The federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate is located in western
Germany, surrounded by the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia to
the north, Hesse to the east, Baden-Württemberg to the south-east,
Saarland to the south-west and bordered by the states of France,
Luxembourg and Belgium to the south and west. The state capital is
Mainz.
The country has many varied landscapes, for example the
low mountain ranges of the Westerwald, Eifel, Hunsrück and Palatinate
Forest and large river valleys such as those of the Rhine and Moselle.
There is also a high density of cultural monuments, some of which are
among the most important in Germany — if not in Europe.
The state of
Rhineland-Palatinate has only existed in its current form since
1945, when various territories, mostly to the left of the Rhine,
were combined to form the French zone of occupation. The areas used
to belong to Prussia (Rhine Province), Hesse (Rheinhessen,
Westerwald), Oldenburg (Birkenfeld area) and Bavaria (Rhine
Palatinate).
This small state led to great cultural diversity
with a high level of local identification. It is still clearly
reflected in the country today. At best, there is a common
Rhineland-Palatinate identity on the 3rd level; depending on their
origin, people first see themselves regionally as Wäller
(Westerwald), Eefeler (Eifelaner), Muuseler (Moselaner), Hunsrücker
etc., only then as Rhinelanders, Rheinhessen or just Palatinate. It
is not uncommon for the Rhine to be seen as a demarcation line to
the barbarians in the East, and it is only crossed in an emergency
(the same applies in the Cologne-Bonn area, where the right bank of
the Rhine is considered a "scarf sickness", not only because
Düsseldorf is on the right bank of the Rhine ).
Rhineland-Palatinate is especially known for its viticulture. Four
different German wine-growing regions are located in this federal
state alone. Due to its rural character, the wooded country offers a
lot of nature.
Rhineland-Palatinate is part of the greater European region of
Luxembourg, Lorraine (French Lorraine), Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate
and Wallonia.
In terms of tourism, Rhineland-Palatinate can be
divided into the following regions (from north to south):
Koblenz
region at the intersection of the Middle Rhine Valley, Moselle Valley
and Lahn Valley, above the valleys the mountains of the Westerwald,
Taunus, Hunsrück and Voreifel. The Ahr Valley on the border with North
Rhine-Westphalia also belongs here.
Trier region with the well-known
Mosel-Saar-Ruwer wine-growing region, behind it the Eifel mountains and
the Hochwald.
the Nahe valley as a border landscape between the
Hunsrück and the Palatinate.
Rheinhessen with its thousands of hills
and extensive vineyards between the Rhine and Nahe.
the Palatinate
with the climatically favored Vorderpfalz as well as the climatically
rather rugged North and West Palatinate, where the largest contiguous
German forest area - the Palatinate Forest - can be found.
Trier
Mainz
Cochem
Koblenz
Landau in der Pfalz
Neustadt an der Weinstraße
Speyer
St. Goar
Worms
Freusburg
Burg Eltz
Rhine Valley
LVermGeo created tour suggestions, also for
download, years ago. The original has now been taken offline. Parts
are archived in the Web Archive.
The Rhineland-Palatinate
Tourism Society offers a lot of information about nature and culture
as well as the different regions in Rhineland-Palatinate.
Not
to be forgotten for tourists are:
Traben-Trarbach - on the
Moselle
Bernkastel-Kues - on the Moselle
Dernau - red wine and
tourist town on the Middle Ahr
Boppard - on the Middle Rhine
Oppenheim - on the Upper Rhine
A large number of dialects are spoken in Rhineland-Palatinate, most of which can be assigned to the Rhineland and Moselle Franconian language groups. The border between these languages is just north of the Nahe. North of the mouth of the Nahe, the dialect is more Rhenish. South of it there is more "Pälzisch babble". Many words are spoken in abbreviated form, letters are omitted or pronounced differently. Examples are Palz for Pfalz or Peif for Pfeife: "In de Palz, de Parre goes with de Peif into the Käich". "De Bu is de häm" is Palatinate and means "our boy is at home". Weck Woscht and Woi are the basic food of the Palatinate.
