Lorch am Rhein () is a small town in the

Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis Rheingau-Taunus is a Kreis (district) in the west of Hesse, Germany. Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis is part of the Darmstadt region; its main administrative seat is Bad Schwalbach. Outposted sections of the local administration are located in Idstein and R ...

in the of Darmstadt in

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...

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

. It belongs to the Rhine Gorge World Heritage Site.

Geography

Location

The town is characterized by

winegrowing Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...

and

tourism 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 ...

. Lorch lies in the southwestern part of the

in the foothills of the Rheingaugebirge (range), some 10 km north of the bend in the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

near Rüdesheim. The town owes its picturesque setting in the Middle Rhine Valley between

Rüdesheim am Rhein Rüdesheim am Rhein is a German winemaking town in the Rhine Gorge, and part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site in this region. It lies in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt, Hessen. Known as Rüdesheim, i ...

and

Sankt Goarshausen Sankt Goarshausen (abbreviated St. Goarshausen) is a town located in the Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Nassau on the eastern shore of the Rhine, in the section known as the Rhine Gorge, directly across the river from Sankt Goar, in the German state Rhin ...

to its location at the mouth of the

Wisper The Wisper is a river in Hesse, Germany, right tributary of the Rhine. Its source is in the western Taunus, Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis district, near a small village named Wisper (municipality Heidenrod). It flows southwest through a densely forested ...

and to its steep

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineya ...

s. The town's municipal area stretches into the richly wooded Wisper valley along ''Landesstraße'' (State Road) 3033 between Lorch and the district seat of Bad Schwalbach. The town is a state-recognized recreational resort (''Erholungsort''). The

Rheinsteig The Rheinsteig is a hiking trail following a mainly elevated path along the east bank of the Rhine River in Germany. Its route stretches from Bonn to Wiesbaden, running parallel to the Rheinhöhenweg Trail and Rheinburgenweg Trail. Descripti ...

, the new

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

trail on the Rhine's right bank leading from

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

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-Ru ...

, runs on the Rhine heights. In the Rhine near Lorch lies the island and nature conservation area called Lorcher Werth.

Constituent communities

Lorch's '' Stadtteile'' (subdivisions of the town), besides the main town, also called Lorch, are Lorchhausen, Espenschied, Ransel, Ranselberg, and Wollmerschied.

History

The area was settled quite early on, first by the

Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...

, and then, during the Christian Era, by the

Ubii 350px, The Ubii around AD 30 The Ubii were a Germanic tribe first encountered dwelling on the east bank of the Rhine in the time of Julius Caesar, who formed an alliance with them in 55 BC in order to launch attacks across the river. They were ...

and later the

Mattiaci The Mattiaci were by Tacitus recorded as an ancient Germanic tribe and related to the Chatti, their Germanic neighbors to the east. There is no clear definition of what the tribe's name meant. The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography'' sugge ...

. In the first century, the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

advanced to the

Taunus The Taunus is a mountain range in Hesse, Germany, located north of Frankfurt. The tallest peak in the range is '' Großer Feldberg'' at 878 m; other notable peaks are ''Kleiner Feldberg'' (825 m) and '' Altkönig'' (798 m). The Taunus range span ...

. The Romans were followed by the Alamanni, and with the onset of the Migration Period, the

Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...

. The town's oldest documentary mention is a document from 1085 in which Archbishop

Wezilo Wezilo, died 1088, was Archbishop of Mainz from 1084 to 1088. He was a leading supporter of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV in the Investiture Controversy, and of antipope Clement III. A priest in Halberstadt, Wezilo owed his promotion to the ...

documented a donation, from the Mainz Cathedral Canon Embricho to the cathedral chapter, of a number of holdings, among them a house and vineyards in Lorch. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, Lorch served as the northern bastion of the Archbishopric of Mainz facing toward the Rheingau. Beginning in the twelfth century, Lorch found itself at the southern end of the ''Rheingauer Gebück'', a kind of border defence made out of an impenetrable “hedge” of stunted trees (the word itself comes from the root of the

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

word ''bücken'', meaning “stoop”, a reference to the trees’ thick, low boughs). This was put in place by the Archbishops of Mainz. In the thirteenth century, a parish, whose first documentary mention came in 1254, was established in Lorch. In 1460, 1631, 1794, and 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 opposi ...

, there was warfare in Lorch, which sometimes brought considerable destruction.

Twentieth century

On 10 January 1919, the

Free State of Bottleneck The Free State of Bottleneck (german: Freistaat Flaschenhals) was a short-lived quasi-state that existed from 10 January 1919 until 25 February 1923. It was formed out of part of the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau as a consequence of the occupa ...

, a provisional statelike entity between occupation zones after the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, was proclaimed, with Lorch as the “capital”. Even today, many of the ministate's coats of arms in the town still recall this time. In the early 1960s, the

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

came to town with its ''Flugabwehrregiment 5'' (“Antiaircraft Regiment 5”). A new settlement, the Ranselberg, was built for soldiers and their families. The barracks in the picturesque Wisper Valley represented an important economic factor for the town of Lorch. Many local people found work in the barracks, the attached post administration, the

munitions Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...

depot, the equipment depot, and the sanitary depot. In the course of Bundeswehr reform, the barracks were closed in 1993. At the site, the underground ''Gerätehauptdepot Lorch-Wispertal'' (“Main Equipment Depot”) and the likewise underground ''Sanitätshauptdepot Lorch-Rheingau'' (“Main Sanitary Depot”) remained. In November 2003, the complete abandonment of the Bundeswehr post was announced. The sanitary company was to be withdrawn in early 2008. By 31 December 2007, the ''Sanitätshauptdepot'' was to be dissolved, and a year later the ''Gerätehauptdepot'' was to disappear. Some 280 civilians would thereby lose their jobs. Meanwhile, various businesses have set up in the abandoned Bundeswehr facilities, which has offset the job losses due to the military's pullout to a certain extent.

Religion

Lorch's character is mostly

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, and serving this community is the Gothic church St. Martin. St. Bonifatius, Lorchhausen, serves the Lorchhausen village. Since 1908, the

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

parishioners have been gathering in a church room in a house at Oberweg 4.

Politics

Town council

The five-yearly municipal elections yielded the following results:

Mayor

On June 16, 2019, Ivo Reßler (independent) was elected mayor with 51.2 percent of the votes in a runoff against incumbent Jürgen Helbing (CDU). Voter turnout was 63.6 percent. He took office on February 1, 2020.

Former Mayors

Town partnerships

Ligugé Ligugé () is a commune in the Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in western France. It is located on the River Clain, south of Poitiers. It is known for its historic monastery, Ligugé Abbey. Twin towns – sister cities Ligu ...

Vienne Vienne (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Viéne'') is a landlocked department in the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It takes its name from the river Vienne. It had a population of 438,435 in 2019.France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

since 1976 * Saint-Benoît, Vienne, France since 1976 "Adopted wine town": *

Gütersloh Gütersloh () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the area of Westphalia and the administrative region of Detmold. Gütersloh is the administrative centre for a district of the same name and has a population of 100,194 peo ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

Culture and sightseeing

Culturally and politically, Lorch is part of the Hessian Rheingau.

Museums

The ''Robert-Struppmann-Museum'' is the town's local history

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

. It houses valuable carvings, documents, sculptures, and sacral objects, among other things a

woodcarving Wood carving is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation ...

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

's severed head from the twelfth century and the seated Madonna with Christ Child and grapes from the early fourteenth century. It is open weekend afternoons in spring, summer, and autumn and also serves as a tourist information centre. There are many brochures to be had there for free. Moreover, books about Lorch's history and winegrowing are on sale there.

Buildings

* The

''Pfarrkirche St. Martin'' (Saint Martin's Parish Church) was completed in the fourteenth century. The

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

building was built over the remains of a still partly preserved Late Romanesque

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's Forum (Roman), forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building ...

. Its centrepiece is the high

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...

by the master Hans from

Worms Worms may refer to: *Worm, an invertebrate animal with a tube-like body and no limbs Places *Worms, Germany Worms () is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about south-southwest of Frankfurt am Main. It had ...

, installed in 1483. As the biggest, and perhaps first-carved altar, originally conceived as monochrome, it is of outstanding value for

art history Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

.St. Martin, Lorch
on the World Heritage website The church therefore is secured, but open for visitors between Easter and October on Saturdays between 14:00 and 17:00 and on Sundays between 11:00 and 17:00. * ''Hilchenhaus'', from the mid sixteenth century, is well known as the "loveliest

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

building on the Middle Rhine". At this time, however, it is a ruin owing to a failed hotel-building venture whose construction work wrought various damages and marring. Sadly, there is no money to renovate it again. * Nollig ruins, are the remains of the old town fortifications on a craggy ridge overlooking the town. * The ''Strunk'' (“Stump”), is an old fortification tower from 1527, which once also served as a prison. * ''Leprosenhaus'' (“Leprosy House”) with Round Tower – here in the Middle Ages, lepers were given care; at the time it still lay outside the town. * ''Hexenturm'' ("

Witches' Tower Witch tower or Witches' Tower (german: Hexenturm) is a common name or description in English and other European languages for a tower that was part of a medieval town wall or castle, often used as a prison or dungeon. History The name is derive ...

") – this served in the Middle Ages to keep wrongdoers and witches under lock and key. It was last used in the early eighteenth century.

Regular events

* ''Tal total'' is held yearly on the last Saturday in June. On this day, ''

Bundesstraße ''Bundesstraße'' (German for "federal highway"), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways. Germany Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km. German ''Bundesstraßen'' ...

'' 42 between Rüdesheim and Koblenz on the Rhine's right bank and ''Bundesstraße'' 9 on the left between Bingen and Koblenz are closed to motorized traffic and left free for cyclists and skaters. * ''

Kerb A curb (North American English), or kerb (Commonwealth English except Canada; see spelling differences), is the edge where a raised sidewalk or road median/central reservation meets a street or other roadway. History Although curbs have ...

'' (church consecration festival) is held yearly on the weekend after 8 September. * ''Kulturtage'' (“Culture Days”), occurs in late September and early October; theatre, concerts, exhibitions. * ''Weihnachtsmarkt'' (“Christmas Market”), is held annually on the Saturday before the onset of Advent. *

Rheingau Musik Festival The (RMF) is an international summer music festival in Germany, founded in 1987. It is mostly for classical music, but includes other genres. Concerts take place at culturally important locations, such as Eberbach Abbey and Schloss Johannisberg, ...

has held an annual concert in the church St. Martin, typically an organ concert, since 1988.

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

Lorch lies on ''

'' 42 ( Koblenz–Wiesbaden) and the

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line that roughly parallels it. It is some 40 km to the

Autobahn The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track' ...

interchange in

where the B 42 meets the A 66 going towards

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

. There is a connection to the Autobahn “cross” at

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

( A 61/ A 60, Cologne/Koblenz/Ludwigshafen) across the

Wiesbaden-Schierstein Schierstein is a southwestern borough of Wiesbaden, capital of state of Hesse, Germany. First mentioned in historical records in 860, Schierstein was incorporated into Wiesbaden in 1926. Today the borough has about 10,000 residents. Situated on the ...

bridge over the Rhine; and by way of the Rhine ferries at Lorch and

Kaub Kaub (old spelling: ''Caub'') is a town in Germany, state Rhineland-Palatinate, district Rhein-Lahn-Kreis. It is part of the municipality (''Verbandsgemeinde'') Loreley. It is located on the right bank of the Rhine, approx. 50 km west from Wi ...

to the on-ramps at Laudert and Rheinböllen (about 15 km). The town is served by regional services on the

East Rhine Railway The East Rhine Railway (German: ''Rechte Rheinstrecke'', literally 'right (of the) Rhine railway') is a major, double-track, electrified railway line, running along the right bank of the Rhine from Cologne to Wiesbaden. The -long line forms two D ...

Winegrowing

Winegrowing Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...

in Lorch is run within the Rheingau winegrowing region under the ''Großlage'' (roughly “vineyard group” or “appellation”) “Burgweg”. The individual vineyards are ''Schlossberg'' (53 ha), ''Kapellenberg'' (58 ha), ''Krone'' (13 ha), ''Pfaffenwies'' (35 ha), and ''Bodental-Steinberg'' (23 ha). The dominant grape variety is

Riesling Riesling (, ; ) is a white grape variety that originated in the Rhine region. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and sparkling wh ...

, but Pinot noir has a growing share of the harvest. From the wines, ''Edelbrände'' and

sekt Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While the phrase commonly refers to champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that term for products exclusively produced in the Champagne regi ...

are also produced. The grapes grow in hillside vineyards on stony, heat-storing slate- and

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tec ...

-bearing earth. The great expanse of water that is the Rhine accounts for the temperature balance, working as a reflector off which sunlight shines, thereby strengthening it.

Education

* Wisperschule (

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

)

Famous people

The town's noble family named itself “von Lorch”. Their most important representative was Johann Hilchen (1484–1548), knight and

Imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texa ...

field marshal.

Sons and daughters of the town

* Dr. Gerhard Schwenzer (b. 1938). From 1983 to 2005 he was the

Bishop of

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

People with links to the town

* Dr. Peter Paul Nahm (1901–1981), German politician ( CDU) and ''Staatssekretär'' (deputy to a cabinet minister).

References

External links

Documents

Bild von Lorch aus J.F. Dielmann, A. Fay, J. Becker (Zeichner): F.C. Vogels Panorama des Rheins, Bilder des rechten und linken Rheinufers, Lithographische Anstalt F.C. Vogel, Frankfurt 1833Bild der Ruine Nollingen aus J.F. Dielmann, A. Fay, J. Becker (Zeichner): F.C. Vogels Panorama des Rheins, Bilder des rechten und linken Rheinufers, Lithographische Anstalt F.C. Vogel, Frankfurt 1833Bild von Lorchhausen aus J.F. Dielmann, A. Fay, J. Becker (Zeichner): F.C. Vogels Panorama des Rheins, Bilder des rechten und linken Rheinufers, Lithographische Anstalt F.C. Vogel, Frankfurt 1833
{{Authority control World Heritage Sites in Germany Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis Rheingau