Kastellaun
Encyclopedia

Climate

Yearly precipitation
Precipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...

 in Kastellaun amounts to 755 mm, which falls into the middle third of the precipitation chart for all Germany. At 53% of the German Weather Service’s weather station
Weather station
A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for observing atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind...

s, lower figures recorded. The driest month is April. The most rainfall comes in June. In that month, precipitation is 1.4 times what it is in April. Precipitation varies only slightly and is spread very evenly throughout the year. Only at 1% of the weather stations are lower seasonal swings recorded.

History

In 1226, Kestilun had its first documentary mention. The like-named castle
Castle Kastellaun
Castle Kastellaun is a ruined medieval castle in Kastellaun in the Rhein-Hunsrück district in Rheinland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :The ruins of the castle are on the castle hill above the town of Kastellaun and are connected to the former wall of the town.- History :Constructed in the 13th...

 was built by the Counts of Sponheim
County of Sponheim
The County of Sponheim was an independent territory in the Holy Roman Empire which lasted from the 11th century until the early 19th century...

 and belonged until 1417 to the “Further” County of Sponheim.

In 1301, the castle and the town became home to Simon II of Sponheim and his wife Elisabeth. Count Simon granted Kastellaun town rights in 1305 and also secured market rights on 8 November 1309 from Emperor Henry VII
Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry VII was the King of Germany from 1308 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1312. He was the first emperor of the House of Luxembourg...

, who was the brother of Baldwin of Luxembourg, Archbishop of Trier. In 1321, the castle and the town found themselves under siege
Siege
A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit". Generally speaking, siege warfare is a form of constant, low intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static...

 from Baldwin, who in 1325 also built another castle at Buch
Buch, Rhein-Hunsrück
-History:In 1052, Buch had its first documentary mention. In 1332, Louis the Bavarian acknowledged to Archbishop Baldwin of Trier all the holdings of the Archiepiscopal Foundation of Trier, among which were Balduinseck and Buch. Buch belonged to the Beltheim court. Until the late 15th century, it...

, Burg Balduinseck, to counter Kastellaun’s challenges to his authority. In 1340, Count Walram of Sponheim left Kastellaun and went to Bad Kreuznach
Bad Kreuznach
Bad Kreuznach is the capital of the district of Bad Kreuznach, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is located on the Nahe river, a tributary of the Rhine...

.
In 1437, the Counts of Sponheim died out, and the inheritance fell with the Amt of Kastellaun to the Lords of Palatinate-Zweibrücken
Palatinate-Zweibrücken
Palatinate-Zweibrücken is a former state of the Holy Roman Empire. Its capital was Zweibrücken.-Overview:→ History before 1394 see main article County of Zweibrücken→ History before 1444 see main article County of Veldenz...

 and Baden
Baden
Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....

, who ruled it jointly. Frederick I acquired the Principality of Simmern and a share of the County of Sponheim from the Veldenz legacy, which he ruled, after the last Count of Veldenz had died, from Kastellaun. He was therefore the actual founder of the Palatinate-Simmern line. Frederick I and his brother Louis
Louis I, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken
Louis I of Zweibrücken was Count Palatine and Duke of Zweibrücken and of Veldenz in 1444–1489.He was the younger son of Stefan, Count Palatine of Simmern-Zweibrücken and his wife Anna, heiress of the County of Veldenz, whom he had wed in 1409. Although Anne died in 1439, her widower did not...

 divided their father’s holdings between them once again in 1459. Louis got the Duchy of Zweibrücken and Frederick resided in Simmern. The Palatinate-Simmern share of the County of Sponheim passed in 1560 to Palatinate-Zweibrücken and in 1569 to Palatinate-Birkenfeld
House of Palatinate-Birkenfeld
Palatinate-Birkenfeld , later Palatinate-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld, was the name of a collateral line of the Palatine Wittelsbachs. The Counts Palatine from this line initially ruled over only a relatively unimportant territory, namely the Palatine share of the Rear County of Sponheim; however, their...

 under Zweibrücken hegemony.

Living at the castle until 1594 were various bailiffs (Amtmänner) who represented the joint lords’ (the County of Veldenz, the Margraviate of Baden, Palatinate-Simmern and Palatinate-Zweibrücken) interests. Margrave Edward Fortunatus was driven out of Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden is a spa town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the western foothills of the Black Forest, on the banks of the Oos River, in the region of Karlsruhe...

 in 1594 and sought refuge at the castle, thereby making it a residence once again. In the course of the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....

 (1618-1648), the town was occupied by Spaniards
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, Swedes
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, Lorrains, Hessians and Frenchmen
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. Great Plague epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...

s raged.

The Sponheim lordship began to come to an end in 1687 as many parts of the Rhine’s left bank were being occupied by King Louis XIV’s
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...

 troops in the Nine Years' War (known in Germany as the Pfälzischer Erbfolgekrieg, or War of the Palatine Succession). The main result of the occupation for Kastellaun was the castle’s and the town’s destruction. In 1776, the joint lordship ended definitively, and the Amt and town of Kastellaun passed to Palatinate-Zweibrücken.

During the French Revolutionary Wars
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...

, the region was occupied in 1793 and 1794 by French troops and in 1798 it was assigned to the Department of Rhin-et-Moselle
Rhin-et-Moselle
Rhin-et-Moselle is the name of a département of the First French Empire in present Germany. It is named after the rivers Rhine and Moselle. It was formed in 1798, when the left bank of the Rhine was annexed by France. Until the French occupation, its territory was divided between the Archbishopric...

, thereby making it French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 until the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...

 in 1815. Then, Kastellaun became part of the Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

n Rhine Province
Rhine Province
The Rhine Province , also known as Rhenish Prussia or synonymous to the Rhineland , was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822-1946. It was created from the provinces of the Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg...

.

In 1820, the castle passed into private ownership. In 1884, the town bought the property and gave the ruin its first renovation.

Since 1946, Kastellaun has been part of the then newly founded state
States of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...

 of Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....

. On 14 September 1969, it was granted town rights once again.

The castle hill and the ruins underwent renovation and restoration once again between 1990 and 1993. In 1999, the first castle house was rebuilt, followed by a second in 2005. On 9 September 2007, a documentation centre was dedicated as the “House of Regional History”.

Town council

The council is made up of 22 council members, who were elected by proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...

 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:
  SPD
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

 
CDU  FDP
Free Democratic Party (Germany)
The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government...

 
FWG Total
2009 6 9 1 6 22 seats
2004 6 10 6 22 seats

Mayor

Kastellaun’s mayor is Dr. Marlok Bröhr, and his deputies are Anette Kramb, Karl-Heinz Faber and Katharina Groß.

Coat of arms

The town’s arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

 might be described thus: Sable a fess countercompony gules and argent, in chief two crowns in fess Or.

The arms recall those formerly borne by the Counts of Sponheim
County of Sponheim
The County of Sponheim was an independent territory in the Holy Roman Empire which lasted from the 11th century until the early 19th century...

, which featured a “chequy” pattern. The two crowns are said to symbolize two of the counts who held sway here. These arms appear on the town seal as early as the 15th century.

In the 1920s, Otto Hupp
Otto Hupp
Otto Hupp was a German graphical artist. His main working area was heraldry, yet he also worked as a typeface designer, creating commercial symbols and metal works....

 showed a somewhat different coat of arms for Kastellaun in the Coffee Hag albums
Coffee Hag albums
The Coffee Hag albums were published in the early 20th century by the Kaffee Handelsgesellschaft AG in Bremen, Germany, starting with heraldic stamps and collector's albums....

