Aiwe d' Oûte'') is a long river in the Ardennes in Wallonia (Belgium). It is a right tributary to the river Meuse. The Ourthe is formed at the confluence of the ''Ourthe Occidentale'' (Western Ourthe) and the ''Ourthe ...
). The rivers and streams within the mountain range, together with their larger tributaries, are as follows:
Lakes and reservoirs
Reservoirs
*
Bitburg Reservoir
The Bitburg Reservoir (german: Stausee Bitburg) is a flood retention basin on the River Prüm in Biersdorf am See and Wiersdorf in the Eifel mountains of Germany. It is about 12 kilometres northwest of the town of Bitburg and not far from th ...
*
Weilerbach Reservoir
Weilerbach is a municipality in the district of Kaiserslautern, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated approximately 11 km north-west of Kaiserslautern.
Weilerbach is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality" ...
Kronenburg Reservoir Kronenburg or Kronenbourg may refer to:
Places
* Kronenburg, a town subsumed into Dahlem, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
* Kronenburg, Suriname, a village in Suriname
* Loenen-Kronenburg, a former Dutch municipality
Other uses
* Kronenbourg ...
Olef Reservoir
The Olef is a river in Liège, Belgium and North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is long and a left-hand tributary of the Urft. It flows through the Eifel Mountains in the western part of the Germany and eastern part of Belgium.
Geography
The O ...
*
Gileppe Reservoir
The Gileppe Dam (French ''Barrage de la Gileppe'') is an arch-gravity dam on the Gileppe river in Jalhay, Liège province, Wallonia, Belgium. It was built in the 1870s to supply water for the wool industry in nearby Verviers. The monumental structu ...
*
Rur Reservoir
The Rur or Roer (german: Rur ; Dutch and li, Roer, , ; french: Rour) is a major river that flows through portions of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. It is a right (eastern) tributary to the Meuse ( nl, links=no, Maas). About 90 perce ...
*
Urft Reservoir
The Urft Dam (german: Urfttalsperre) is a 58.50 metre high dam in the southwestern part of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It was built in 1905. The dam impounds the River Urft in the district of Euskirchen to create the Urft Reser ...
*
Wehebach Reservoir
Wehebach is a river of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It flows into the Inde in Inden.
See also
*List of rivers of North Rhine-Westphalia
A list of rivers of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany:
A
* Aa, left tributary of the Möhne
* Aa, lef ...
*
Weser Reservoir
Lake Eupen is an artificial lake near Eupen in East Belgium, not far from High Fens. The lake is created by a dam which was built on the river Vesdre in 1938 but inaugurated only in 1950 by Prince Charles of Belgium. The area has a German-speaking ...
(
Weser
The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports of Bre ...
, near
Eupen
Eupen (, ; ; formerly ) is the capital of German-speaking Community of Belgium and is a city and municipality in the Belgian province of Liège, from the German border (Aachen), from the Dutch border (Maastricht) and from the "High Fens" na ...
Perlenbach Reservoir Perlenbach may refer to:
*Perlenbach (Rur), a river of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, tributary of the Rur
**Perlenbach Valley, the valley of the Perlenbach
**Perlenbach-Fuhrtsbachtal
The Perlenbach-Fuhrtsbachtal nature reserve is a 331 hectar ...
*
Kall Reservoir
KALL (700 AM) is a sports radio station in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area licensed to North Salt Lake, Utah, though in station identifications and the FCC database, the station is listed as being licensed to "North Salt Lake City". The ...
*
Lake Bütgenbach
Lake Bütgenbach (german: Bütgenbacher See; french: Lac de Butgenbach) is an artificial lake created by the damming of the Warche river in 1932. It is located in East Belgium near the village of Bütgenbach in Ardennes (High Fens), Belgium. The ...
*
Lake Robertville
Lake Robertville is an artificial lake located in Wallonia near the city of Malmedy in Belgium. The water volume is 8,000,000 m³ and the area is 0,62 km². The lake is located in the High Fens park. The dam on the river Warche was built in ...
Laacher See
Laacher See (), also known as Lake Laach or Laach Lake, is a volcanic caldera lake with a diameter of in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, about northwest of Koblenz, south of Bonn, and west of Andernach. It is in the Eifel mountain range, and ...
*
Pulvermaar
The Pulvermaar is a water-filled maar that lies southeast of Daun in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Together with the Holzmaar it is one of the Gillenfeld maars.
Description
A tuff site in the bog formations of the neighbouring Stro ...
*
Schalkenmehrener Maar
The Schalkenmehrener Maar is a maar roughly 3 kilometres southeast of the town of Daun in the Eifel in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
It is one of the Daun Maars (''Dauner Maare'') or Daun Maar Group and is a double maar, comprising ...
*
Gemündener Maar
The Gemündener Maar is the northernmost of the three Daun Maars (''Dauner Maare''). It lies in the immediate vicinity of the village of Gemünden and ca. 1.5 km south of Daun in the Eifel and in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
The ma ...
*
Holzmaar
The Holzmaar lies in the Volcanic Eifel in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate almost halfway between Gillenfeld (2.5 km away to the southwest) and Eckfeld. The maar has an area of about , a diameter of and a depth of and lies within ...
*
Meerfelder Maar
The Meerfelder Maar is a maar by the village of Meerfeld not far from the town of Manderscheid in the Eifel in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Formation
The maar is at least 30,000 years old and, according to the more recent i ...
*
Weinfelder Maar __NOTOC__
The Weinfelder Maar, also called the Totenmaar, is a maar around two kilometres southeast of the town of Daun in the Eifel Mountains, in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Geography
The maar lake was formed about 10,500 years ...
or Totenmaar
*
Ulmener Maar
The Ulmener Maar is a maar in the Eifel mountains of Germany in the immediate vicinity of the town of Ulmen (Eifel), Ulmen in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The lake is up to 37 metres deep and is surrounded by an embankment of tuff with an av ...
*
Eichholzmaar
The Eichholzmaar is one of the smaller maars in the Volcanic Eifel and lies on the ''Landstraße'' between Steffeln and Duppach. It has a diameter of c. 120 metres. Its greatest depth is 3 metres.
The circular shape of the bowl of the maar can ...
*
Windsborn Crater Lake
Windsborn Crater Lake (german: Windsborn-Kratersee) is a water-filled volcanic crater in the Eifel mountains in Germany. It is located near Bettenfeld in the county of Bernkastel-Wittlich and in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and belongs to a ...
Geology
Despite the interesting geology of the Eifel region, only three comprehensive geological accounts have been produced. In 1822, Johann Steiniger published the first geological map of the area and, in 1853, the ''Geognostische Beschreibung der Eifel''. In 1915
Otto Follmann Otto Follmann (10 December 1856 in Landscheid – 11 June 1926 in Koblenz, Germany) was a German geologist, paleontologist and educator.
Life and work
Follmann's father, Hilarius Follmann, was a teacher in the rural village of Landscheid in the E ...
published a new account, adding to the extent of scientific understanding at that time, the ''Abriss der Geologie der Eifel'' ("Abstract of the geology of the Eifel region". In 1986, Wilhelm Meyer finally published the volume, ''Geologie der Eifel'' ("Geology of the Eifel"), whose fourth, revised, edition is now regarded as the standard work on the geology of the Eifel.
The Eifel and its western continuation into Belgium, the
Ardennes
The Ardennes (french: Ardenne ; nl, Ardennen ; german: Ardennen; wa, Årdene ; lb, Ardennen ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Be ...
, are the remains of a
Variscan
The Variscan or Hercynian orogeny was a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica (Laurussia) and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea.
Nomenclature
The name ''Variscan'', comes f ...
truncated upland
A truncated upland, truncated highland or bevelled upland (german: Rumpfgebirge) is the heavily eroded remains of a fold mountain range, often from an early period in earth history.Murawski, H., Meyer, W. (2004): ''Geologisches Wörterbuch.'' Spekt ...
, much of it 400 million years old, that is part of the
Rhenish Massif
The Rhenish Massif, Rhine Massif or Rhenish Uplands (german: Rheinisches Schiefergebirge, : 'Rhenish Slate Uplands') is a geologic massif in western Germany, eastern Belgium, Luxembourg and northeastern France. It is drained centrally, south to n ...
(''Rheinisches Schiefergebirge''). In the area of the Stavelot-Venn Saddle (
Hohes Venn
The High Fens (german: Hohes Venn; french: Hautes Fagnes; nl, Hoge Venen), which were declared a nature reserve in 1957, are an upland area, a plateau region in Liège Province, in the east of Belgium and adjoining parts of Germany, between the ...
) are the oldest layers of rock, which originate from the
Cambrian
The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million ...
and are around 550 million years old. The Eifel is one of the few volcanically active areas of Germany, as is evinced by numerous discharges of carbonic acid, for example into the
Laacher See
Laacher See (), also known as Lake Laach or Laach Lake, is a volcanic caldera lake with a diameter of in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, about northwest of Koblenz, south of Bonn, and west of Andernach. It is in the Eifel mountain range, and ...
. The last eruptions, which gave rise to the most recent
maar
A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot lava or magma). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow ...
s, occurred about 11,000 years ago.
Basement
The
basement
A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, ...
in the Eifel, as in the other regions of the
Rhenish Massif
The Rhenish Massif, Rhine Massif or Rhenish Uplands (german: Rheinisches Schiefergebirge, : 'Rhenish Slate Uplands') is a geologic massif in western Germany, eastern Belgium, Luxembourg and northeastern France. It is drained centrally, south to n ...
, consists mainly of
Devonian
The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...
slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
s,
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) ...
s and
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
s, laid down in an ocean south of the Old Red Continent and folded and overthrust in the Variscan orogeny. Only on the northern edge of the Eifel, in the High Fens and its environs, do older rocks from the
Cambrian
The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million ...
and
Ordovician
The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start ...
outcrop. Rocks of the
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...
, which followed the Devonian, do not occur in the Eifel itself, but lie along its northern boundary in the region of
Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
.
The Devonian rocks were deposited in an
oceanic basin
In hydrology, an oceanic basin (or ocean basin) is anywhere on Earth that is covered by seawater. Geologically, ocean basins are large geologic basins that are below sea level.
Most commonly the ocean is divided into basins foll ...
, in which erosion debris was washed in from the north from the great north continent of
Euramerica
Laurasia () was the more northern of two large landmasses that formed part of the Pangaea supercontinent from around ( Mya), the other being Gondwana. It separated from Gondwana (beginning in the late Triassic period) during the breakup of Pan ...
Silurian
The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozo ...
. From the end of the
Lower Carboniferous
Lower may refer to:
*Lower (surname)
*Lower Township, New Jersey
*Lower Receiver (firearms)
*Lower Wick
Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is situated about five miles south west of Dursley, eight ...
the sea basin was caught up in the
Variscan mountain building
The Variscan or Hercynian orogeny was a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica (Laurussia) and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea.
Nomenclature
The name ''Variscan'', come ...
process, pushed together and uplifted, and thus formed part of the Variscan mountain system that, in the Upper Carboniferous and
early Permian 01 or '01 may refer to:
* The year 2001, or any year ending with 01
* The month of January
* 1 (number)
Music
* '01 (Richard Müller album), 01'' (Richard Müller album), 2001
* 01 (Son of Dave album), ''01'' (Son of Dave album), 2000
* 01 (Urban ...
, covered large areas of Europe.
The Eifel geological structures like main folds and overthrusts can be traced in a SW-NE direction far beyond the Rhine valley.
Platform
Since that folding, the Eifel has largely remained part of the mainland. During the
Permian
The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...
, after the end of the uplifting, the Variscan mountains were heavily eroded, leaving only a relatively flat, truncated upland. For a short time, and only partially, this was later flooded by the sea.
Depositions from the
Triassic
The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...
and
Jurassic
The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...
periods have survived in the so-called Eifel North-South Zone. This is a region of
subsidence
Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope move ...
, which runs from the
Trier
Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...
Bay in the south to the
Lower Rhine Bay
The Lower Rhine Bay (german: Niederrheinische Bucht), sometimes called the Lower Rhine Bight,Luttig, G.W. (ed.), ''General Geology of the Federal Republic of Germany'', Nagel u. Obermiller, 1980, pp. 29 and 44. is a lowland plain in the German sta ...
in the north. Through this zone existed at one time a sea link between north and south Central Europe. The remains of the sediments laid down at this time have survived to a greater extent in the ''Maubach-
Mechernich
Mechernich (, ksh, Meischernisch) is a town in the district of Euskirchen in the south of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the "Naturpark Nordeifel" in the Eifel hills, approx. 15 km south-west of Euskirchen a ...
Triassic Triangle'' in the north and in the ''Oberbettingen Triassic Graben'' in the area around
Hillesheim
Hillesheim () is the third largest town in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It was the seat of the former ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Hillesheim.
Geography
Location
The town lies almost in the middle, halfway between C ...
and
Oberbettingen
Oberbettingen is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Gerolstein, ...
.
In the Upper
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
and during the
Tertiary
Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago.
The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...
, the Eifel was inundated mainly from the north. Remains of Cretaceous rocks were discovered on the High Fens. Scattered patches of
Oligocene
The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...
deposits can be found there and in the Western Eifel.
From the
Pliocene
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58last ice age can be traced in detail in the Eifel region.
Volcanism
Volcanic activity
Volcanism, vulcanism or volcanicity is the phenomenon of eruption of molten rock (magma) onto the surface of the Earth or a solid-surface planet or moon, where lava, pyroclastics, and volcanic gases erupt through a break in the surface called a ...
in the Eifel began 50 millions of years ago and continues into the geological present. It created numerous volcanic structures, lava flows and extensive layers of volcanic
ejecta
Ejecta (from the Latin: "things thrown out", singular ejectum) are particles ejected from an area. In volcanology, in particular, the term refers to particles including pyroclastic materials (tephra) that came out of a volcanic explosion and magma ...
made of
tuff
Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock cont ...
and
pumice
Pumice (), called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of highly vesicular rough-textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light-colored. Scoria is another vesicular vol ...
, which have formed the basis of a significant mining activity for the extraction of building materials since Roman times. Some of the hills are volcanic vents. The peculiar circle-shaped lakes (
maar
A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot lava or magma). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow ...
s) of the volcanic regions formed in volcanic craters.
The first volcanic eruptions took place in the early
Tertiary
Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago.
The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...
centred in the High Eifel and even before the volcanic activity of the
Siebengebirge
The (), occasionally Sieben Mountains or Seven Mountains, are a hill range of the German Central Uplands on the east bank of the Middle Rhine, southeast of Bonn.
Description
The area, located in the municipalities of Bad Honnef and Königswin ...
and
Westerwald
The Westerwald (; literally 'Western forest') is a low mountain range on the right bank of the river Rhine in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a part of the Rhenish Massif ( or Rhenish ...
. Volcanism in the High Eifel came to an end about 15 to 20 million years ago, at the same time as that of the Siebengebirge.
Volcanism in the western and eastern Eifel is, in contrast to that of the High Eifel, much more recent than that of the Siebengebirge and Westerwald. It began in the West Eifel region of Daun, Hillesheim and Gerolstein about 700,000 years ago and created a chain of ash volcanoes,
cinder cone
A cinder cone (or scoria cone) is a steep conical hill of loose pyroclastic fragments, such as volcanic clinkers, volcanic ash, or scoria that has been built around a volcanic vent. The pyroclastic fragments are formed by explosive eruptions o ...
s,
maar
A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot lava or magma). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow ...
s and craters running in a chain from northwest to southeast. The youngest maars are only slightly older than 11,000 years.
In the eastern Eifel, volcanism began about 500,000 years ago in the area of today's Laacher See; it extended to the Neuwied Basin to the south, and crossed the Rhine to the east. The quantity of
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
lavas, pumice tuffs and ash tuffs produced by the volcanoes was far greater here than in the western Eifel. East Eifel volcanism came to an end with a huge eruption, as a result of which the
magma chamber
A magma chamber is a large pool of liquid rock beneath the surface of the Earth. The molten rock, or magma, in such a chamber is less dense than the surrounding country rock, which produces buoyant forces on the magma that tend to drive it upw ...
emptied and collapsed, creating a
caldera
A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...
. Today's
Laacher See
Laacher See (), also known as Lake Laach or Laach Lake, is a volcanic caldera lake with a diameter of in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, about northwest of Koblenz, south of Bonn, and west of Andernach. It is in the Eifel mountain range, and ...
formed in the caldera. The ashes from the eruption can be detected today in deposits all over Central Europe and as far as
Bornholm
Bornholm () is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea, to the east of the rest of Denmark, south of Sweden, northeast of Germany and north of Poland.
Strategically located, Bornholm has been fought over for centuries. It has usually been ruled by ...
as a thin layer.
Volcanism is caused by
magma
Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also been discovered on other terrestrial planets and some natural sa ...
, which either rises directly to the earth's surface from the upper regions of the
earth's mantle
Earth's mantle is a layer of silicate rock between the crust and the outer core. It has a mass of 4.01 × 1024 kg and thus makes up 67% of the mass of Earth. It has a thickness of making up about 84% of Earth's volume. It is predominantly sol ...
or, in the majority of cases, gathers in a magma chamber, several tens of kilometres deep, at the base of the
earth's crust
Earth's crust is Earth's thin outer shell of rock, referring to less than 1% of Earth's radius and volume. It is the top component of the lithosphere, a division of Earth's layers that includes the crust and the upper part of the mantle. The ...
, from which magma rises at irregular intervals and causes volcanic eruptions. Volcanism in the Eifel is thought to be partly caused by the
Eifel hotspot
The Eifel hotspot is a volcanic hotspot in Western Germany. It is one of many recent volcanic formations in and around the Eifel mountain range and includes the volcanic field known as Volcanic Eifel. Although the last eruption occurred around 1 ...
, a place where hot material from deep in the
mantle
A mantle is a piece of clothing, a type of cloak. Several other meanings are derived from that.
Mantle may refer to:
*Mantle (clothing), a cloak-like garment worn mainly by women as fashionable outerwear
**Mantle (vesture), an Eastern Orthodox ve ...
rises to the surface, and partly by melt-ascent at deep
fracture
Fracture is the separation of an object or material into two or more pieces under the action of stress. The fracture of a solid usually occurs due to the development of certain displacement discontinuity surfaces within the solid. If a displa ...
s in the Earth's crust. Research has shown that the volcanism is still active; the Eifel region is rising by 1–2 mm per year and there are escaping gases, for example,
carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...
(CO2) in the
Laacher See
Laacher See (), also known as Lake Laach or Laach Lake, is a volcanic caldera lake with a diameter of in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, about northwest of Koblenz, south of Bonn, and west of Andernach. It is in the Eifel mountain range, and ...
.
Climate
The Eifel is in the Atlantic climate zone with its relatively high precipitation; winters that are moderately cold and long with periods of snow; and summers that are often humid and cool. The prevailing
wind
Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...
is west/southwest. A relatively dry and milder climate prevails in the wind and rain shadow of the High Eifel. Cold air from Siberia in the higher elevations of the Eifel has less of an impact on weather conditions, as the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean to the Eifel brings milder sea air to the Eifel even in winter.
Looking at the long-term averages, even the
Snow Eifel
The Schnee Eifel is a heavily wooded landscape in Germany's Central Uplands, up to , that forms part of the western Eifel in the area of the German-Belgian border. The name may have been derived in the 19th century from the Schneifel chain of ...
only has snow cover for nine consecutive days in winter, as there are no longer lasting cold spells. However, there is an average of 70 days of full snow cover because the frequency of snow at higher elevations is relatively high (for comparison:
Bitburg
Bitburg (; french: Bitbourg; lb, Béibreg) is a city in Germany, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate approximately 25 km (16 mi.) northwest of Trier and 50 km (31 mi.) northeast of Luxembourg city. The American Spangdahlem ...
35 days,
Maifeld
The Maifeld is a landscape (a natural region sub-unit) of the Middle Rhine Basin on its western perimeter with the Eifel mountains, southwest of the city of Koblenz. It is known for its gently rolling hills.
Location
The plain, which lies at a ...
30 days), but the level of snowfall varies from year to year. Snow heights vary on average between 15 cm and 60 cm. The humid Atlantic climate can cause extreme variations though: on 2 March 1987 there was 227 centimetres of snow in the Eifel on the
Weißer Stein
Weißer Stein is the name of a 548-metre (1,798 ft) high hill in the Odenwald, north of Heidelberg and east of Dossenheim.
On Weißer Stein is a 20 m tall lookout tower. It was built in 1906 by the members of the Odenwald club. In good weath ...
.
The mean temperature in the coldest month (January) is -1.5 °C at high elevations, +1.5 to 2 °C in the mountain foreland. There is an average of 110 days of frost, with temperatures below 0 °C in the highlands and an average of 30 to 40 'ice days' when temperatures do not rise above 0 °C. The warmest month (July) only has an average temperature of 14 °C in the higher areas. The level of precipitation decreases significantly from west to east as a result of the
rain shadow
A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side.
Evaporated moisture from water bodies (such as oceans and large lakes) is carrie ...
of the highlands. So the
Schneifel
The Schneifel is a range of low mountains, up to , in the western part of the Eifel in Germany, near the Belgian border. It runs from Brandscheid near Prüm in a northeasterly direction to Ormont.
The name Schneifel has nothing to do with the Germ ...
receives an average of 1,200 mm of precipitation (
High Fens
The High Fens (german: Hohes Venn; french: Hautes Fagnes; nl, Hoge Venen), which were declared a nature reserve in 1957, are an upland area, a plateau region in Liège Province, in the east of Belgium and adjoining parts of Germany, between the ...
: 1,400 mm to 1,500 mm), while in Maifeld the average rainfall is only 600 mm.
The bioclimatic conditions in the Eifel are favourable. Heat stress and air humidity are rarely present in summer. The Eifel has a distinctly stimulating climate; the high elevations being considered as highly stimulating. The Eifel is a clean air area with very low air-chemical pollution. On hot sunny days, there is sometimes an increased concentration of ground-level ozone.
Here are a couple of weather station examples for settlements in the Eifel.
History
Etymology
Usage in the course of history
At the time of the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
the whole mountain range between the rivers Rhine, Meuse and Moselle was called ''Arduenna silva'' ("high forest"). The oldest record of the name "Eifel" does not occur until 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 ...
. Following the collapse of the
West Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period fr ...
, the
Frankish Empire
Francia, also called the Kingdom of the Franks ( la, Regnum Francorum), Frankish Kingdom, Frankland or Frankish Empire ( la, Imperium Francorum), was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks dur ...
emerged in the territories of present-day France and western Germany. This was divided into ''gaue'' (Lat.: '' pagi''). One of them, the
Eifelgau The Eifelgau was a Frankish '' gau'' in the region of the present day Limestone Eifel in Germany.
Location and history
The Eifelgau derives its name from the Eifel mountains between the Rhine, Ahr, Rur, Our, Sauer and Moselle rivers. It encomp ...
, covered the source regions of the rivers
Erft
The Erft () is a river in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It flows through the foothills of the Eifel, and joins the Lower Rhine (left tributary). Its origin is near Nettersheim, and its mouth in Neuss-Grimlinghausen south of the Josef Cardinal ...
,
Urft
Kall is a municipality in the district of Euskirchen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the Eifel hills, approximatively 20 km south-west of Euskirchen
Euskirchen (; Ripuarian: ''Öskerche'') is a town in N ...
,
Kyll
The Kyll (), noted by the Roman poet Ausonius as ''Celbis'',Ausonius, ''Mosella'', v. 359 is a river in western Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate), left tributary of the Moselle. It rises in the Eifel mountains, near the b ...
and
Ahr
Ahr () is a river in Germany, a left tributary of the Rhine. Its source is at an elevation of approximately above sea level in Blankenheim in the Eifel, in the cellar of a timber-frame house near the castle of Blankenheim. After it crosses fro ...
, i.e. predominantly the northern and northwestern foothills of the present Eifel in the eastern half of the ''Arduenna silva'' of the Romans. West of the Eifelgau lay the Ardennengau, whose name was derived from ''Arduenna silva''.
Following the end of the Frankish Empire the name of the old ''gaue'' continued to be used in popular language. Over the centuries an ever-larger region was referred to as the Eifel. Today the whole German-speaking part of the range between the Rhine, Meuse and Moselle is called the Eifel (including several areas outside of Germany, see the →
Belgian Eifel
The Belgian Eifel (german: belgische Eifel, Luxembourgish: ''Belscher Äifel'') in the German-speaking part of Belgium generally refers to the southern part of the German-speaking community which forms the Canton of Sankt Vith (German: ''Kanton S ...
), while the French-speaking part in Belgium and France is called the
Ardennes
The Ardennes (french: Ardenne ; nl, Ardennen ; german: Ardennen; wa, Årdene ; lb, Ardennen ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Be ...
Müller/Schnetz (1937) believe that an ''-n-'' has dropped out between the
diphthong
A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech o ...
and the
syllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological "bu ...
, ''-fel''. The resulting root form ''Anfil'' or ''Anfali'' would then mean an "area that is not so level". ''An''- would then be a prefix and ''-fali'', which is related to the Slavic ''polje'' ("field"), means "plain" or "heath".
W. Kaspers (1938) deduces from the surviving form the root form ''aku-ella, akwella'' and points to its development into the name "Eifel" in the following sequence: ''aquila'' > > ''aifla'' > ''eifla'' > ''Eifel''. ''Akuella'' derives from the pre-German and means "land with summits" or "land with peaks".
Both propositions, like several others, are highly contentious. The most convincing proposal is that of Heinrich Dittmaier (1961). Dittmaier initially derives it from the Germanic ''Ai-fil''. The second component corresponds to ''Ville'', which is the name of a ridge between the Erft, Swist and Rhine today. The variants ''Vele'', ''Vile'' and ''Viele'' may often be found in place names such as ''Veler Weg'' or ''Veler Pfad''. Unlike the modern word ''Ville'' the fricative consonant is hard in "Eifel". Responsible for that was probably a sound between ''ai-'' and ''-fil'', which was assimilated by the ''f'', possibly ''f'', ''k'', ''ch'', ''d'', ''t''. Dittmaier believes the missing sound was a ''k'' or ''ch'', whereby "Eifel" originally went back to ''Aik-fil''. ''Aik/Aich'' is also a name for oak (''Eiche'') and qualifies the root word ''ville''. On the basis that it was covered by oak trees, the Eifel (= ''Eich''-''Ville'') could thus be distinguished from the other
Ville
''Ville'' or "town", but its meaning in the Middle Ages was "farm" (from Gallo-Romance VILLA < Latin ''
, a name still used today, on the Erft. However, the original, historical and even current vegetation of the present day ''Ville'' is dominated by oak mixed forest.
The meaning of "Ville" is also disputed. Dittmaier gives three possible explanations: "marshy region", "plain, heath" and "heathland", which would all bring geology and vegetation into harmony.
Another proposal sees the name as even older and possibly of Celtic origin. Near Cologne, an altar was found, which was dedicated to ''
Matronae Aufaniae
The Matronae Aufaniae (or Matres Aufaniae or Deae Aufaniae) are Germanic Matronae attested on Roman era altars. The ''Aufaniae'' are one of the most frequently recorded names of matronae on record.Simek (2007:23).
Dating to 164-135 CE and consi ...
'' Celtic goddesses which were honoured by flowing water. The thesis that the name "Eifel" was derived from this source is not conclusive, but it is persuasive; Eifel would then mean "land of water" or "watery mountains".
Settlement history
By the
Old Stone Age
The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tool ...
, the Eifel was inhabited by people:
Neanderthals
Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an Extinction, extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ag ...
and
modern humans
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, an ...
Gerolstein
Gerolstein () is a town in the Vulkaneifel district of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Gerolstein is a local municipality of the ''Verbandsgemeinde Gerolstein''. It has been approved as a '' Luftkurort'' (spa town).
History
As early as the Ston ...
. The artifacts from the Magdalena Cave also show that the Eifel was visited by humans even during the height of the last ice age.
Excavations show that iron was already being worked by the
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
" Hunsrück-Eifel culture" to which the Eifel gives its name. The first smelting hut north of the Alps was built during the
La Tène period
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...
in the 5th century BC in
Hillesheim
Hillesheim () is the third largest town in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It was the seat of the former ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Hillesheim.
Geography
Location
The town lies almost in the middle, halfway between C ...
. Near
Bitburg
Bitburg (; french: Bitbourg; lb, Béibreg) is a city in Germany, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate approximately 25 km (16 mi.) northwest of Trier and 50 km (31 mi.) northeast of Luxembourg city. The American Spangdahlem ...
there is an iron smelting site in which metal was smelted and worked in an almost industrial manner during the Roman period. In Roman times, the Eifel was an important economic region. Its mineral resources (lead, zinc spar, iron, limestone and stones for construction) were mined, and trade benefited from long-distance Roman communication routes such as the
Roman road from Trier to Cologne
The Roman road from Trier to Cologne is part of the ''Via Agrippa'', a Roman era long distance road network, that began at Lyon. The section from Augusta Treverorum (Trier) to the CCAA (Cologne), the capital of the Roman province of Germania Inf ...
, which crossed the Eifel.
In the late Middle Ages, the Eifel was a border area between the Archbishoprics of
Electoral Cologne
The Electorate of Cologne (german: Kurfürstentum Köln), sometimes referred to as Electoral Cologne (german: Kurköln, links=no), was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from the 10th to the early 19th century. ...
and
Electoral Trier
The Electorate of Trier (german: Kurfürstentum Trier or ' or Trèves) was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from the end of the 9th to the early 19th century. It was the temporal possession of the prince- ...
, the
County of Luxembourg
The County of Luxemburg (french: Luxembourg; lb, Lëtzebuerg) was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. It arose from medieval '' Lucilinburhuc'' ("Little Fortress") Castle in the present-day City of Luxembourg, purchased by Siegfried, Count of ...
and the
Duchy of Jülich
The Duchy of Jülich (german: Herzogtum Jülich; nl, Hertogdom Gulik; french: Duché de Juliers) comprised a state within the Holy Roman Empire from the 11th to the 18th centuries. The duchy lay west of the Rhine river and was bordered by th ...
. This explains the large number of castles, now lying in ruins, which had been built mainly for the purpose of guarding the border. Through skillful politics, several smaller principalities and abbey estates were able to acquire their independence, for example the House of Manderscheid-Blankenheim, the County of
Salm-Reifferscheid
Salm is the name of several historic countships and principalities in present Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and France.
History
Origins
The County of Salm arose in the tenth century in Vielsalm, in the Ardennes region of present Belgium. It was ...
and
Prüm Abbey
Prüm Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey in Prüm, now in the diocese of Trier (Germany), founded by the Frankish widow Bertrada the elder and her son Charibert, Count of Laon, in 721. The first abbot was Angloardus.
The Abbey ruled over a va ...
.
The mining and smelting works, with their demand for
pit prop
A pit prop or mine prop (British and American usage, respectively) is a length of lumber used to prop up the roofs of tunnels in coal mines.
Canada traditionally supplied pit props to the British market. As coal mining declined in importance and ...
s and
charcoal
Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...
for
smelting
Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a ch ...
, the great demand for construction timber and firewood and the
shipbuilding industry
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befo ...
which was widespread until the 19th century, led to an almost complete deforestation of the woods. In fact, around 1800, the Eifel must be imagined as a landscape of meadows and heathland, where animals, especially flocks of sheep, grazed. At the same time, the population was becoming increasingly impoverished because the poor arable land did not yield rich harvests. Even after the decline of mining and smelting operations after the mid-19th century, the situation of the population did not improve. In addition, the Eifel was a marching route for French troops to all kinds of theatres of war. They demanded "
forage
Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term ''forage'' has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used m ...
money" from the local population, which just caused further impoverishment, as the records of
Kottenheim
Kottenheim is a municipality in the district of Mayen-Koblenz in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in ...
show.
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 rule began in 1815, but little changed in terms of social conditions: The Eifel, as a poor peripheral region of the empire ("Prussian Siberia"), was only of interest for military reasons. For Prussian officials and officers, mainly Protestants, a posting to the purely Catholic Eifel region was like a punishment sentence. However, the landscape changed as Prussia carried out systematic reforestation, albeit with coniferous trees that were not typical of the region.
In the 19th century, the Eifel region suffered severe famines, especially in the years 1816/17, 1847 and 1879/80, and an 1853 memorandum records that ''"Many Eifel inhabitants know no food other than potatoes and bread that consists of a mixture of oatmeal and potato. It can be said without exaggeration that two thirds of the entire population only enjoy meat once a year."'' The consequences of the terrible food situation were only too obvious: ''"In 1852, only 10% of all those liable to enlistment were fit for military service."''.“Hans-Dieter Arntz ''Naturkatastrophen und Notstände in der Eifel''
Due to its barren soils and the harsh climate, which led time and again to poor harvests, many farmers were in debt. According to reports of the winter of starvation in 1879/80, however, there was a wave of solidarity in the
Reich
''Reich'' (; ) is a German language, German noun whose meaning is analogous to the meaning of the English word "realm"; this is not to be confused with the German adjective "reich" which means "rich". The terms ' (literally the "realm of an emp ...
, and in 1883 the "Eifel Fund" was established, through which, within 18 years, 5.5 millions
Reichsmark
The (; sign: ℛℳ; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until 20 June 1948 in West Germany, where it was replaced with the , and until 23 June 1948 in East Germany, where it was replaced by the East German mark. The Reich ...
s were raised for
land improvement
Land development is the alteration of landscape in any number of ways such as:
* Changing landforms from a natural or semi-natural state for a purpose such as agriculture or House, housing
* subdivision (land), Subdividing real estate into Lot (re ...
, for the
afforestation
Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees (forestation) in an area where there was no previous tree cover. Many government and non-governmental organizations directly engage in afforestation programs to create forests a ...
of barren land and for
land consolidation
Land consolidation is a planned readjustment and rearrangement of fragmented land parcels and their ownership. It is usually applied to form larger and more rational land holdings. Land consolidation can be used to improve rural infrastructure and ...
.''.
For a long time, economic development was hampered by the poor condition of roads and tracks. However, due to its border location between the German Empire, Belgium and Luxembourg (as march routes to France), many
railway line
Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...
s were built since the
foundation of the German Empire
The proclamation of the German Empire, also known as the ''Deutsche Reichsgründung'', took place in January 1871 after the joint victory of the German states in the Franco-Prussian War. As a result of the November Treaties of 1870, the southern ...
, which served military-strategic purposes. This improvement of the transport routes also boosted tourism. The construction of the
Nürburgring
The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...
also served the purpose of economic development in the 1920s.
The border region of the Eifel was also not spared by 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 opposin ...
. The construction of the
Siegfried Line
The Siegfried Line, known in German as the ''Westwall'', was a German defensive line built during the 1930s (started 1936) opposite the French Maginot Line. It stretched more than ; from Kleve on the border with the Netherlands, along the west ...
was followed, from September 1944 to January 1945, by violent
battles
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
and the
Ardennes Offensive
The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted from 16 December 1944 to 28 January 1945, towards the end of the war in ...
, especially in the northern Eifel, which still bears witness to the legacy of the war: ruins of old bunkers and parts of tank barriers. Especially in the
Battle of the Hürtgen Forest
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
, where the battle with the highest losses was fought in the west, military cemeteries - such as in Vossenack - bear witness to the brutal events of the war.
The Eifel region was severely hit in the
2021 European floods
In July 2021, several European countries were affected by severe floods. Some were catastrophic, causing deaths and widespread damage. The floods started in the United Kingdom as flash floods causing some property damage and inconvenience. L ...
.
Economy
Much of the Eifel has limited infrastructure and there are almost no large industrial areas. Only in the
Pellenz
The Pellenz is a hill country in the northwestern part of the Middle Rhine Basin in Germany between Mayen in the southwest and Andernach in the northeast. In addition Pellenz is the name of a ''Verbandsgemeinde'' in the state of Rhineland-Palat ...
in the
Neuwied Basin
Neuwied () is a town in the north of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, capital of the Neuwied (district), District of Neuwied. Neuwied lies on the east bank of the Rhine, 12 km northwest of Koblenz, on the railway from Frankfurt am ...
is there a stronger industrial presence. Agriculture is restricted to certain valleys and the lower levels (particularly in parts of the
southern Eifel The South Eifel (german: Südeifel) refers to that part of the Eifel mountain region around the Bitburg-Prüm district in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
It is bordered to the south and southeast by the river Moselle, to the northwest by ...
, the
Pre-Eifel
The Voreifel ("Fore-Eifel" or "Pre-Eifel") is the name of a settlement area in the southern part of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a term that grew out of the local speech.
The region of the Voreifel includes the towns and vil ...
and the
Maifeld
The Maifeld is a landscape (a natural region sub-unit) of the Middle Rhine Basin on its western perimeter with the Eifel mountains, southwest of the city of Koblenz. It is known for its gently rolling hills.
Location
The plain, which lies at a ...
). A large number of farms have been converted into stabling facilities, some of which offer overnight accommodation and horse care for
trail riders
''Trail Riders'' is a 1942 American Western film directed by Robert Emmett Tansey. The film is the eighteenth in Monogram Pictures' "Range Busters" series, and it stars John "Dusty" King as Dusty, "Davy" Sharpe and Max "Alibi" Terhune, wit ...
.
Wine-growing is a major activity along the Rhine, Moselle and Ahr valleys and in the
Wittlich Basin
The Wittlich Depression (german: Wittlicher Senke or ''Wittlicher Rotliegend-Senke''), less commonly, the Wittlich Basin, is the continuation of the Trier Valley in a northeasterly direction. It is not only recognisable in the terrain as an elong ...
. In the Wittlich Basin,
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
is also grown. At
Holsthum
Holsthum is a municipality in the district of Bitburg-Prüm, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany.
Sights
* Roman villa
* Schloss Holsthum
* St. Rochus Chapel
* Old glassworks
* Military cemetery
A war grave is a burial place for mem ...
in the Prüm valley, in the lee of the
Ferschweiler Plateau
The Ferschweiler Plateau, which is home to the villages of Ferschweiler and Ernzen among others, is an extensive highland area made from sandstone and is located in the collective municipality of Irrel in the county of Bitburg-Prüm in the Germa ...
,
hops
Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whi ...
are grown for the
Bitburger Brewery
Bitburger Brewery (Bitburger Brauerei Th. Simon GmbH) is a large German brewery headquartered in Bitburg, Rhineland-Palatinate. Founded in 1817 by Johann Wallenborn, its beer is the third best-selling beer in Germany, and the nation's number on ...
. However, at high altitudes in the Eifel, only forestry and dairy farming are generally possible.
Mining is still carried out in the Eifel region. In
Mayen
Mayen is a town in the Mayen-Koblenz District of the Rhineland-Palatinate Federal State of Germany, in the eastern part of the Volcanic Eifel Region. As well as the main town, additional settlements include Alzheim, Kürrenberg, Hausen-Betzing, ...
the firm of Rathscheck Schiefer mines
roofing slate
Roofing slates are stone slabs made out of slate, which are used as roofing tiles. They are the primary product of the slate industry.
See also
* Slate#Slate in buildings
* Slate industry
* Stone slabs#In construction
* Roofing material
* Li ...
s in the Moselle slate mines of Katzenberg and Margareta, and
gypsum
Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywall. ...
in
Ralingen
Ralingen is a municipality in the Trier-Saarburg district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after ...
on the River
Sauer
The Sauer (German and Luxembourgish, , ) or Sûre ( French, ) is a river in Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. A left tributary of the Moselle, its total length is .
Rising near Vaux-sur-Sûre in the Ardennes in southeastern Belgium, the Sauer f ...
near the border with Luxembourg. In the South Eifel, especially in the Wehrer Bowl, volcanic carbonic acid is extracted.
In many places in the Eifel region, the mining of
pumice
Pumice (), called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of highly vesicular rough-textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light-colored. Scoria is another vesicular vol ...
,
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
and other rocks and minerals has a long tradition. For example, between Daun, Gerolstein and Hillesheim - i.e. in the heart of the
Volcanic Eifel
The Volcanic Eifel or Vulkan Eifel (german: Vulkaneifel) is a region in the Eifel Mountains in Germany that is defined to a large extent by its volcanic geological history. Characteristic of this volcanic field are its typical explosion crater la ...
- there are 17 active pits over an area of 11 by12 kilometres. Residents and local authorities affected by the planned expansion (as of July 2012) have practically no influence over it because it is based on the old
mining law
Mining law is the branch of law relating to the legal requirements affecting minerals and mining. Mining law covers several basic topics, including the ownership of the mineral resource and who can work them. Mining is also affected by various r ...
.
There is evidence that
iron
Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...
was being processed in the Eifel by the
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
. The first smelting works north of the
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
was built during the
La Tène period
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...
in the 5th century BC in
Hillesheim
Hillesheim () is the third largest town in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It was the seat of the former ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Hillesheim.
Geography
Location
The town lies almost in the middle, halfway between C ...
.Die Montangeschichte Kalls /ref> Near
Bitburg
Bitburg (; french: Bitbourg; lb, Béibreg) is a city in Germany, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate approximately 25 km (16 mi.) northwest of Trier and 50 km (31 mi.) northeast of Luxembourg city. The American Spangdahlem ...
there is an iron smeltery where, during the
Roman period
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...
, the metal was being smelted and worked almost in an industrial way. So by then the Eifel was already an important economic area. Its mineral resources (
lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
iron
Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...
,
lime
Lime commonly refers to:
* Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit
* Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide
* Lime (color), a color between yellow and green
Lime may also refer to:
Botany ...
and rocks for construction) were mined and trade benefited from
Roman road
Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
s such as the
Roman road from Trier to Cologne
The Roman road from Trier to Cologne is part of the ''Via Agrippa'', a Roman era long distance road network, that began at Lyon. The section from Augusta Treverorum (Trier) to the CCAA (Cologne), the capital of the Roman province of Germania Inf ...
, which crossed the Eifel.
The abundance of
timber
Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...
, which was needed for smelting, and of watercourses, which were indispensable for the preparation and operation of
hammer mill
A hammer mill, hammer forge or hammer works was a workshop in the pre-industrial era that was typically used to manufacture semi-finished, wrought iron products or, sometimes, finished agricultural or mining tools, or military weapons. The featur ...
s and
bellows
A bellows or pair of bellows is a device constructed to furnish a strong blast of air. The simplest type consists of a flexible bag comprising a pair of rigid boards with handles joined by flexible leather sides enclosing an approximately airtigh ...
, made it possible for the Eifel to be an important supra-regional economic area even in the late Middle Ages. About 10% of the iron produced in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
originated from the Eifel. It was traded at the markets in
Trier
Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...
and
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
.
Well known are the many
mineral spring
Mineral springs are naturally occurring springs that produces hard water, water that contains dissolved minerals. Salts, sulfur compounds, and gases are among the substances that can be dissolved in the spring water during its passage underg ...
s, which occur frequently here because of the region's volcanic past. The largest bottlers are
Gerolsteiner Brunnen
Gerolsteiner Brunnen GmbH & Co. KG (Gerolsteiner) is a leading German mineral water firm with its seat in Gerolstein in the Eifel mountains. The firm is well known for its Gerolsteiner Sprudel brand
A brand is a name, term, design, sym ...
and Apollinaris. One of the largest German breweries,
Bitburger
Bitburger Brewery (Bitburger Brauerei Th. Simon GmbH) is a large Germany, German brewery headquartered in Bitburg, Rhineland-Palatinate. Founded in 1817 by Johann Wallenborn, its beer is the Beer in Germany#Brands and breweries, third best-selli ...
, has its headquarters and production facilities in
Bitburg
Bitburg (; french: Bitbourg; lb, Béibreg) is a city in Germany, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate approximately 25 km (16 mi.) northwest of Trier and 50 km (31 mi.) northeast of Luxembourg city. The American Spangdahlem ...
in the Eifel.
The economic importance of
tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...
has increased since 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 opposin ...
; and it was further encouraged, for example, by the Eifel's designation as a
national park
A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
(the
Eifel National Park
The Eifel National Park (german: Nationalpark Eifel) is the 14th national park in Germany and the first in North Rhine-Westphalia. The park was founded in 2004, and is classified as a "national park in development".
Eifel National Park is par ...
) on 1 January 2004, as well as the natural history infrastructure in the Volcanic Eifel. Furthermore, the
Eifel Park
The Eifelpark is a wildlife and leisure park in Gondorf near Bitburg in the Eifel mountains of Germany.
History
In 1964 the Eifelpark was first opened under the name, ''Hochwildpark Eifel'' ("Eifel Mountain Wildlife Park"), as the first open-ai ...
and several
maar
A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot lava or magma). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow ...
s and lakes are popular tourist destinations. In winter, in some of the highlands, there are opportunities for winter sports, e.g. at the
Schwarzer Mann
The Schwarzer Mann ("Black Man") is a mountain in the western part of the Eifel which is known as Schnee Eifel. With a height of 697.8 meters it is the highest peak in the Schnee Eifel and third highest in the Eifel.
Geography Location
The '' ...
near
Prüm
Prüm () is a town in the Westeifel (Rhineland-Palatinate), Germany. Formerly a district capital, today it is the administrative seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Prüm.
Geography
Prüm lies on the river Prüm (a tri ...
, the
Weißer Stein
Weißer Stein is the name of a 548-metre (1,798 ft) high hill in the Odenwald, north of Heidelberg and east of Dossenheim.
On Weißer Stein is a 20 m tall lookout tower. It was built in 1906 by the members of the Odenwald club. In good weath ...
near
Hellenthal
Hellenthal is a municipality in the district of Euskirchen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the Eifel hills, near the border with Belgium, approx. 30 km south-west of Euskirchen and 40 km south-east of Aa ...
Monschau
Monschau (; french: Montjoie, ; wa, Mondjoye) is a small resort town in the Eifel region of western Germany, located in the Aachen district of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Geography
The town is located in the hills of the North Eifel, within the ...
. A well known destination for motorsport fans is the
Nürburgring
The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...
touristic
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...
and
geological
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Eart ...
destination is the
German Volcano Road
The German Volcano Route or, less commonly, German Volcano Road (german: Deutsche Vulkanstraße) is a 280-kilometre-long tourist route from the River Rhine to the mountains of the High Eifel. It links 39 sites within the Geopark Vulkanland Eifel ...
, which links the attractions of the
Vulkanland Eifel Geopark
The Vulkanland Eifel Geopark (german: Geopark Vulkanland Eifel) is a German national geopark in the Volcanic Eifel region that was established on 19 April 2005. Covering an area of 2,200 km², the geopark extends from the Belgian border in the ...
. There are also numerous mountains and hills with good viewing points as well as several
holiday route
A scenic route, tourist road, tourist route, tourist drive, holiday route, theme route, or scenic byway is a specially designated road or waterway that travels through an area of natural or cultural beauty. It often passes by scenic viewpoint ...
s. Hiking tourism is also of considerable economic importance, as is reflected in the increasing number of overnight stays for hiking guests and the progressive expansion of the network of trails. In addition to the
Eifelsteig
The Eifelsteig is a long-distance hiking trail in the Eifel, Germany. It leads in 15 stages of from the Aachen district Kornelimünster to Trier and is maintained by the Eifel Club.
File:Eifelsteig Kornelimünster.JPG, Kornelimünster mon ...
trail, which was opened in 2009 and runs from
Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
to
Trier
Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...
across the Eifel, there is a wide network of themed and circular walks.
Culture
Literature
As a traditionally isolated land, in which the population kept a quiet and simple way of life, the Eifel offered fertile soil for lively folk poetry. The
saga
is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square (video game company), Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, ...
s,
legend
A legend is a Folklore genre, genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human valu ...
s and
fairy tale
A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...
s, which were told on long winter evenings in the farmhouse parlours, often reflect a longing for a better world, which stood in contrast to the found reality of life. The Eifel also repeatedly offered material for numerous literary and regional studies works - from the Eifel and about the Eifel.
Folk literature
Eifel
mentality
Mindset is an "established set of attitudes, esp. regarded as typical of a particular group's social or cultural values; the outlook, philosophy, or values of a person; (now also more generally) frame of mind, attitude, ecte: anddisposition." ...
and
humour
Humour (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humorism, humoral medicine of the ancient Gre ...
were reflected in numerous
anecdote
An anecdote is "a story with a point", such as to communicate an abstract idea about a person, place, or thing through the concrete details of a short narrative or to characterize by delineating a specific quirk or trait. Occasionally humorous ...
s and
joke
A joke is a display of humour in which words are used within a specific and well-defined narrative structure to make people laughter, laugh and is usually not meant to be interpreted literally. It usually takes the form of a story, often with ...
s. Figures of fun and Eifel characters are brought to life in these stories. The ''Dahnener Sprünge'' have become famous beyond the region. A love of jokes and ridicule of one's neighbours may have formed motives for these popular stories of Eifel fools. In addition, there are countless horror stories of
witch
Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...
es,
undead
The undead are beings in mythology, legend, or fiction that are deceased but behave as if alive. Most commonly the term refers to corporeal forms of formerly-alive humans, such as mummies, vampires, and zombies, who have been reanimated by super ...
revenant
In folklore, a revenant is an animated corpse that is believed to have been revived from death to haunt the living. The word ''revenant'' is derived from the Old French word, ''revenant'', the "returning" (see also the related French language, F ...
s and
werewolves
In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely or ...
, which - like those in the neighbouring Ardennes region - survived into the 20th century.
Folk poetry of the Eifel was collected early on. Inspired by
Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
, in which folklore was seen as a rich source of unadulterated motifs and forms, collections of stories and adaptations of Eifel folk tales emerged. Among the most illuminating collections is the poetic guide through the Eifel region by chaplain, Johann Heydinger. Prominent authors such as
Adelbert von Chamisso
Adelbert von Chamisso (; 30 January 178121 August 1838) was a German poet and botanist, author of ''Peter Schlemihl'', a famous story about a man who sold his shadow. He was commonly known in French as Adelbert de Chamisso (or Chamissot) de Bonc ...
,
Guido Görres
Guido Görres (28 May 1805 – 14 July 1852) was a German Catholic historian, publicist and poet.
Life and works
Born in Koblenz, he was the son of Joseph Görres, and made his early classical studies in his native town. During his father's ...
,
Karl Simrock
Karl Joseph Simrock (28 August 1802 – 18 July 1876) was a German poet and writer. He is primarily known for his translation of ''Das Nibelungenlied'' into modern German.
Life
He was born in Bonn, where his father was a music publisher. He s ...
,
Ernst Moritz Arndt
Ernst Moritz Arndt (26 December 1769 – 29 January 1860) was a German nationalist historian, writer and poet. Early in his life, he fought for the abolition of serfdom, later against Napoleonic dominance over Germany. Arndt had to flee to Swe ...
and
Friedrich Schlegel
Karl Wilhelm Friedrich (after 1814: von) Schlegel (; ; 10 March 1772 – 12 January 1829) was a German poet, literary critic, philosopher, philologist, and Indologist. With his older brother, August Wilhelm Schlegel, he was one of the main figure ...
rank amongst the early Eifel authors.
During the 1920s scientific interest in folk culture also gave impetus to the collection of folk poetry. The most prominent collector was Bonn professor of folklore, Matthias Zender, who was born in Zendscheid and who, as a student between 1929 and 1936, collected about 10,000 stories, folk tales and jokes from the Eifel/
Ardennes
The Ardennes (french: Ardenne ; nl, Ardennen ; german: Ardennen; wa, Årdene ; lb, Ardennen ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Be ...
region, of which 2,000 were published.
Scary stories from the Eifel region were collected and partly published by headmaster, Heinrich Hoffmann, from
Düren
Düren (; ripuarian: Düre) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, between Aachen and Cologne on the river Rur.
History
Roman era
The area of Düren was part of Gallia Belgica, more specifically the territory of the Eburones, a people ...
in 1900 and also by Zender in the 1930s. Peter Kremer published a collection of such stories with a commentary in 2003 in a Düren publication.Peter Kremer: ''Wo das Grauen lauert: Blutsauger und kopflose Reiter, Werwölfe und Wiedergänger an Inde, Erft und Rur.'' PeKaDe-Verlag, Düren, 2003, .
Authors and works
Well-known historical works of the Eifel are the ''Eiflia illustrata oder geographische und historische Beschreibung der Eifel'' by
Johann Friedrich Schannat
Johann Friedrich Schannat (23 July 1683 – 6 March 1739) was a German historian.
Schannat was born in Luxembourg. He studied at the University of Louvain and when twenty-two years of age was a lawyer, but before long he turned his attention ...
, published in the 17th century, translated, supplemented and re-edited in 1824 by Georg Bärsch; and the ''Eiflia sacra'', also edited by Schannat and re-edited in 1888 by Carl Schorn.
The first recognised Eifel poet was Peter Zirbes, a wandering
stoneware
Stoneware is a rather broad term for pottery or other ceramics fired at a relatively high temperature. A modern technical definition is a Vitrification#Ceramics, vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic made primarily from stoneware clay or non-refracto ...
trader from Niederkail. He was the author of simple poems in the
Eifel dialect The Eifel dialects (german: Eifeler Mundarten) are those dialects spoken in the Eifel mountains of Germany. They divide into two language regions: the dialects spoken in the southern Eifel (''Eifelisch'') are part of the Moselle Franconian dialect g ...
, which he published in 1852. In 2010, Ute Bales wrote a novel about his life, which was awarded the special prize by the jury in the Rhineland-Palatinate Book of the Year competition (''Buch des Jahres Rheinland-Pfalz''). Many contemporary poets who live in the Eifel or come from the Eifel have captured the Eifel poetically and made it known beyond its borders to readers of poetry in the German-speaking world. These include Jochen Arlt (who has also contributed to regional literature as the editor of several Eifel anthologies),
Theo Breuer
Theo Breuer (born 30 March 1956) is a German poet, essayist, editor, translator and publisher.
Life and work
Theo Breuer was born in Bürvenich, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany and educated at Cologne University where he studied German an ...
,
Ursula Krechel
Ursula Krechel (born 4 December 1947) is a German writer.
Krechel was born in Trier. From 1966 to 1972 she studied German studies, theatre, and art history at the University of Cologne. From 1969 to 1972, she worked as a drama advisor in Dortmun ...
and
Norbert Scheuer
Norbert Scheuer (born December 16, 1951 in Prüm, Westeifel, Rheinland-Palatinate) is a German author.
He earns a living as an IT system programmer for Deutsche Telekom and now lives in Keldenich, Kall, North Rhine-Westphalia in the area where h ...
. Jochen Arlt's poem ''Einkaufn gehen in Münstereifel'' may be read in the most important German poetry collection, ''
The Great Conrady
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
. The book of German poems. From its Beginnings to the Present''.
One great narrator and native of
Trier
Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...
, who chose the Eifel as the setting for her novels and stories, was
Clara Viebig
Clara Emma Amalia Viebig (17 July 1860 – 31 July 1952) was a German author.
Life
Viebig was born in the German city of Trier, the daughter of a Prussian civil servant. She was related to Hermann Göring. At the age of eight, her father was t ...
. The best-selling author of the subsequent naturalism movement, wrote two great literary monuments about the Eifel with her novels, ''Kreuz im Venn'' and ''Weiberdorf''. The reception of Clara Viebig's work was interrupted during the
Nazi era
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
because of her marriage to a Jewish publisher. Since the end of the 1980s, the author's works have experience a deserved renaissance - even in the Eifel region. Perhaps the most important literary work about the Eifel region and its people is the novel ''Winterspelt'' by
Alfred Andersch
Alfred Hellmuth Andersch (; 4 February 1914 – 21 February 1980) was a German writer, publisher, and radio editor. The son of a conservative East Prussian army officer, he was born in Munich, Germany and died in Berzona, Ticino, Switzerland. Mar ...
, which is set in the final phase of 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 opposin ...
and depicts the positional war during the Ardennes offensive and the tragic combination of people and their fates in epic breadth. The author, Heinz Küpper, who died in 2005 and whose novels included ''Wohin mit dem Kopf'' and ''Zweikampf mit Rotwild'',
Norbert Scheuer
Norbert Scheuer (born December 16, 1951 in Prüm, Westeifel, Rheinland-Palatinate) is a German author.
He earns a living as an IT system programmer for Deutsche Telekom and now lives in Keldenich, Kall, North Rhine-Westphalia in the area where h ...
from
Kall
KALL (700 AM) is a sports radio station in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area licensed to North Salt Lake, Utah, though in station identifications and the FCC database, the station is listed as being licensed to "North Salt Lake City". The ...
and Ute Bales from
Gerolstein
Gerolstein () is a town in the Vulkaneifel district of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Gerolstein is a local municipality of the ''Verbandsgemeinde Gerolstein''. It has been approved as a '' Luftkurort'' (spa town).
History
As early as the Ston ...
are today the most important representatives of the Eifel in the field of contemporary, German-language prose. In their works, they present the Eifel, both physically and symbolically, as a rugged landscape, which becomes a reflection of spiritual landscapes. Particularly interesting here (in comparison to the perspective of the more down-to-earth narrator) is the Eifel's literary composition from the point of view of the outsider.
This literature challenges us to confront the region and its people, especially where there is no attempt to romanticize the Eifel, but where hopelessness and despair in the face of poverty and misery, intellectual narrowness or rigid systems of values become apparent. Although Norbert Scheuer was born in the Eifel, the narrators of his novels and stories take the perspective of the distanced or the outsider. Norbert Scheuer has succeeded in presenting life in the Eifel in a multifaceted way and making it interesting for readers in the entire German-speaking area, especially in his latest book ''Kall, Eifel'' (2005). In Ute Bales' novels, landscape and people are inseparably connected. The characteristic of the Eifel landscape and its inhabitants is the starting point of a narrative style that shows people as ''"lonely, lost, in a misunderstood place"'' in and with their suffering, as in the novel ''Kamillenblumen'' (2010) about the peddler, Traud, from
Kolverath
Kolverath is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Kelberg, whose ...
.
Eifel crime novels
One literary genre that has been flourishing in many regions and cities in Germany over the last few decades is the
crime novel
Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...
with a local or regional setting. Jacques Berndorf has become the best-selling German crime novelist with detective novels such as ''Eifel-Blues'' (1989), ''Eifel-Sturm'' (1999) or ''Eifel-Träume'' (2004). In 1996, he was awarded the top prize at the
Eifel Literature Festival The Eifel Literatur Festival (german: Eifel Literatur Festival) is a volunteer-organized literature event held in the Eifel mountains in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate every two years as part of the state's "Cultural Summer".
The aim of ...
. In addition, Ralf Kramp was awarded the sponsorship prize. Kramp was the first author to write Eifel crime stories for children with his series about the "black cloverleaf" (''schwarzes Kleeblatt''). Harald Schneider (born 1962) is the author of the children's detective series ''Die Meisterschnüffler'', an interactive read that leads readers from 8 years old to different locations in the Eifel. Carola Clasen, Carsten Sebastian Henn, Andreas Izquierdo, Rudolf Jagusch, Martina Kempff, Elke Pistor, Edgar Noske and Hans Jürgen Sittig are other authors who contribute to the genre of Eifel crime novels. Historical crime novels have been penned by Günter Krieger and Petra Schier. Josef Zierden has published an Eifel thriller travel guide that covers countless crime novel scenes in the Eifel. In the town of
Hillesheim
Hillesheim () is the third largest town in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It was the seat of the former ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Hillesheim.
Geography
Location
The town lies almost in the middle, halfway between C ...
there is an Eifel crime novel hiking trail that links the scenes of novels by Jacques Berndorf and Ralf Kramp. The crime novel house in Hillesheim houses the largest collection of detective novels in the German-speaking world with a stock of 30,000 books, and there is also a "crime café" in the house.
Fine arts
The Eifel was a destination for German
impressionists
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...
, among them
Eugen Bracht
Eugen Felix Prosper Bracht (3 June 1842 – 5 November 1921) was a German landscape painter.
Biography
Bracht was born in Morges, Waadt (near Lake Geneva in Switzerland) of German parents. His family later moved to Darmstadt, Germany, where ...
, who painted there with colleagues, and August von Brandis, who often spent several days there with architecture students from Aachen in order to give them an understanding of landscape painting. Two of Bracht's paintings are preserved at the
castles of Manderscheid
Near the Eifel town of Manderscheid are the ruins of two castles, the castles of Manderschied, whose history and location reflect the mediaeval conflict of interest between the Electorate of Trier and the Duchy of Luxembourg.
Oberburg
The Ob ...
.
Towns and cities
* Towns in the Eifel:
Adenau
Adenau () is a town in the High Eifel in Germany. It is known as the ''Johanniterstadt'' because the Order of Saint John was based there in the Middle Ages. The town's coat of arms combines the black cross of the Electorate of Cologne with the l ...
,
Bad Münstereifel
Bad Münstereifel () is a historical spa town in the district of Euskirchen, Germany, with about 17,000 inhabitants, situated in the far southwest of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The little town is one of only a few historical tow ...
,
Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler
Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler () is a spa town in the German States of Germany, Bundesland of Rhineland-Palatinate that serves as the Capital (political), capital of the Ahrweiler (district), Ahrweiler district. The Bundesautobahn 61, A61 motorway conne ...
,
Bitburg
Bitburg (; french: Bitbourg; lb, Béibreg) is a city in Germany, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate approximately 25 km (16 mi.) northwest of Trier and 50 km (31 mi.) northeast of Luxembourg city. The American Spangdahlem ...
,
Daun
Daun is a town in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the district seat and also the seat of the ' of Daun.
Geography
Location
The town lies in the , a part of the Eifel known for its volcanic history, geogra ...
,
Eupen
Eupen (, ; ; formerly ) is the capital of German-speaking Community of Belgium and is a city and municipality in the Belgian province of Liège, from the German border (Aachen), from the Dutch border (Maastricht) and from the "High Fens" na ...
(Belgium),
Gerolstein
Gerolstein () is a town in the Vulkaneifel district of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Gerolstein is a local municipality of the ''Verbandsgemeinde Gerolstein''. It has been approved as a '' Luftkurort'' (spa town).
History
As early as the Ston ...
,
Heimbach
Heimbach is a town in the district of Düren of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the river Rur, in the Eifel hills, approx. 20 km south of Düren. Heimbach has the smallest population of any town in North Rhin ...
,
Hillesheim
Hillesheim () is the third largest town in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It was the seat of the former ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Hillesheim.
Geography
Location
The town lies almost in the middle, halfway between C ...
,
Kaisersesch
Kaisersesch () is a town in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the like-named ''Verbandsgemeinde'', to which it also belongs.
Geography
The town lies in the eastern Eifel halfway betwee ...
,
Kyllburg
Kyllburg () is a town in the Waldeifel region in the district of Bitburg-Prüm, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Eifel mountains, on the river Kyll, approx. 10 km north-east of Bitburg.
Kyllburg was the seat of the for ...
,
Malmedy
Malmedy (; german: Malmünd, ; wa, Måmdiy) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium.
On January 1, 2018, Malmedy had a total population of 12,654. The total area is 99.96 km2 which gives a populati ...
Mayen
Mayen is a town in the Mayen-Koblenz District of the Rhineland-Palatinate Federal State of Germany, in the eastern part of the Volcanic Eifel Region. As well as the main town, additional settlements include Alzheim, Kürrenberg, Hausen-Betzing, ...
,
Mechernich
Mechernich (, ksh, Meischernisch) is a town in the district of Euskirchen in the south of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the "Naturpark Nordeifel" in the Eifel hills, approx. 15 km south-west of Euskirchen a ...
,
Mendig
Mendig () is a small town in the district Mayen-Koblenz, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated approximately 6 km north-east of Mayen, and 25 km west of Koblenz. Mendig is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective muni ...
,
Monschau
Monschau (; french: Montjoie, ; wa, Mondjoye) is a small resort town in the Eifel region of western Germany, located in the Aachen district of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Geography
The town is located in the hills of the North Eifel, within the ...
,
Münstermaifeld
Münstermaifeld () is a town in the district Mayen-Koblenz, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is part of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") of Maifeld. It is situated south-east of Mayen, a few kilometres from the Moselle riv ...
,
Neuerburg
Neuerburg ( lb, Neierbuerg) is a city in the district of Bitburg-Prüm, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
It is situated in the Eifel, near the border with Luxembourg, approx. 20 km north-west of Bitburg and 20 km north-east of Dieki ...
,
Nideggen
Nideggen () is a town in the district of Düren in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the river Rur, in the Eifel hills, approx. 15 km south of Düren.
Nideggen is known for its ruined, but partly restored cas ...
,
Polch
Polch () is a town in the district Mayen-Koblenz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is part of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") of Maifeld. It is situated east of Mayen.
Polch is twinned with the commune of Vineuil, located n ...
,
Prüm
Prüm () is a town in the Westeifel (Rhineland-Palatinate), Germany. Formerly a district capital, today it is the administrative seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Prüm.
Geography
Prüm lies on the river Prüm (a tri ...
,
Schleiden
Schleiden is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It lies in the Eifel hills, in the district of Euskirchen, and has 12,998 inhabitants as of 30 June 2017. Schleiden is connected by a tourist railway to Kall, on the Eifel Railway between Col ...
,
St. Vith
St. Vith (german: Sankt Vith ; french: Saint-Vith ; lb, Sankt Väit ; wa, Sint-Vit) is a city and municipality of East Belgium located in the Walloon province of Liège. It was named after Saint Vitus.
On January 1, 2006, St. Vith had a total ...
Ulmen
Ulmen is a town in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named ''Verbandsgemeinde'' – a kind of collective municipality – to which it also belongs.
Geography
Location
The town lies in the Eife ...
,
Wittlich
The town of Wittlich (; Moselle Franconian: ''Wittlech'') is the seat of the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Its historic town centre and the beauty of the surrounding countryside make the town a centre for tourism in ...
.
* Towns and cities near the Eifel:
Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
,
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...
,
Düren
Düren (; ripuarian: Düre) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, between Aachen and Cologne on the river Rur.
History
Roman era
The area of Düren was part of Gallia Belgica, more specifically the territory of the Eburones, a people ...
,
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...
,
Euskirchen
Euskirchen (; Ripuarian: ''Öskerche'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the district Euskirchen. While Euskirchen resembles a modern shopping town, it also has a history dating back over 700 years, having been granted to ...
,
Koblenz
Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary.
Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman mili ...
,
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
,
Liège
Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège.
The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...
(Belgium),
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
(Luxembourg),
Maastricht
Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...
(
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
),
Trier
Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...
.
Castles
Well preserved
*
Eltz Castle
Eltz Castle (german: Burg Eltz) is a medieval castle nestled in the hills above the Moselle between Koblenz and Trier, Germany. It is still owned by a branch of House of Eltz who have lived there since the 12th century. Eltz Castle along with B ...
*
Lissingen Castle
Lissingen Castle (german: Burg Lissingen) is a well-preserved former moated castle dating to the 13th century. It is located on the River Kyll in Gerolstein in the administrative district of Vulkaneifel in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. From the ...
* Satzvey Castle
*
Dudeldorf Castle
Dudeldorf Castle (german: Burg Dudeldorf) is the most important monument in the parish of Dudeldorf in the district of Bitburg-Prüm in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The castle is in the northwest corner of the former village walls of ...
*
Schloss Eicks
Schloss Eicks is a mansion of Renaissance architecture located in the village of Eicks belonging to the town of Mechernich based in the district of Euskirchen in the south of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Germany,, of ...
19th- and 20th-century rebuilds
* Bollendorf Castle
*
Genovevaburg
Genovevaburg is a castle standing on the southwestern side of Mayen in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The castle is the symbol of Mayen and has been rebuilt several times since first being destroyed in 1689. Its name comes from a leg ...
* Vlatten Castle
* Cochem Castle
Ruins
*
Gerolstein Castle
Gerolstein () is a town in the Vulkaneifel district of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Gerolstein is a local municipality of the ''Verbandsgemeinde Gerolstein''. It has been approved as a '' Luftkurort'' (spa town).
History
As early as the Sto ...
*
Gödersheim Castle
Gödersheim Castle (german: Burg Gödersheim) is a ruined, Late Gothic, water castle a few kilometres from Wollersheim, a village in the borough of Nideggen, in the county of Düren in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland- ...
*
Löwenburg and Philippsburg
On a hill spur above the Eifel village of Monreal, Germany, Monreal in Germany's Elzbach valley, at a height of , stand two neighbouring ruined hill castles: the Löwenburg, also called Monreal Castle (german: Burg Monreal), and the Philippsburg. T ...
*
Manderscheid castles
Near the Eifel town of Manderscheid are the ruins of two castles, the castles of Manderschied, whose history and location reflect the mediaeval conflict of interest between the Electorate of Trier and the Duchy of Luxembourg.
Oberburg
The Ob ...
*
Monschau Castle
Monschau Castle (german: Burg Monschau) is a castle in the eponymous town of Monschau in the southern part of the Region of Aachen in Germany. It is used today as a youth hostel and in summer as a venue for concerts and operas.
History
The hil ...
*
Nideggen Castle
The ruins of Nideggen Castle (german: Burg Nideggen) are a symbol of the town of Nideggen in Germany and are owned by the county of Düren. The rectangular hill castle was the seat of the powerful counts and dukes of Jülich and had a reputatio ...
*
Schönecken Castle
Schönecken Castle (german: Burg Schönecken) is a ruined hill castle at above the village of Schönecken in the Nims valley in the West Eifel mountains. It lies within the county of Bitburg-Prüm in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Th ...
* Ulmen castles
*
Nürburg Castle
The Nürburg is a ruined hilltop castle in the German Eifel Mountains near the village of Nürburg south of Adenau in the district of Ahrweiler in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It stands within the famous North Loop, or Nordschleife, of the N ...
Transport
Through the Eifel run the following transport routes:
* the
Ahr Valley Railway
The Ahr Valley Railway (german: Ahrtalbahn), Remagen–Ahrbrück, is currently a 29 km-long, partly single-track and non-electrified branch line, which runs through the Ahr valley from Remagen via Ahrweiler and Dernau to Ahrbrück in the German ...
from Remagen to Ahrbrück
* the
Eifel Line
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 ...
from Cologne via Euskirchen, Kall and Gerolstein to Trier and several branch lines. Most of the branch lines have however since been closed and some have been lifted.
* the
Erft Valley Railway
The Erft () is a river in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It flows through the foothills of the Eifel, and joins the Lower Rhine (left tributary). Its origin is near Nettersheim, and its mouth in Neuss-Grimlinghausen south of the Josef Cardina ...
from Euskirchen to Bad Münstereifel with its connexion to the
Voreifel Railway
The Voreifel Railway (german: Voreifelbahn) is a partly double track, non-electrified main line in the Voreifel from Bonn Central Station, Bonn to Euskirchen station, Euskirchen in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (KBS 475).
History
...
from Euskirchen to Bonn
* the
Trans-Eifel Railway
The Cross Eifel Railway (German: ''Eifelquerbahn'') is a non-electrified railway line between Andernach and Gerolstein in the Eifel in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. From Andernach to Mayen Ost (East), it is classified as main line and ...
from Andernach via Mayen, Kaisersesch and Daun to Gerolstein. The section of line from Kaisersesch to Gerolstein is only operated in spring and summer. The branching lines from Mayen via Polch to Koblenz, Polch to Münstermaifeld and Daun to Wittlich were closed and partly converted for tourist purposes (cycleways).
* the
Rur Valley Railway
Rurtalbahn (German for "Rur Valley Railway") is a railway company servicing the Rur valley from Linnich to Heimbach. Its major hub is Düren station, from where two train lines run to the two destinations.
Rurtalbahn GmbH is owned by R.A.T.H Gmb ...
from Düren to Heimbach. It is additionally worked on summer weekends by the
Euregio Railway
EUREGIO is a cross-border region between the Netherlands and Germany and the first Euroregion. It was founded in 1958 as a German Eingetragener Verein, and has been converted in 2016 into a public body based on the 1991 :nl:Verdrag van Anholt, Trea ...
on the section from Heerlen (Netherlands) via Aachen and Düren to Heimbach and is especially popular with day tourists, for whom the town of Heimbach and its associated villages are a charming destination.
* the
Brohl Valley Railway
Brohl is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Kaisersesch.
Geogr ...
from Brohl to Engeln; privately operated narrow gauge railway.
* the Bundesautobahn 1, A 1 (also Eifel Motorway), Bundesautobahn 48, A 48, Bundesautobahn 60, A 60, Bundesautobahn 61, A 61, Bundesautobahn 64, A 64, Bundesautobahn 565, A 565, Bundesautobahn 571, A 571 and Bundesautobahn 573, A 573 motorways.
* numerous Bundesstraße, federal roads, e. g. the Bundesstraße 49, B 49, Bundesstraße 50, B 50, Bundesstraße 51, B 51, Bundesstraße 52, B 52, Bundesstraße 53, B 53, Bundesstraße 56, B 56, Bundesstraße 257, B 257, Bundesstraße 258, B 258, Bundesstraße 265, B 265, Bundesstraße 399, B 399, Bundesstraße 409, B 409, Bundesstraße 410, B 410, Bundesstraße 418, B 418, Bundesstraße 421, B 421 and Bundesstraße 477, B 477
Points of interest
* The
Nürburgring
The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...
, one of the world's most famous motor-racing courses. The northern loop (''Nordschleife'') of the course is known as the Green Hell (''Grüne Hölle''), because of its long, difficult and dangerous course through the local forest. The 2020 Formula One World Championship held a race at the
Nürburgring
The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...
under the title of Eifel Grand Prix.
* The Eifel Aqueduct, an interesting archeological feature. One of the longest aqueduct (Roman), aqueducts of the Roman empire, it provided water to the Roman settlement of Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (modern-day
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
).
See also
* Eifelian
* Eifel Club
*
List of mountains and hills of the Eifel
This List of mountains and hills in the Eifel contains a selection of mountains (2000 feet or higherThere is no universally agreed definition of a mountain, but Whittow (1984) suggests 2,000 feet or ~600 metres as common) and hills (below 2000 feet ...
*''Eifeler Regel''
*
High Eifel
The High Eifel (german: Hocheifel (Ost) or ''Hohe Eifel'') forms part of the Eifel Mountains in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
The landscape here between Adenau, Mendig and Daun rises to a height of 747 m. The region is not to be c ...
*
North Eifel The North Eifel (german: Nordeifel), the northern part of the Eifel, a low mountain range in Germany and East Belgium, comprises the following six sub-regions:
* Venn Foreland,
*Hohes Venn,
*Rur Eifel,
*Limestone Eifel,
* Our Valley and
*High Eifel. ...
* South Eifel
* West Eifel
*
Belgian Eifel
The Belgian Eifel (german: belgische Eifel, Luxembourgish: ''Belscher Äifel'') in the German-speaking part of Belgium generally refers to the southern part of the German-speaking community which forms the Canton of Sankt Vith (German: ''Kanton S ...
*
Rur Eifel The Rur Eifel (german: Rureifel) lies in the district of Düren in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and is a local recreation area from the regions of Cologne, Aachen, Düsseldorf, Krefeld, Mönchengladbach and Bonn. Its name comes from t ...
* Schnee Eifel
*
Volcanic Eifel
The Volcanic Eifel or Vulkan Eifel (german: Vulkaneifel) is a region in the Eifel Mountains in Germany that is defined to a large extent by its volcanic geological history. Characteristic of this volcanic field are its typical explosion crater la ...
References
Otto Follmann (1915) ''Abriss der Geologie der Eifel''; Westermann.
Stephan Marks, ''Schriftenschau, "Geologie der Eifel"'' i Mitteilungen des Verbandes der deutschen Höhlen- und Karstforscher e. V. 2015/01 ; page 24.
Wilhelm Meyer (2013) ''Geologie der Eifel''; 4th fully revised edition; Schweizerbart, Stuttgart; .
Johann Steiniger (1853) ''Geognostische Beschreibung der Eifel''; Lintz, Trier.
Further reading
* Ekkehard Mai (ed.): ''Die Eifel im Bild. Düsseldorfer Malerschule''. Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg, 2016, .
* Hans-Ulrich Schmincke: ''Vulkane der Eifel: Aufbau, Entstehung und heutige Bedeutung.'' Springer Spektrum, 2nd expanded and revised edition, 2014. (print); (eBook).
* Joachim Schröder: ''Zu Besuch im frühen Eifeldorf.'' Regionalia Verlag, Rheinbach, 2014, .
*Michael Losse: ''Burgen und Schlösser in der Eifel''. Rheinbach, 2013, .
* Angela Pfotenhauer, Elmar Lixenfeld: ''Eifel''. Monumente edition, Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz, Bonn, 2013, .
* Alois Döhring (Hrsg.): ''Die Eifel in frühen Fotografien''. Euskirchen, 2011, .
* Heinz Renn: ''Die Eifel. Die Wanderung durch 2000 Jahre Geschichte, Wirtschaft und Kultur'', 4th unamended edition, published by the Eifelverein, Düren, 2006, .
* Werner D’hein: ''Natur- und Kulturführer Vulkanland Eifel. Mit 26 Stationen der "Deutschen Vulkanstraße".'' Gaasterland Verlag, Düsseldorf, 2006, .
* Walter Pippke, Ida Leinberger: ''Die Eifel. Geschichte und Kultur des alten Vulkanlandes zwischen Aachen und Trier''. 5th updated edition. DuMont Reise Verlag, Ostfildern, 2006, .
*
* Andreas Stieglitz, Ingrid Retterath: ''Polyglott on tour: Eifel.'' Munich, 2006, .
* Hans Joachim Bodenbach: ''Eine hessische Wassermühle in der Eifel?'' Bemerkungen zu einem Eifelbuch. Eine Glosse in: Denkmalpflege&Kulturgeschichte, Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Hessen 1/2000, Wiesbaden, 2000, pp. 62–64, 5 pictures., (2 in colour)
* Conrad-Peter Joist (ed.): ''Landschaftsmaler der Eifel im 20. Jahrhundert'' Düren, 1997, .
* Wilhelm Meyer: ''Geologie der Eifel''. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart, 1986, .
* Hans Joachim Bodenbach: ''Mühlen der Eifel-Bemerkungen zu einem Eifelbuch''. In: Neues Trierisches Jahrbuch 1990, 38th vol (49th vol, older series). Published by the Verein Trierisch im Selbstverlag, Trier, 1998, here: pp. 251–261, with 5 pictures. [This is a critical examination of the mill image on the cover page of the book.: Erich Mertes, Vol. I: Mühlen der Eifel. Geschichte-Technik-Untergang. Helios-Verlag, Aachen, 2nd expanded edition, Aachen, 1995. In Wirklichkeit keine Eifelmühle, sondern die ehemals im weit entfernt gelegenen nordosthessischen Altkreis Eschwege [heute Werra-Meißner-Kreis] gelegene Ölmühle bei Motzenrode.]
* Sabine Doering-Manteuffel: ''Die Eifel. Geschichte einer Landschaft.'' Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 1995, .
* Wilhelm Meyer: ''Geologie der Eifel.'' Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart, 1986, .
* , Format: PDF, KBytes: 13990
* Rolf Dettmann, Matthias Weber: ''Eifeler Bräuche.'' J.P. Bachem, Cologne, 1983, .
* Matthias Zender: ''Sagen und Geschichten aus der Westeifel.'' Bonn, 1934 (3rd edn. 1980).
* Alfred Herrmann (ed.): ''Eifel-Festschrift zur 25-jährigen Jubelfeier des Eifelvereins.'' Eifelverein, Bonn, 1913.