By plane
The most important airport for Rhineland-Palatinate is
outside the state itself: Frankfurt am Main Airport (IATA: FRA), 30km
east of Mainz with direct rail connections with IC to Koblenz, with RE
to Mainz, Bingen, Boppard, Bad Kreuznach.
The former US military
airfield Hahn, now known as Frankfurt-Hahn Airport (IATA: HHN) despite
its distance from Frankfurt, is managed by a Chinese company. The
airport is located in the Hunsrück and is served by low-cost airlines,
especially Ryanair. There are bus connections to nearby towns.
Neighboring airports are also: Luxembourg Airport (IATA: LUX), 40km
southwest of Trier, direct bus connection to Trier), Cologne Bonn
Airport (IATA: CGN), 100km north of Koblenz, direct train connection to
Neuwied, Koblenz), Stuttgart Airport (IATA: STR), 120km southeast of
Landau or Speyer).
By train
ICE and Intercity trains go to
Koblenz, Mainz, Kaiserslautern, Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, Montabaur,
Andernach, Remagen and Worms. Apart from Mainz and Koblenz, however, the
number of trains is low and you usually have to change to regional
trains.
By bus
The Rhineland-Palatinate regional centers of
Mainz, Kaiserslautern, Ludwigshafen, Koblenz and Trier have
long-distance bus stations or long-distance bus stops close to the
center, which are served by the long-distance bus companies Eurolines
and Flixbus. In addition, some long-distance buses also run to easily
accessible medium-sized towns, such as the central bus station at
Montabaur train station. The online portals Fernbusguide and
Busliniensuche provide information on long-distance bus lines, prices
and the search for a stop.
In the street
Important road
connections that lead through Rhineland-Palatinate are the A1
(Cologne-Trier-Saarbrücken), A3 (Cologne-Frankfurt a. M.), A6
(Mannheim-Kaiserslautern-Saarbrücken), A8
(Neunkirchen-Zweibrücken-Pirmasens) motorways. , A48
(Montabaur-Koblenz-Daun), A60 (Malmedy-Bitburg-Wittlich), A61
(Cologne-Koblenz-Ludwigshafen-Speyer), A63 (Mainz-Kaiserslautern) and
A65 (Ludwigshafen-Neustadt a.d.W.-Karlsruhe).
By boat
The
Rhine, the region's old main traffic axis, is used by large excursion
and cabin boats. The passenger ships in Rhineland-Palatinate offer
scheduled trips on the Rhine between Bonn and Mainz, on the Lahn between
Lahnstein and Limburg and on the Moselle between Koblenz and Trier far
beyond the Luxembourg border.
transport associations
Rheinhessen (without Mainz) and Nahe
region: Rhein-Nahe-Nahverkehrsverbund (RNN), transitional tariff to the
Hessian RMV.
Rhine-Moselle: Transport Association Rhine-Moselle (VRM)
Trier region: Trier region transport association (VRT)
Parts of
the federal state are integrated into cross-state transport
associations:
City of Mainz: Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV),
Rhein-Neckar (Ludwigshafen): Rhein-Neckar transport association (VRN)
southern Vorderpfalz: Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund (KVV)
By train
In Rhineland-Palatinate there has been the Rhineland-Palatinate Clock
since 1994. Regional trains open up the regions of the country every
hour or every 2 hours. In metropolitan areas they run every half hour,
and even more frequently during peak periods on weekdays.
Rhineland-Palatinate ticket for 1-5 people on all local transport lines,
trams and almost all regular buses in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland.
It costs €24 at the machine for the first person. Each additional person
costs €5 more (maximum four passengers). Since 2019, the
Rhineland-Palatinate ticket is no longer valid in the area of the
Rhein-Neckar transport association (VRN).
The Rhineland-Palatinate
Ticket Lux now only exists on paper. Public transport in Luxembourg is
completely free, a ticket for Luxembourg is no longer necessary.
The
Quer-durchs-Land-Tickets are also valid in Rhineland-Palatinate on all
local trains.
The Hessen-Ticket is also valid in Mainz for €35,
including trams and buses.
The tickets are valid Monday to Friday
from 9 a.m. to 3 a.m. the following day, and all day on Saturdays,
Sundays and public holidays. The Rhineland-Palatinate tickets are also
valid in a transitional area in Wiesbaden (including all buses), as well
as by train to Wissembourg (Alsace), Lauterbourg, Bonn Hbf (NRW), on the
route on the left bank of the Rhine via Remagen, Siegen (NRW), Limburg
the Lahn (Hesse), on the Rheingau line in Hesse, Mannheim and Karlsruhe
(Baden-Württemberg) and on the Sieg line to Au an der Sieg (NRW).
Bicycles can be taken on board all local trains (Regionalexpress
(RE), Regionalbahn (RB) and S-Bahn trains in Rhineland-Palatinate and
Saarland free of charge from Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 a.m. the
following day and all day on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. You
only need to buy a bike ticket from Monday to Friday before 9 a.m. You
can take your bike with you on long-distance trains (IC/EC/EN/NJ) for
€9, but you must reserve a parking space in any case.
By bus
City and regional buses supplement the network where there is no rail
infrastructure. These also run in the Rhineland-Palatinate cycle.
If you want to take your bike with you, there are RegioRadler in the
Rhineland-Palatinate cycle. These are special buses with space for
bicycles. They are set up along particularly beautiful cycle paths on
the Moselle and Sauer, in the Vulkaneifel and in the Hunsrück. During
the leisure season from April to November, they connect the river
valleys, through which the railway lines run, with the cycle path
networks on the hills. Important: You must reserve!
By boat
A
boat trip on the Moselle, the Lahn and of course through the Middle
Rhine Valley is one of the most beautiful excursion routes in Germany.
The passenger ships in Rhineland-Palatinate offer scheduled trips on the
Rhine between Bonn and Mainz, on the Lahn between Lahnstein and Limburg
and on the Moselle between Koblenz and Trier far beyond the Luxembourg
border.
A selection of Rhineland-Palatinate businesses by river:
Moselle: Kolb, MS Goldstück
Lahn: Lahntalschifffahrt, Lahnstolz
Rhine: Schifffahrt Nikolay, Merkelbach, Hoelzenbein, Collee,
www.marksburgschiffahrt-vomfell.de, Gilles, Loreley line,
Bingen-Ruedesheimer, Cologne-Düsseldorfer, www.roesslerlinie.de.
The
Main and Neckar tributaries close to the border are also important. The
Nahe and Lahn are also navigable for sports boats (at least small
boats).
bike lanes
Some well-developed cycle routes in
Rhineland-Palatinate invite you to go on tours.
Kulturland RLP offers a comprehensive overview of the
cultural offerings in Rhineland-Palatinate and a search function for
event dates. There, those who are interested will find theatres,
museums, stages, orchestras, archives, libraries and many other cultural
institutions throughout the country.
In the wine-growing regions,
the annual wine festivals are an attractive magnet for visitors. Strauss
restaurants invite you to a regional dish such as B. Onion cake with
wine from their own winery.
The Rhineland-Palatinate Day state
festival takes place every year.
The Palatinate Saumagen is widespread in the Palatinate, but
difficult to find outside of this region. This dish became known
throughout Germany as the favorite dish of former Chancellor Helmut
Kohl, especially since the meal with Gorbachev in Deidesheim. Pictures
of this feast can still be found in the "Deidesheimer Hof" restaurant.
The pig's stomach is filled with a mixture of meat and potatoes, boiled
for about two to three hours and then served in thick slices, often in
combination with sauerkraut.
The people of Rhineland-Palatinate
are quite pleasure-oriented and, like their neighbors in Saarland (the
main thing is good, done it quickly!) for a good meal and a good glass
of wine, sometimes lets work be work. Visitors notice again and again
that in the wine-growing regions there is not only a willingness to
enjoy, but also an ability to enjoy. In spite of all the good mood, one
should not forget that every winegrower knows where his own advantage
lies when in doubt...