, with azure (blue) as the field tincture
Tincture (heraldry)
In heraldry, tinctures are the colours used to emblazon a coat of arms. These can be divided into several categories including light tinctures called metals, dark tinctures called colours, nonstandard colours called stains, furs, and "proper". A charge tinctured proper is coloured as it would be...

 instead of sable (black), and with 14 squares of alternating tinctures on the fess (horizontal stripe) instead of 12. The composition of charge
Charge (heraldry)
In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon . This may be a geometric design or a symbolic representation of a person, animal, plant, object or other device...

s, however, was otherwise the same as in the arms borne now.

Town partnerships

Kastellaun fosters partnerships with the following places: Prémery
Prémery
Prémery is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France.-References:*...

, Nièvre
Nièvre
Nièvre is a department in the centre of France named after the Nièvre River.-History:Nièvre is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...

, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...


Buildings

The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....

’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
  • Castle Kastellaun
    Castle Kastellaun
    Castle Kastellaun is a ruined medieval castle in Kastellaun in the Rhein-Hunsrück district in Rheinland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :The ruins of the castle are on the castle hill above the town of Kastellaun and are connected to the former wall of the town.- History :Constructed in the 13th...

     ruin (monumental zone) – ruin of the wedge-shaped complex founded in the early 14th century and destroyed in 1689 with upper and lower castle; lodging building with, in places, three-floor-high west wall and the west half of the adjoining rectangular tower, both with arch friezes; rectangular building attested by digs; keep
    Keep
    A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...

    ; on the site of the lower castle the Catholic church
  • Evangelical
    Evangelical Church in Germany
    The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...

     church, Kirchplatz 4 – triple nave, earlier half of the 14th century; tower possibly from the earlier half of the 14th century; quire, 15th century
  • Catholic Church of the Holy Cross (Kirche zum Hl. Kreuz), Schloßstraße 17 – Gothic Revival
    Gothic Revival architecture
    The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...

     basilica, 1899-1902, architect Eduard Endler, Cologne
    Cologne
    Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

  • Town fortifications – Parts of walls from the former trapezoidal town fortifications, possibly from the earlier half of the 14th century; preserved, a stretch of wall along the backs of the houses on Burgweg and west of the Evangelical church; at Burgweg 6 a reconstructed gate; parts of a wall in the back parts of Eifelstraße 13 and 15, beside those reconstructed wall with parapet walk; remnants of a tower and a gateway arch near Marktstraße 14; parallel to Marktstraße and below the Evangelical church parts of the moat on the north side
  • Bahnhofstraße 17 – two-winged Renaissance Revival building, about 1900
  • Bahnhofstraße 23 – villa, pyramidal roof, about 1920
  • Bahnhofstraße 38 – stately building with hipped roof with Expressionist
    Expressionist architecture
    Expressionist architecture was an architectural movement that developed in Europe during the first decades of the 20th century in parallel with the expressionist visual and performing arts....

     portal, marked 1922
  • Bahnhofstraße 54 – detached house, partly timber-frame
    Timber framing
    Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...

    , marked 1921
  • Bopparder Straße 11 – building with hipped roof, marked 1808
  • Bucher Straße 10 – former parish church (Pfarrkirche Hl. Kreuz); aisleless church
    Aisleless church
    An Aisleless church is a single-nave church building that consists of a single hall-like room. While similar to the hall church, the aisleless church lacks aisles or passageways either side of the nave separated from the nave by colonnades or arcades, a row of pillars or columns...

    , 1728; graveyard: graveyard cross, 1858; two grave crosses, 18th century, three basalt
    Basalt
    Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...

     grave crosses, 19th century; five cast-iron
    Cast iron
    Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...

     grave crosses, Rheinböllen
    Rheinböllen
    Rheinböllen is a town in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde, and also belongs to it.-Location:...

     Ironworks, late 19th century; whole complex of buildings
  • Burgweg 8 – former Catholic school
    School
    A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...

