Rheinbreitbach is a municipality in the district of Neuwied, in north 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 ...

, bordering

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 ...

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 ...

. Administratively it belongs to the municipality (''Verbandsgemeinde'') of

Unkel Unkel is a town in the district of Neuwied, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, near Remagen, about 20 km southeast of Bonn. Unkel is the seat of the '' Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipa ...

. The town is an officially recognized ''Fremdenverkehrsort'' (touristic locality).

Geography

Rheinbreitbach is located at the north end of the

Middle Rhine Between Bingen and Bonn, Germany, the river Rhine flows as the Middle Rhine (german: Mittelrhein) through the Rhine Gorge, a formation created by erosion, which happened at about the same rate as an uplift in the region, leaving the river a ...

and at the southern edge 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 König ...

. As a whole it is part of the Rhine Westerwald Volcanic Ridge (''Rheinwesterwälder Vulkanrücken''). The dimensions of its territory are approximately 7 (east–west) by 2 kilometres, its highest point is 375 m, near the summit of the Asberg. Most of the 6,58 km² area is forested (56.6%) and only a small portion is used agriculturally (8.5%).

History

The town, presumably founded in

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...

times is first mentioned in official documents in 966 under the name ''Breitenbach'', but finds of coins dated from 150 to 350 AD near the mining operation Virneberg (or ''Firneberg'') shows Roman presence in the region, presumably mining

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

. In the Middle Ages the town was surrounded by a wall and moat and sported four fortified gates. The town is first called "Rheinbreitbach" in 1604.

Mining

The mining of copper-ore and subsequent extraction of the copper is attested by various finds since mediaeval times in near the Virneberg, in Breite Heide. In 1604, one ''Bartholomäus Brück'' reopens the royal copper mines. In 1720 the complex had nearly a kilometer of shafts, and in 1744 eighty employees are registered. In this time the mine is renamed ''St. Jozefsstollen''. In 1756 a document mentions the use of 8000 pounds of ''Breitbacher kupfer'' to cast the bells of the

Bonn Minster Bonn Minster (german: Bonner Münster) is a Roman Catholic church in Bonn. It is one of Germany's oldest churches, having been built between the 11th and 13th centuries. At one point the church served as the de facto cathedral for the Archbishopric ...

. The mines are visited by a young

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, ...

during a study trip in 1789. In 1794 production was temporarily halted, but a new shaft, started in 1800 to a depth of 85 meters rendered the mine productive again. In 1840 the 51 miners produced 8500 tons of ore. In 1867 production came to a standstill once again at a depth of 138 meters. Another new shaft was drilled in 1870 reaching a depth of 255 meters, 117 meters below the Rhine, in 1880 but the operation was abandoned in 1886.

Viticulture

Apart from mining,

viticulture 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, ...

was a large part of the local economy. The first vineyard to be mentioned is that of ''Kloster Rolandswerth'', the current Nonnenwerth in 1143. The monasteries of Marienstatt and Schwarz-Rheindorf also grew wine here, as did the churches of St. Aposteln, St. Severin, St. Maria ad Gradus, St. Gereon and St. Martin. Also the local gentry, the, ''Freiherrn von Breidbach'' and even the

Counts of Berg Berg was a state—originally a county, later a duchy—in the Rhineland of Germany. Its capital was Düsseldorf. It existed as a distinct political entity from the early 12th to the 19th centuries. The name of the county lives on in the modern ...

owned vineyards here. The populace was employed on these estates as tenants, the so-called ''halfen'', who owed half or a third of the produce to their landlords, the clergy and the nobility. To prevent the stealing of grapes, special ''Traubenhüter'' (grape guards) were employed by the community. In 1661 110 vineyards are registered. The year 1889 is still remembered as a top year, grossing an estimated 100,000

Marks Marks may refer to: Business * Mark's, a Canadian retail chain * Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain * Collective trade marks, trademarks owned by an organisation for the benefit of its members * Marks & Co, the inspiration for the novel ...

. In the 20th century, however, viticulture in the community went into decline due to infestations of '' Reblaus''. Currently there are no vineyards in Rheinbreitbach.

References

External links