| Berschweiler bei Kirn | |
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Berschweiler bei Kirn
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Location of Berschweiler bei Kirn within Birkenfeld district
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| Coordinates | |
| Administration | |
| Country | Germany |
| State | Rhineland-Palatinate |
| District | Birkenfeld |
| Municipal assoc. | Herrstein |
| Mayor | Karl-Günter Hahn |
| Basic statistics | |
| Area | 7.53 km2 (2.91 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 415 m (1362 ft) |
| Population | 275 (31 December 2010)[1] |
| - Density | 37 /km2 (95 /sq mi) |
| Other information | |
| Time zone | CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) |
| Licence plate | BIR |
| Postal code | 55608 |
| Area code | 06752 |
| Website | www.vg-herrstein.de |
Berschweiler bei Kirn is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Herrstein, whose seat is in the like-named municipality. Berschweiler bei Kirn is one of two municipalities in the district with the name Berschweiler. The two are distinguished from each other by their geographical “tags”; the other one is called Berschweiler bei Baumholder.
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The municipality lies west of the Nahe between Kirn and Herrstein. Berschweiler bei Kirn lies roughly 8 km north of Idar-Oberstein and 5 km west of Kirn. Almost half the municipal area is wooded.
As of 31 December 2010, Berschweiler’s 7.53 km² were by use apportioned thus[2]:
The council is made up of 6 council members, who were elected by majority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.[3]
Berschweiler’s mayor is Karl-Günter Hahn, and his deputies are Hubert Paal and Arno Lang-Lajendäcker.[4]
The municipality’s arms might be described thus: Per bend azure a bear’s head sinister erased Or langued gules and Or a lion rampant of the third armed and langued of the first.
The charge on the sinister (armsbearer’s left, viewer’s right) side is the lion borne as an heraldic device by the Waldgraves and Rhinegraves, who held the village in the Middle Ages. The charge on the dexter (armsbearer’s right, viewer’s left) side, a bear’s head, is canting. “Bear” is Bär – both words are pronounced rather similarly – in German, which sounds like the first three sounds in “Berschweiler”.
The arms have been borne since 16 May 1962.[5]
The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:[6]
Berschweiler is on both the Hunsrück Schiefer- und Burgenstraße (“Hunsrück Slate and Castle Road”) and the Sirona-Weg, a road whose focus is on the region’s Celtic-Roman heritage.
Between Berschweiler and Fischbach is the historic Fischbacher Kupferbergwerk, one of Germany’s biggest and most important coppermines. To the south stands a memorial stone to the now vanished village of Staufenberg.
To the southeast runs Bundesstraße 41. In Kirn is the nearest railway station. It lies on the Nahe Valley Railway (Bingen–Saarbrücken).