    ; Late Classicist
    Classicism
    Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...

     slate quarrystone building, shortly before 1845
  • Burgweg 10 – timber-frame house, partly solid, plastered, 18th century, timber-frame addition
  • Kirchstraße 13/15 – timber-frame house, half-hipped roof, 17th century
  • Kirchstraße 17 – broadly seated half-hipped roof, partly timber-frame, plastered, about 1700
  • Beside Marktstraße 14 – town wall gateway arch, marked 1747; town wall tower
  • Marktstraße 14 – two-winged, three-floor timber-frame house, partly solid and slated, marked 1755, expansion/alterations in the 19th century
  • Marktstraße 16 – timber-frame house, plastered, rich stucco
    Stucco
    Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...

    , caryatid
    Caryatid
    A caryatid is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term karyatides literally means "maidens of Karyai", an ancient town of Peloponnese...

    s, about 1890
  • Marktstraße 17 – former hotel
    Hotel
    A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...

     “Zum Schwanen”; timber-frame house, partly solid, hipped mansard roof
    Mansard roof
    A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...

    , possibly from the 17th century
  • Marktstraße 22 – former Scharfensteiner Hof; three-floor timber-frame house, partly solid and slated, hipped mansard roof, marked 1724
  • Schloßstraße 5a – timber-frame house, partly solid, mansard roof, possibly from the early 18th century
  • Schloßstraße 7 – timber-frame house, partly solid, plastered, mansard roof, early 19th century
  • Schloßstraße 10 – former Catholic rectory; building with hipped mansard roof, 18th century
  • Schloßstraße 11 – former financial office of the Margraves of Baden and the Dukes of Palatinate-Zweibrücken; today a Catholic rectory, two-winged timber-frame house, partly solid and slated, about 1700
  • Schloßstraße 15 – former tithe barn; one-floor building with hipped mansard roof, 18th century
  • Schloßstraße 19 – former Badish Amt winery; building with hipped mansard roof, marked 1670
  • Jewish
    Judaism
    Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

     graveyard, Hasselbacher Straße (monumental zone) – founded about 1879, 37 grave steles from 1885 to 1933
  • warriors’ memorial 1870/1871, Am Pfingstwald – sandstone
    Sandstone
    Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

     obelisk

Sport and leisure

On the town’s southeastern outskirts is found an indoor swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...

 with an integrated medical rehabilitation centre, and a sport and fitness area. Right nearby is a miniature golf
Miniature golf
Miniature golf, or minigolf, is a miniature version of the sport of golf. While the international sports organization World Minigolf Sport Federation prefers to use the name "minigolf", the general public in different countries has also many other names for the game: miniature golf, mini-golf,...

 course.

Since May 2008 there has been the Kyrill Path. Part of the woodlands laid waste by this 2007 hurricane-strength windstorm has been made publicly accessible. Along the 800 m-long path leading through 1.5 ha of woodland devastated by windthrow
Windthrow
In forestry, windthrow refers to trees uprooted or broken by wind. Breakage of the tree bole instead of uprooting is sometimes called windsnap.- Causes :...

, the visitor can get an idea of the destruction wrought by Kyrill and also learn something about the new forest now springing up. Ten information stations deal in detail with geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

, pedology
Pedology (soil study)
Pedology is the study of soils in their natural environment. It is one of two main branches of soil science, the other being edaphology...

, root development, climate
Climate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...

, weather
Weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...

, life in dead wood, the bark beetle
Bark beetle
A bark beetle is one of approximately 220 genera with 6,000 species of beetles in the subfamily Scolytinae. Traditionally, this was considered a distinct family Scolytidae, but now it is understood that bark beetles are in fact very specialized members of the "true weevil" family...

’s voraciousness, natural and artificial forest rejuvenation, mechanized wood harvesting and modern forestry
Forestry
Forestry is the interdisciplinary profession embracing the science, art, and craft of creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated resources in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values for human benefit. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands...

.

Near the Kyrill Path, a ropes course
Ropes course
A ropes course is a challenging outdoor personal development and team building activity which usually consists of high and/or low elements. Low elements take place on the ground or only a few feet above the ground...

 and a barefoot path were opened in May 2008.

Along Kastellaun’s southern outskirts, along the old Hunsrückbahn (railway) right-of-way, runs the Schinderhannes
Schinderhannes
Johannes Bückler , nicknamed Schinderhannes, was a German outlaw who orchestrated one of the most fascinating crime sprees in German history. He was born at Miehlen, the son of Johann and Anna Maria Bückler. He began an apprenticeship to a tanner, but turned to petty theft. At 16 he was arrested...

-Radweg (cycle path). This begins in Simmern
Simmern
Simmern is a town of 8,000 inhabitants in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, the district seat of the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, and the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde...

 and leads by Kastellaun on the way to Emmelshausen
Emmelshausen
Emmelshausen is a town in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde, to which it also belongs...

.

Near Kastellaun lies the former Pydna Missile Base, where each year, an open-air electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

 festival called Nature One
Nature One
Nature One is one of the largest European open air Electronic music festivals, featuring many renowned DJs from Germany and all over the world. In significance it is not as big as Mayday nor as old, having started 3 years later than the Mayday festival...

 is held.

Among the many clubs, there is the Kastellaun Gymnastics Club (Turnverein Kastellaun), part of the widely known Kastellaun-Simmern Handball
Team handball
Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...

 Playing Association (Handballspielgemeinschaft Kastellaun-Simmern).

Education

Located in Kastellaun are one primary school, an Integrierte Gesamtschule (IGS; a comprehensive school that combines Hauptschule
Hauptschule
A Hauptschule is a secondary school in Germany and Austria, starting after 4 years of elementary schooling, which offers Lower Secondary Education according to the International Standard Classification of Education...

, Realschule
Realschule
The Realschule is a type of secondary school in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia , Denmark , Sweden , Hungary and in the Russian Empire .-History:The Realschule was an outgrowth of the rationalism and empiricism of the seventeenth and...

 and Gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...

 streams) with a gymnasial upper level, the Theodor Heuss
Theodor Heuss
Theodor Heuss was a liberal German politician who served as the first President of the Federal Republic of Germany after World War II from 1949 to 1959...

 School for the Mentally Handicapped/School for the Physically Handicapped and the Kastellaun Free Waldorf
Waldorf schools
This History of Waldorf schools includes descriptions of the schools' historical foundations, geographical distribution and internal governance structures.-The first Waldorf schools:...

 School.

Other institutions

The Julius-Reuß-Wohnheim is an institution geared to help people with disabilities. It is among the so-called Schmiedelanstalten (roughly “Swamp Institutions” – named for the wetland
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....

 area where they were originally found; Julius Reuß was their founder) and is located in a residential neighbourhood between the town centre and the industrial park. It collaborates with the other institutions in town dedicated to care of the handicapped, namely the Theodor Heuss Schools mentioned above along with their special kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...

 for children with mental disabilities, the workshop and the daytime assistance centre at the Rhein-Mosel-Werkstätten (“Rhine-Moselle Workshops”) and the home of the club Betreutes Wohnen Hunsrück e.V. (“Hunsrück Assisted Living
Assisted living
Assisted living residences or assisted living facilities provide supervision or assistance with activities of daily living ; coordination of services by outside health care providers; and monitoring of resident activities to help to ensure their health, safety, and well-being.Assistance may...

”) for those with physical illnesses.

Tourism

The town takes it upon itself to promote tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

. On offer are guided tours through the Old Town and to the castle ruins. The most important buildings and sites and historical events from the castle’s and the town’s history are described and explained on these tours by expert guides. The small, traditional Bell
Bell, Rhein-Hunsrück
-History:In 1220, Bell had its first documentary mention in the directory of yearly payments to the Archbishopric of Trier, the liber annalium. Even so, Bell is a much older settlement. The name itself is pre-Germanic, being a Celtic word for a hill or a settlement in the heights...

 Leisure Park lies right nearby.

