Melsbach

Melsbach
Melsbach
Location of Melsbach within Neuwied district
Coordinates	50°29′27″N 7°28′42″E / 50.49083°N 7.47833°E / 50.49083; 7.47833Coordinates: 50°29′27″N 7°28′42″E / 50.49083°N 7.47833°E / 50.49083; 7.47833
Administration
Country	Germany
State	Rhineland-Palatinate
District	Neuwied
Municipal assoc.	Rengsdorf
Mayor	Joachim Herzog (SPD)
Basic statistics
Area	2.80 km2 (1.08 sq mi)
Elevation	170 m  (558 ft)
Population	2,031 (31 December 2010)[1]
- Density	725 /km2 (1,879 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	NR
Postal code	56581
Area code	02634
Website	www.gemeinde-melsbach.de

winding tower of Melsbach

Kreuzkirche (church-of-the-cross)

Melsbach is a municipality in the district of Neuwied, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

Regional parts of Melsbach's surrounding belongs to the well-known air-spa of Rengsdorf.

Until the late 1960s in Melsbach a significant clay-mining was held. Today only a winding tower marks the place where the mines´ entrance has been.

Melsbach was a firm contract partner of the regionally famous pumice-mining corporation Kann-Werke until the late 1980s, when the pumice-fields ran out of containings.

A tourist attraction and popular panorama-motive are the ruins of the Kreuzkirche (church of the cross), situated at the southern entrance of the village.

Village history

• 500 BC: a bronze bucket from this time is found in the local area
• 1267: first documentary mentioning of the village: Graf Gottfried von Eppstein, the Younger, sells his estate
• 1278: Melsbach becomes the parish of Rengsdorf
• 1357: Melsbach becomes an important customer's facility
• 1399: first description of the church-of-the-cross as a place of pilgrimage
• 1692/1720: Melsbach receives its own school
• 1747: Melsbach enparts to the parish of Altwied
• 1789: lignite- and clayfields are found
• 1786–1880: Digging of alaun in the first alaun-mine of Rhineland-Palatinate
• 1850: At the Laubach creek blue schist ist digged
• 1863: first kermis in Melsbach, first calling of the regional wine "Melsbacher Goldberg"
• 1865: year of the foundation of the Burschenverein Melsbach
• 1907: Foundation of the Auxiliary Fire Brigade

Sources

• Albert Hardt, Im Wiedischen Land, Rengsdorf 1989 – Geschichte der Orte in der Verbandsgemeinde Rengsdorf; therein: Melsbach und seine Geschichte, page 377 ff.

References

1. ^ "Bevölkerung der Gemeinden am 31.12.2010" (in German). Statistisches Landesamt Rheinland-Pfalz. 31 December 2010. http://www.statistik.rlp.de/fileadmin/dokumente/berichte/A1033_201022_hj_G.pdf. 

External links

• homepage of Melsbach