Cramberg is a municipality in the Nassau Nature Park in the district of Rhein-Lahn, in

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) 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 sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

, in western

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It belongs to the association community of Diez.

Geography

Cramberg is situated at the foothills of the

Taunus The Taunus () is a mountain range in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, located north west of Frankfurt and north of Wiesbaden. The tallest peak in the range is '' Großer Feldberg'' at 878 m; other notable peaks are '' Kleiner Feldberg' ...

in the western Hintertaunus on the edge of a steep slope above the

Lahn The Lahn () is a , right (or eastern) tributary of the Rhine in Germany. Its course passes through the States of Germany, federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia (23.0 km), Hesse (165.6 km), and Rhineland-Palatinate (57.0 km). ...

at 200 m above sea level, about 100 metres above the course of the Lahn river at the so-called "Cramberger Bogen". The Lahn forms the boundary of the municipality over a distance of about 7.5 km.

History

Cramberg was first documented in 1261. A chapel was first mentioned in 1319, a second one was built in 1516. The Protestant church in its present form dates from 1791. In 1348 a castle was built by Heinrich von Crampburg, but it was heavily damaged during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

. Its remains served as a quarry in the 19th century, so that today, apart from the remains of the cellar vaults, nothing remains of this castle. From 1806 the village was part of the

Duchy of Nassau The Duchy of Nassau (German language, German: ''Herzogtum Nassau'') was an independent state between 1806 and 1866, located in what became the Germany, German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. It was a States of the Confederation of th ...

, which was annexed by

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

in 1866. Since 1946 the village has been part of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. In the 17th century an elementary school was established in Cramberg, the lessons were first held in the private homes of the teachers. It was not until 1736 that a residential building was acquired, which was used as a school. The first school was replaced by a new building in 1782, this building was demolished in 1978 and stood on the place where the village square is today. The population developed in the 19th and 20th century as follows: 1843: 476 inhabitants, 1927: 545 inhabitants, 1964: 561 inhabitants. 2017 Cramberg Ev

Buildings

Below the village of Cramberg lies the Lahn power station, which was completed in 1927. In 1926, an approximately 700 m long water tunnel was dug at the narrow point of the " Cramberger Bogen", which connects the Lahn above and below the "Cramberger Bogen", while the Lahn flows around the "Cramberger Bogen" for about 7 km. The water drives three turbines at the lower end of the tunnel due to the difference in height of 9 m. The Lahn power station has a capacity of 3.2 MW and generates 18 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year. Since 1862, trains on the

Lahntal railway The Lahntal railway or Lahn Valley Railway (German: ''Lahntalbahn'') is a railway line between Niederlahnstein in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate to Wetzlar in Hesse, partly following the Lahn valley (''Lahntal''). Its western terminus w ...

have been running through the 732 m long Cramberg Tunnel. At the time of its commissioning, the Cramberg Tunnel was the longest tunnel in Germany.

References

Municipalities in Rhineland-Palatinate Rhein-Lahn-Kreis {{RheinLahn-geo-stub