Kastellaun lies on the Deutsche Alleenstraße (Germany’s longest themed holiday road, featuring many Alleen – tree-lined avenues).

Bundeswehr post

Kastellaun has been home since 20 March 1964 to a Bundeswehr
Bundeswehr
The Bundeswehr consists of the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities...

 barracks, which houses Command Support Battalion (Führungsunterstützungsbataillon) 282.

Sons and daughters of the town

  • Philipp Christoph Reichsritter von Sötern (1567–1652), Archbishop and Elector of Trier
  • Eberhard Kieser (b. 2. Dezember 1583 in Kastellaun; d. November 1631 in Frankfurt
    Frankfurt
    Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...

    ) German engraver
    Engraving
    Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...

     and publisher
    Publishing
    Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...

  • Arnold Constantin Peter Franz von Lasaulx
    Arnold von Lasaulx
    Arnold Constantin Peter Franz von Lasaulx was a German mineralogist and petrographer.He was born at Kastellaun near Coblenz, and educated at the University of Berlin, where he took his Ph. D. in 1868. In 1871 he became professor of mineralogy at Breslau, and in 1880 professor of mineralogy and...

     (b. 14 June 1839; d. 25 January 1886) German mineralogist and petrographer
    Petrography
    Petrography is a branch of petrology that focuses on detailed descriptions of rocks. Someone who studies petrography is called a petrographer. The mineral content and the textural relationships within the rock are described in detail. Petrographic descriptions start with the field notes at the...

  • Heinrich Friedrich Zimmer
    Heinrich Zimmer (Celticist)
    Heinrich Friedrich Zimmer was a German Celticist and Indologist.Born to a farming family in Kastellaun in the Rhineland-Palatinate in western Germany, he studied ancient languages at Kaiser Wilhelm University in Strassburg, going on to study Indology and Sanskrit under Rudolf von Roth at the...

     (1851–1910), Celticist
    Celtic Studies
    Celtic studies is the academic discipline occupied with the study of any sort of cultural output relating to a Celtic people. This ranges from linguistics, literature and art history archaeology and history, the focus lying on the study of the various Celtic languages, living and extinct...

     and Indologist
    Indology
    Indology is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent , and as such is a subset of Asian studies....

    ; first German professor of Celtic studies
  • Albrecht Koschorke (b. 1958), literary critic
    Literary criticism
    Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...

     at the University of Konstanz
    University of Konstanz
    The University of Konstanz is a university in the city of Konstanz in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was founded in 1966, and the main campus on the Gießberg was opened in 1972. As one of nine German Excellence Universities today University of Konstanz is counted among Germany's most prestigious...


Famous people associated with the town

  • Heinrich Barenbroch (about 1525–1587), Evangelical
    Evangelical Church in Germany
    The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...

     clergyman and reformer of the city of Essen
    Essen
    - Origin of the name :In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it is commonly known as the German infinitive of the verb for the act of eating, and/or the German noun for food. Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of...

  • Edward Fortunatus (1565–1600), Regent of the Margraviate of Baden-Baden, died at Castle Kastellaun
    Castle Kastellaun
    Castle Kastellaun is a ruined medieval castle in Kastellaun in the Rhein-Hunsrück district in Rheinland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :The ruins of the castle are on the castle hill above the town of Kastellaun and are connected to the former wall of the town.- History :Constructed in the 13th...

  • Friedrich Back (1801–1879), Evangelical clergyman, superintendent and Heimatforscher.
  • Friedrich Hachenberg (1915–1992), forester, from 1951 to 1968 led the Kastellaun forestry
    Forestry
    Forestry is the interdisciplinary profession embracing the science, art, and craft of creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated resources in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values for human benefit. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands...

     office and published several books and papers about the forests around the town
  • Karl-August von Dahl (b. 1942), Evangelical clergyman, in the 1980s one of the organizers and one of the most important minds of the movement for peace and against the stationing of US nuclear missiles in the Hunsrück
  • Jutta Renate von Dahl (b.1943), Evangelical clergywoman, in 1988 the first awarded the Aachen Peace Prize (Aachener Friedenspreis) for her involvement in the peace movement
    Peace movement
    A peace movement is a social movement that seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war , minimize inter-human violence in a particular place or type of situation, often linked to the goal of achieving world peace...

