Ravengiersburg is an ''
Ortsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde (; plural Verbandsgemeinden) is a low-level administrative unit in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A Verbandsgemeinde is typically composed of a small group of villages or towns.
Rhineland ...
'' – a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
belonging to a ''
Verbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde (; plural Verbandsgemeinden) is a low-level administrative unit in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A Verbandsgemeinde is typically composed of a small group of villages or towns.
Rhinelan ...
'', a kind of collective municipality – in the
Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis
Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis is a district (german: Kreis) in the middle of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The neighbouring districts are (from north clockwise) Mayen-Koblenz, Rhein-Lahn, Mainz-Bingen, Bad Kreuznach, Birkenfeld, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Co ...
(
district
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...
) in
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde''
Simmern-Rheinböllen Simmern-Rheinböllen is a ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' is in Simmern. It was formed on 1 January 2020 by the merger of the former ' ...
, whose seat is in
Simmern
Simmern (; officially Simmern/Hunsrück) is a town of roughly 7,600 inhabitants (2013) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, the district seat of the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, and the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Simmern-Rheinböllen. In the Rhinelan ...
. Ravengiersburg is home to the ''Hunsrückdom'' – the “Hunsrück Cathedral” – the former resident canonical foundation's church.
Geography
Location
The municipality lies in the central
Hunsrück in the Simmerbach valley, roughly 5 km east of
Kirchberg and 6 km southwest of Simmern. The village's core gathers tightly around the monastery church. West of Ravengiersburg, the Kauerbach empties into the Simmerbach. The municipal area measures 6.16 km², of which 2.29 km² is wooded.
Constituent communities
Within Ravengiersburg's limits is an outlying
hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
named Neuhof.
History
In 974, Ravengiersburg had its first documentary mention. The name comes from Count ''Rabangar'', who in his time built a
castle on the steep crags overlooking the Simmerbach. The founding of the Ravengiersburg
Augustinian Canonical Foundation goes back to the year 1074. The monastery was founded on the site of the
Salian
The Salian dynasty or Salic dynasty (german: Salier) was a dynasty in the High Middle Ages. The dynasty provided four kings of Germany (1024–1125), all of whom went on to be crowned Holy Roman emperors (1027–1125).
After the death of the l ...
castle of the Counts in the ''
Trechirgau''. In the document dealing with land donations to the monastery, the name ''Hunsruche'' – Hunsrück – is mentioned for the first time.
In 1410, the monastery and the village passed to the newly created Duchy of
Palatinate-Simmern. The monastery grew up to become the greatest landowner between the
Moselle and the
Nahe. In 1564, however, when the
Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
was introduced into the duchy, the monastery was dissolved; several attempts to revive it all failed. In 1631, a definitive end was put to the Ravengiersburg Monastery in the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...
when
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
troops came and burnt it down. In 1673, the
Electorate of Trier became the landholder.
Charles III Philip, Elector Palatine
Charles III Philip (4 November 1661 – 31 December 1742) was Elector Palatine, Count of Palatinate-Neuburg, and Duke of Jülich and Berg from 1716 to 1742. Until 1728 he was also Count of Megen.
Biography
Born in Neuburg an der Donau, Charles P ...
had the church that still stands today built between 1718 and 1722. Beginning in 1794, Ravengiersburg lay under
French rule. In 1814 it was assigned to the Kingdom of
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...
at the
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...
. Since 1946, it has been part of the then newly founded
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
of
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 ...
.
Politics
Municipal council
The council is made up of 8 council members, who were elected by
majority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
Mayor
Ravengiersburg's mayor is Klaus Spang.
[
]
Culture and sightseeing
Buildings
The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:Directory of Cultural Monuments in Rhein-Hunsrück district
/ref>
* Former Augustinian canonical foundation (Ravengiersburg Monastery; ''see also below''), Hauptstraße (monumental zone) – former foundation church, Saint Christopher’s Church, Baroque aisleless church
An aisleless church (german: Saalkirche) is a single-nave church building that consists of a single hall-like room. While similar to the hall church, the aisleless church lacks aisles or passageways on either side of the nave and separated fr ...
, 1708-1711, Romanesque twin-tower façade, first fourth of the 12th century and first third of the 13th century; Baroque foundation building, extensively renovated in 1921; well hut, 18th century; former rectory, 1706; cross, marked ..43
* Evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...
church, Hauptstraße – Gothic Revival cruciform aisleless church, 1907/1908
* Hauptstraße 18 – timber-frame
Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...
house, early 18th century, on solid basement pedestal, 16th century
* Wayside chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...
, north of the village on ''Kreisstraße
A Kreisstraße (literally: "district road" or "county road") is a class of road in Germany. It carries traffic between the towns and villages within a '' Kreis'' or district or between two neighbouring districts. In importance, the ''Kreisstraße ...
'' 58 – quarrystone building; Mary
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religious contexts
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
, two saints, earlier half of the 17th century
Ravengiersburg Monastery
Foremost among the municipality’s points of interest is the Monastery whose church, the ''St. Christophorus-Kirche'' (Saint Christopher’s) has a Romanesque twin-tower façade. This imposing church is also called the ''Hunsrückdom'' (“Hunsrück Cathedral”), although it is not actually a cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...
.
Clubs
Active clubs include ''Ravenger e.V. für Brauchstumpflege'' (for fostering customs), an angling
Angling is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook or "angle" (from Old English ''angol'') attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated via a fishing rod, although rodless techni ...
club and HSV 70 (a sport club). Until 2006, the ''Katholische Arbeitnehmer-Bewegung'' (KAB; “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 ...
Employees’ Movement”) ran a great professional training operation in the monastery buildings. Also worth mentioning is the youth meeting centre, which has been running since 1978.
References
External links
Page about the “Hunsrück Cathedral”
{{Authority control
Municipalities in Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis