Tiefenbach () is an – a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

belonging to a , a kind of collective municipality – in the

Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis is a district () 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, Cochem-Zell. His ...

(

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, municip ...

) 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 ...

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 ''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. Today's Tiefenbach grew together from two centres named Untertiefenbach and Obertiefenbach.

Geography

Location

The municipality lies in the

Hunsrück The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced mountain range, upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle (river), Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued ...

roughly 5 km south of Simmern and 9 km east of Kirchberg. To the east and south lies the Soonwald, a heavily wooded section of the west-central Hunsrück.

History

Tiefenbach's early history is linked with the Wildburg (

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

), which had its first documentary mention in 1253. Later, Tiefenbach, which lay at the northern foot of the Soonwald, was part of

Palatinate-Simmern The House of Palatinate-Simmern () was a German- Bavarian cadet branch of the House of Wittelsbach. The house was one of the collateral lineages of the Palatinate. It became the main branch in 1559. The Palatinate line of the House of Wittelsbac ...

, which in 1556 introduced the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

. In 1673, the village passed to the

Electorate of the Palatinate The Electoral Palatinate was a Imperial State, constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire until it was annexed by the Electorate of Baden in 1803. From the end of the 13th century, its ruler was one of the Prince-electors who elected the Holy ...

. Beginning in 1794, Tiefenbach lay under

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

rule. In 1815 it was assigned to the Kingdom of

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, ...

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, Napol ...

. In 1912, a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

was built. After the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the village was once again occupied by the French for a time. In the 1930s, the local ore mine, "Märkerei", was shut down. Since 1946, Tiefenbach has been part of the then newly founded

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

. In 1961, the

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

church was built. In 1921, Tiefenbach was linked to the

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

network, complete with a

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

. This line, running between Simmern and Gemünden, was abandoned in 1963; by 1965, all the tracks had been torn up. Until 2006, there was still a

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide ...

on the former line, but this had by then fallen into such disrepair that it was decided to demolish it with explosives. The old railway embankment northeast of Tiefenbach has, however, been preserved. The last road underpass on this embankment was demolished in 2009.

Politics

Municipal council

The council is made up of 12 council members, who were elected by

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman. The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:

Mayor

Tiefenbach's mayor is Thorsten Fuchs.

Coat of arms

The municipality's

arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

might be described thus: A closet and an endorse, couped at the upper end at the closet, Or between, in dexter, sable an arming buckle argent and in sinister sable a lion rampant of the first armed and langued gules, in chief bendy lozengy of the third and azure with a hammer and pick per saltire to dexter of the second. The top of the

escutcheon Escutcheon may refer to: * Escutcheon (heraldry), a shield or shield-shaped emblem, displaying a coat of arms * Escutcheon (furniture), a metal plate that surrounds a keyhole or lock cylinder on a door * (in medicine) the distribution of pubic ha ...

bears the "bendy lozengy" pattern (that is, slanted diamonds) once also borne by the

. This is

charge Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * '' Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...

d with a

hammer and pick The hammer and pick, rarely referred to as hammer and chisel, is a symbol of mining, often used in heraldry. It can indicate mining, mines (especially on maps or in cartography), or miners, and is also borne as a charge in the coats of arms of ...

, which stand for the

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

formerly done here. The

Palatine Lion The Palatine Lion (), less commonly the Palatinate Lion, is an heraldic charge (see also: heraldic lions). It was originally part of the family coat of arms of the House of Wittelsbach and is found today on many coats of arms of municipalities ...

on the sinister (armsbearer's left, viewer's right) side is likewise a reference to the village's former allegiance to the

. The silver buckle on the dexter (armsbearer's right, viewer's left) side stands for the Barons of Schmidtburg,

waldgrave The first Waldgraves or Wildgraves (Latin: ''comites silvestres'') descended from a division of the House of the Counts of Nahegau in the year 1113. When the (a countship named after the river Nahe) split into two parts in 1113, the count ...

s who had several holdings in the village. The arms have been borne since 22 September 1980.

Culture and sightseeing

Buildings

The following are listed buildings or sites in

's Directory of Cultural Monuments:Directory of Cultural Monuments in Rhein-Hunsrück district
/ref> * Hauptstraße – bakehouse (''Duhle Backes''), one-floor plastered building, 19th century * Hauptstraße 9 –

timber-frame Timber framing () 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 pegs. If the struc ...

house, partly solid or slated, 19th century * Hauptstraße 10 – timber-frame house, half-hipped roof, first third of the 19th century * Hauptstraße 28 – estate complex along the street; timber-frame, partly solid or slated, latter half of the 19th century, timber-frame barn, partly solid, late 19th century Tiefenbach also has two churches, a

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

figure standing on the slope, an old ore mine and the Wildburg (

Village life

The ''Wildburghalle'' was built in 1988 as a multipurpose hall. Several clubs, among them the sport club, a motor sport club and the volunteer

fire brigade A fire department (North American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire company, fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and ...

, shape social and cultural life in the village. Also, there is an

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

Economy and infrastructure

Tourism

The ''

Schinderhannes Johannes Bückler ( 177821 November 1803; ) was a German outlaw who orchestrated one of the most famous crime sprees in German history. He has been nicknamed Schinderhannes and Schinnerhannes () in German and John the Scorcher, John the Flayer ...

-Soonwald-Radweg'' (cycle path) from Gemünden to Simmern runs through the village. Farther away is the newly blazed ''Soonwaldsteig''

hiking A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time. "Hi ...

trail. File:Tiefenbach01.jpg, Village centre on the Brühlbach File:Tiefenbach07.jpg, Dorfstraße File:Tiefenbach03.jpg, View from the Soonwald File:Tiefenbach09.jpg, Impressions on the village outskirts

References

{{Authority control Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis