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

, 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 ...

. 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, 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 ...

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 federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia (23.0 km), Hesse (165.6 km), and Rhineland-Palatinate (57.0 km). It has its source in t ...

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 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 ...

. 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: ''Herzogtum Nassau'') was an independent state between 1806 and 1866, located in what is now the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. It was a member of the Confederation of the Rhine and later of the G ...

, which was annexed by

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 ...

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 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