Morbach

Morbach

Memorial to the restoration of Morbach

Coat of arms
Morbach

Coordinates: 49°49′N 7°7′E / 49.817°N 7.117°E / 49.817; 7.117Coordinates: 49°49′N 7°7′E / 49.817°N 7.117°E / 49.817; 7.117
Country Germany
State Rhineland-Palatinate
District Bernkastel-Wittlich
Government
 • Mayor Gregor Eibes
Area
 • Total 122.20 km2 (47.18 sq mi)
Elevation 430-770 m (−2,100 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)[1]
 • Total 10,494
 • Density 86/km2 (220/sq mi)
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes 54497
Dialling codes 06533
Vehicle registration WIL
Website www.morbach.de
Church
Typical original Hunsrück countryside in the region around Morbach
Energiepark Morbach

Morbach is a municipality that belongs to no Verbandsgemeinde – a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is also a state-recognized climatic resort (Luftkurort).

Geography

Location

The municipality lies at an elevation of between 430 and 770 m above sea level in the low mountain range of the Hunsrück on the boundary with the Birkenfeld district, roughly 25 km southeast of Wittlich and 35 km east of Trier. Its population is 11,051. The nearest town is Bernkastel-Kues.

The terrain is one of rolling hills, with superbly organized and maintained stretches of forest interspersed with manicured farmland. Some of the highest (cleanest) air readings in all of Northern Europe have been measured near this area.

Climate

Precipitation diagram
Yearly precipitation in Morbach amounts to 1,175 mm (46.3 in), which is very high, falling into the highest tenth of the precipitation chart for all Germany. At 92% of the German Weather Service’s weather stations, lower figures are recorded. The driest month is May. The most rainfall comes in December. In that month, precipitation is 1.8 times what it is in May. Precipitation varies greatly. At more than 85% of the weather stations, lower seasonal swings are recorded.

Constituent communities

The municipality of Morbach is subdivided into the following Ortsteile:

  • Bischofsdhron
  • Elzerath
  • Gonzerath
  • Gutenthal
  • Haag
  • Heinzerath
  • Hinzerath
  • Hoxel
  • Hundheim
  • Hunolstein
  • Merscheid mit Hölzbach, Dörrwiese und Götzenfeld
  • Morbach
  • Morscheid-Riedenburg
  • Odert
  • Rapperath
  • Wederath
  • Weiperath
  • Wenigerath
  • Wolzburg

History

Until municipal administrative reform in Rhineland-Palatinate in 1969, the municipality belonged to the Bernkastel district, with its seat at Bernkastel-Kues. The municipality as it is today arose on 31 December 1974 when the new municipality of Morbach was formed out of Morbach itself and the 18 until then self-administering municipalities of Bischofsdhron, Elzerath, Gonzerath, Gutenthal, Haag, Heinzerath, Hinzerath, Hoxel, Hundheim, Hunolstein, Merscheid, Morscheid-Riedenburg, Odert, Rapperath, Wederath, Weiperath, Wenigerath and Wolzburg.

Within what is now the outlying centre of Wenigerath lay the US Air Force’s Wenigerath Munitions Depot until 1995. Beginning in the 1950s, several hundred United States Air Force Munitions Systems personnel, otherwise known as “ammo troops”, worked at the so-called Wenigerath Non-Nuclear Munitions Storage Area and lived in Morbach and neighbouring villages in support of NATO operations launched from nearby Hahn Air base. The former “bomb dump”, which ceased operations after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, is now dotted with wind turbines, photovoltaic cells and various technologies which serve as an “Energy Farm”.

Politics

Municipal council

The council is made up of 28 honorary council members, who were elected at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the full-time mayor as chairman.

The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:[2]

  Party Share of the vote Swing Seats Swing
1. CDU
42.1%
 (-8.2) 12 seats (-3)
2. FWM
23.2%
 (+1.3) 6 seats (-1)
3. SPD
17.3%
 (+3.6) 5 seats (+1)
4. FDP
7.7%
 (+3.3) 2 seats (+1)
5. Alliance '90/The Greens
6.4%
 (=) 2 seats (+1)
6. The Left
3.3%
 (+3.3) 1 seat (+1)

Culture and sightseeing

A street in Morbach at night – 1986

Particularly worth seeing is the railway viaduct in the outlying centre of Hoxel, which is one of the highest single-level stone railway bridges in Germany.

Other points of interest in the Morbach area are:

Economy and infrastructure

Established businesses

Morbach is headquarters to Papier-Mettler, a German manufacturer of paper and plastic packaging.

Transport

Public transport is integrated into the Verkehrsverbund Region Trier (VRT), whose fares therefore apply. Bus route 300 of the Rhein-Mosel-Verkehrsgesellschaft links the municipality every two hours with the main railway station in Wittlich on the Koblenz-Trier railway line. Bus route 343 from Omnibusverkehr Rhein-Nahe runs a service on weekdays to the Idar-Oberstein railway station on the Saarbrücken-Mainz railway line.

Through Morbach run Bundesstraßen 269 and 327, as does the Hunsrückquerbahn (“Cross-Hunsrück Railway”), a railway line between Langenlonsheim and Hermeskeil, which at the moment lies idle, although it is to be reactivated, at least from Morbach as far as Bingen, for its usefulness as a link to Frankfurt-Hahn Airport.

The municipality of Morbach is the location of a great wind farm with fourteen wind turbines, a big photovoltaic complex, a biogas complex and a wood pellet works. The rent on the wind farm earns the municipality €280,000 each year.[3]

The municipality of Morbach fulfils the criteria of a “1a” shopping town and was awarded the certificate in May 2008.

Famous people

References

  1. ↑ "Gemeinden in Deutschland mit Bevölkerung am 31. Dezember 2015" (PDF). Statistisches Bundesamt (in German). 2016.
  2. ↑ Kommunalwahl Rheinland-Pfalz 2009, Gemeinderat
  3. ↑ Hinter dem Engagement der Morbacher steht keine grüne Überzeugung (SZ online 17. August 2007)
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