Not to be scoffed at are the
Rhineland-Palatinate beers, Bitburger for the faint-hearted, Kirner for
men.
Smoking is prohibited in restaurants in
Rhineland-Palatinate, with exceptions. If a business identifies itself
as a "smoker's pub", it may not serve young people or children in its
guest rooms. Many snack bars and taverns make use of this option. This
severely limits the choices for families. Therefore, you should find out
beforehand whether a restaurant is an option.
In the wine-growing regions, the type "winery with guest house" is
very common. The accommodations are often rather cheap. The innkeepers
are primarily winegrowers and may not have completed marketing training
(in which you train artificial politeness, among other things). But
everything is available that the guest needs. Especially wine.
In the
wine-growing regions, especially the German Wine Route region, the peak
season is from the end of August to October (in other regions it is then
the off-season).
There are no known specific risks or hazards.
Rescue points in
the forest
In the case of an emergency, in particular, it may be
difficult to describe the exact position in the extensive forest areas.
The state forests of Rhineland-Palatinate have set up a comprehensive
operational rescue system by setting up rescue points in the forest,
which can also be used by private individuals. Rescue points were
originally developed as starting points in the event of accidents that
occurred during dangerous forest work by employees of the forest
administration, but they can also be used to locate people who have had
an accident in the forest or who have lost their way. In this way, the
rescue points can develop a life-saving function in life-threatening
situations. Rescue points are identified by a dark green sign with a
white cross, the rescue point identifier and a reference to the
emergency number 112. However, there is no guarantee that the mobile
network at any given rescue point will actually work. The
Landesverwaltung Forsten Rheinland-Pfalz informs on its website that a
free app is also available.
The area in the southwest of the Hunsrück around Idar-Oberstein is classified as a TBE risk area. These are areas in which between 1985 and 2004 at least five cases of tick-borne encephalitis or at least two TBE cases were registered within one year.
In the north, Rhineland-Palatinate includes the southern part of the Eifel, the Hunsrück, the western Westerwald, the south-western Siegerland and the north-western part of the Taunus from the Rhenish Slate Mountains, as well as the Mainz Basin, the Rhenish-Hessian hill country, the North Palatinate Uplands and the West Palatinate Moor lowlands in the south , the Westrich plateau, the Palatinate Forest and part of the Upper Rhine Plain. It borders to the north with North Rhine-Westphalia, to the east with Hesse and Baden-Württemberg, to the south with the French region of Grand Est and Saarland, and to the west with Luxembourg and the province of Liège in the Belgian region of Wallonia. Rhineland-Palatinate is the federal state with the largest area on the left bank of the Rhine.
The country's highest mountain is the Erbeskopf in the Hunsrück at 816.32 m above sea level.
The federal waterways Rhine, Moselle, Saar and Lahn flow through
Rhineland-Palatinate. Other important watercourses are the Nahe, Sauer,
Our, Glan and Sieg as watercourses of the first order. Due to their
water management importance, other watercourses are listed as water
bodies of the second order. These are Speyerbach, Waldlauter,
Wieslauter, Wiesbach, Otterbach, Erlenbach, Michelsbach, Pfrimm,
Hahnenbach, Simmerbach, Guldenbach, Ellerbach, Ahr, Irsen, Gaybach,
Prüm, Enz, Nims, Leukbach, Schwarzbach, Rodalb, Wallhalb, Hornbach,
Felsalb , Ruwer, Riveris, Kyll, Oosbach, Salm, Kailbach, Dhron, Kleine
Dhron, Lieser, Kleine Kyll, Alf, Üßbach, Flaumbach, Elzbach, Wied, Selz,
Nister and Aar. The remaining flowing waters in Rhineland-Palatinate
belong to the III. okay on.
The largest lake is the Laacher See,
the crater lake of a dormant volcano. Other larger lakes in the Eifel,
which were formed as maars from volcanoes: Meerfelder Maar, Gemündener
Maar, Weinfelder Maar, Schalkenmehrener Maar, Pulvermaar, Ulmener Maar
and others.