  • Christian W. Schenk (b. 1951), German-Romanian lyricist, essayist, translator and publisher, lives in Kastellaun

Further reading

  • Kastellaun in der Geschichte. Herausgegeben von der Familienstiftung Pies-Archiv, der Integrierten Gesamtschule Kastellaun und der Stadt Kastellaun in Verbindung mit dem Forschungszentrum Vorderhunsrück
    • Band 1: Christof Pies (Red.): Gemeinsame Erinnerung. Jüdische Überlebende des Nationalsozialismus begegnen Bürgern und Schülern ihrer Heimatstadt. Projektwoche der Gesamtschule Kastellaun „Judentum und Nationalsozialismus“. Staatliche Integrierte Gesamtschule Kastellaun und Stadt Kastellaun, Kastellaun 1989, 220 S.
    • Band 2: Eike Pies: Bürgerbücher der Stadt und des Amtes Kastellaun. (1568 - 1798). Pies, Sprockhövel 1991, 675 S., ISBN 3-928441-05-1
    • Band 3: Bernd König et al.: Das Wahrzeichen Kastellauns, seine Burg. Pies und Stadt Kastellaun, Dommershausen und Kastellaun 1994, 207 S., ISBN 3-928441-15-9 oder ISBN 3-928441-15-9
    • Band 4: Josef Peil (Zusammenstellung) et al.: Streiflichter. Zeugnisse aus dem Leben der Stadt Kastellaun und ihrer Bewohner. Pies und Stadt Kastellaun, Dommershausen und Kastellaun 1996, 292 S., ISBN 3-928441-27-2
    • Band 5: Friedrich Hachenberg: Wald um Kastellaun. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Stadtwaldes. Abschließend bearbeitet durch Franz-Josef Boeder. Pies und Stadt Kastellaun, Dommershausen und Kastellaun 1998, 183 S., ISBN 3-928441-34-5
    • Band 6: Michael Frauenberger: Bürgerbücher für das Amt Kastellaun (1568 - 1798). Band 2: Die lutherischen Pfarreien Alterkülz (mit Michelbach und teilweise Neuerkirch), Bell (mit Hasselbach, Hundheim, Krastel, Leideneck, Spesenroth, Völkenroth und Wohnroth), Gödenroth (mit Heyweiler), Roth (mit Hollnich) und Uhler ab 1701. Pies, Dommershausen 1999, 739 (XIX) S., ISBN 3-928441-38-8
    • Band 7: Eric Beres: Auswanderung aus dem Hunsrück 1815 - 1871. Strukturen, Ursachen und Folgen am Beispiel der ehemaligen Bürgermeisterei Kastellaun. [Veränderte Magisterarbeit.] Pies und Stadt Kastellaun, Dommershausen und Kastellaun 2001, 178 S., ISBN 3-928441-41-8
    • Band 8: Christof Pies (Red.), Rolf Claus et al.: Augenblicke – von Kestilun nach Kastellaun. Pies, Sprockhövel 2008, 243 S., ISBN 978-3-928441-70-4
  • Hubert Leifeld, Karl Peter Wiemer (Red.): Kastellaun. Burg und Stadt im vorderen Hunsrück. Rheinische Kunststätten (Heft 461). Rheinischer Verein für Denkmalpflege und Landschaftsschutz. Neusser Druckerei und Verlag, Neuss 2001, 39 S., ISBN 3-88094-877-1
  • Autorenkollektiv: 25 Jahre Garnisonsstadt Kastellaun. Informationsschrift für Gäste und Soldaten. Mönch, Koblenz, Bonn und Waldesch 1989, 84 S.

External links

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