Trittenheim on the Middle Moselle is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – 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 ''
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.
Rhine ...
'', a kind of collective municipality – in the
Trier-Saarburg
Trier-Saarburg (; lb, Landkrees Tréier-Saarburg ) is a district in the west of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the north and clockwise) Bitburg-Prüm, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Birkenfeld, Sankt Wendel (Saarland), and ...
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 ...
(before January 2012:
Bernkastel-Wittlich
Bernkastel-Wittlich ( German: ''Landkreis Bernkastel-Wittlich'') is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Vulkaneifel, Cochem-Zell, Rhein-Hunsrück, Birkenfeld, Trier-Saa ...
district) 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 (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
.
Geography
Location
Trittenheim lies on the even slope of a tongue of land (a
point bar
A point bar is a depositional feature made of alluvium that accumulates on the inside bend of streams and rivers below the slip-off slope. Point bars are found in abundance in mature or meandering streams. They are crescent-shaped and located ...
) formed by a tight bend in the
Moselle
The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it jo ...
. Trittenheim belongs to the
''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Schweich an der Römischen Weinstraße, whose seat is in the town
Schweich
Schweich is a town in the Trier-Saarburg district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the river Moselle, approx. northeast of Trier.
Schweich is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Schweich an der R ...
.
Nearby cities and towns

The nearest
middle centre is
Bernkastel-Kues
Bernkastel-Kues () is a town on the Middle Moselle in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a well-known winegrowing centre. The town is a state-recognized health resort (''Erholungsort''), seat of the ' ...
, about 25 km away, and the nearest
upper centre is
Trier
Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...
, about 30 km away.
Other cities and towns within a 120 km radius are, with rough distances to each:
*
Schweich
Schweich is a town in the Trier-Saarburg district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the river Moselle, approx. northeast of Trier.
Schweich is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Schweich an der R ...
— 16 km
*
Wittlich
The town of Wittlich (; Moselle Franconian: ''Wittlech'') is the seat of the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Its historic town centre and the beauty of the surrounding countryside make the town a centre for tourism in ...
— 30 km
*
Kaiserslautern
Kaiserslautern (; Palatinate German: ''Lautre'') is a city in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfu ...
— 110 km
*
Koblenz
Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary.
Koblenz was established as a Roman military post by Drusus around 8 B.C. Its na ...
— 120 km
Also, it is roughly 40 km to the border with the
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...
.
History
Having been founded as a
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 ...
settlement, Trittenheim had its first documentary mention in 893 in the ''Prümer Urbar'', a catalogue of
Prüm Abbey
Prüm Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey in Prüm, now in the diocese of Trier (Germany), founded by the Frankish widow Bertrada the elder and her son Charibert, Count of Laon, in 721. The first abbot was Angloardus.
The Abbey ruled over a ...
’s holdings, and for a long time was
Electoral-Trier domain. Beginning in 1794, Trittenheim lay under
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...
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 1947, 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 ...
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 16 council members, who were elected by
proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
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:
Kommunalwahl Rheinland-Pfalz 2009, Gemeinderat
/ref>
Mayor
The current mayor is Franz-Josef Bollig.
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: Sable issuant from base an abbot’s staff terminating in a grapeleaf palewise inside the crook Or between in base an inescutcheon argent charged with a cross gules and a cross tau, the upper arms clechée, of the third.
Culture and sightseeing
* Late Baroque parish church with Early Classicist elements
*Five-part ''Bildstock
A wayside shrine is a religious image, usually in some sort of small shelter, placed by a road or pathway, sometimes in a settlement or at a crossroads, but often in the middle of an empty stretch of country road, or at the top of a hill or mo ...
'' cycle for the ''schmerzreicher Rosenkranz'' (“painful rose wreath”) of 1654
*Baptismal font
*Saint Lawrence’s Chapel (''Laurentius-Kapelle'') in the vineyards (expanded in 1583)
*''Hinkelstein'' (monolith)
Economy and infrastructure
Trittenheim is characterized considerably by winegrowing
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, ran ...
, and with 236 ha of vineyards under cultivation is after Piesport
Piesport is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Geography
Location
The municipality lies sur ...
, Zell Zell may refer to:
Places Austria
* Zell am See, in Salzburg state
* Zell am Ziller, in Tyrol
* Zell, Carinthia, in Carinthia
* in Upper Austria:
** Bad Zell
** Zell am Moos
** Zell an der Pram
** Zell am Pettenfirst
Germany
* Zell im Fichtelge ...
, Leiwen
Leiwen is a municipality in the Trier-Saarburg district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is within a ten-mile radius of the city of Trier. Leiwen is one of the most significant wine growing municipalities on the Moselle river.Leiwen village w ...
, Konz
Konz ( la, link=no, Contionacum) is a city in the Trier-Saarburg district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated at the confluence of the rivers Saar and Moselle, approx. 8 km southwest of Trier.
Konz is the seat of the ''Verbandsg ...
, Neumagen-Dhron
Neumagen-Dhron is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a state-recognized tourism community, ...
, Mehring
Mehring is a municipality in the district of Altötting in Bavaria in Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germ ...
and Bernkastel-Kues
Bernkastel-Kues () is a town on the Middle Moselle in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a well-known winegrowing centre. The town is a state-recognized health resort (''Erholungsort''), seat of the ' ...
the eighth biggest winegrowing centre in the Mosel wine region
Mosel () is one of 13 German wine regions (''Weinbaugebiete'') for quality wines (''Qualitätswein'', formerly ''QbA'' and ''Prädikatswein''), and takes its name from the Mosel River (french: Moselle; Luxembourgish: ''Musel''). Before 1 August 2 ...
. Traditionally, it is mainly Riesling
Riesling (, ; ) is a white grape variety that originated in the Rhine region. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and sparkling ...
that is grown. The best known vineyards are ''Trittenheimer Apotheke'' and ''Trittenheimer Altärchen'', both of which belong to the winemaking appellation – ''Großlage'' – of Piesporter Michelsberg. Winegrowing also forms the basis for the tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism ...
, which likewise stands as an important economic factor.
Famous people
In 1462, Johann Heidenberg, a humanist known as Johannes Trithemius
Johannes Trithemius (; 1 February 1462 – 13 December 1516), born Johann Heidenberg, was a German Benedictine abbot and a polymath who was active in the German Renaissance as a lexicographer, chronicler, cryptographer, and occultist. He is cons ...
(d. 1516 in Würzburg
Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the '' Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River.
Würzbur ...
) was born here.
In the outlying centre of Dhrönchen on the river Kleine Dhron, Stefan Andres
Stefan Paul Andres (26 June 1906 – 29 June 1970) was a German novelist.
He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
As the Nazi regime flexed its power, Andres moved away to Italy in 1937, returning to Germany 13 years later. He ...
, a well known German writer, was born.
In 1991, the Trittenheim Wine Queen, Lydia Bollig, was chosen as the 1991-1992 German Wine Queen
The German Wine Queen (german: Deutsche Weinkönigin) is the representative of the German wine industry. The Wine Queen is supported by two princesses, forming together the German Wine Ambassadors. She is elected, usually in the Palatine town ...
.
In 1999, the Trittenheim winemakers found no wine queen and instead made Togbui Ngoryifia Kosi Olatidoye Céphas Bansah – or Céphas Bansah for short – a king of 200,000 of the Ewe people
The Ewe people (; ee, Eʋeawó, lit. "Ewe people"; or ''Mono Kple Volta Tɔ́sisiwo Dome'', lit. "Ewe nation","Eʋenyigba" Eweland;) are a Gbe-speaking ethnic group. The largest population of Ewe people is in Ghana (6.0 million), and the second ...
in Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...
, who lives in Germany, the first and only Wine King. He runs an automotive workshop in Ludwigshafen
Ludwigshafen, officially Ludwigshafen am Rhein (; meaning "Ludwig's Port upon Rhine"), is a city in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, on the river Rhine, opposite Mannheim. With Mannheim, Heidelberg, and the surrounding region, it f ...
and governs his people by fax and email, even as he visits them quite often.
References
External links
Municipality’s official webpage
{{Authority control
Trier-Saarburg