Landscape
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the most
densely forested states in Germany, as the forests here cover around 42
percent of the state area. However, only two out of ten trees are
considered healthy.
The near-surface geological subsoil in the Rhineland-Palatinate part
of the Rhenish Slate Mountains in the north and in the center of
Rhineland-Palatinate is characterized by clay slate, greywacke and
quartzite of the Lower Devonian. Middle to Upper Devonian limestone,
dolomite and argillaceous slate have also been preserved north-east of
Prüm and south-west of Limburg. In the south, on a line between
Birkenfeld and Kirchheimbolanden, there are sandstones, conglomerates
and mudstones from the Carboniferous and Permian. They are alternated in
places by ancient volcanic rocks, andesite and basalt. Alternating
layers of the Central German Triassic form the geological subsoil of the
Bitburger Gutland in the west and the Palatinate Forest in the south of
the federal state. Tertiary and Quaternary sediments, predominantly
marl, sand and gravel, are typical of Rheinhessen. A special feature of
Rhineland-Palatinate are the formations of the tertiary volcanism in the
Westerwald and the quaternary volcanism in the Eifel and in the Neuwied
Basin.
Active volcanism is not known, but volcanic rock from
earlier activity can be found in some areas, especially in the
Vulkaneifel, also on the Pechsteinkopf in the Haardt. The Laacher See,
the largest lake in Rhineland-Palatinate, is the crater lake of an old
volcano, which experts still argue about whether it is extinct. In the
volcanic Eifel there are other maars and sources of carbon dioxide,
which make the Andernach geyser the highest cold water geyser in the
world. Under the umbrella of the recognized national Vulkanland Eifel
geopark, three established geoparks explain the geology of the region
and the volcanic activities of the past to the public. Geological
formations of volcanic origin are pumice and tuff, especially in the
Laacher lake area, trachyte and phonolite in the Westerwald. Earthquakes
with severe consequences are practically non-existent, but the Rhine
Graben and the Neuwied Basin are classified as moderately endangered
earthquake zones. The accessible geological map of Rhineland-Palatinate
in the grounds of the State Horticultural Show on the Petrisberg in
Trier provides an overview of the geological conditions.
Rhineland-Palatinate is divided into the following regions: in the north the Westerwald and the southwestern part of the Siegerland, in the west the Eifel, in the middle the Hunsrück, Mosel-Saar - which separates Eifel and Hunsrück from each other, in the east the Taunus and Rheinhessen as well in the south the Palatinate. The areas of the Neuwied basin, the Rhine-Main area and the Rhine-Neckar triangle form special conurbations, the last two with connections to the neighboring federal states of Hesse and Baden-Württemberg.
The climate in Rhineland-Palatinate is characterized by a moderate,
humid climate with warm summers and mild to cool winters. According to
the Köppen effective climate classification, this is a typical western
European climate of the Cfb classification. The country is generally one
of the warmer federal states compared to Germany. The variations in
climate within the country are mainly due to mountains and valleys. In
the coldest regions, the high altitudes of the Hunsrück, the Eifel and
the Westerwald, average annual temperatures of 7 to 9 °C are reached.
With annual precipitation of over 800 to 900 mm, these regions are also
the rainiest and least sunny parts of Rhineland-Palatinate. The warmest
and at the same time sunniest regions are in the river valleys of the
Nahe, Lahn, Moselle and Rhine with annual mean temperatures of over 10
°C. The river valleys are also mainly home to the wine-growing regions
for which the country is known. Parts of the Upper Rhine Graben in the
southeast around the cities of Speyer, Ludwigshafen, Worms and Mainz are
among the warmest areas in Germany, including the Palatinate, the Wine
Route and Rheinhessen. These areas, together with the remaining deeply
incised valleys of the major rivers, are also among the driest areas of
Rhineland-Palatinate with rainfall of less than 600 to 700 mm per year.
In the rain shadow of the Taunus in the north, precipitation in northern
Rheinhessen decreases to 500 mm.
The rest of the country moves
climatically between the warm, dry wine-growing regions of the
Vorderpfalz and Rheinhessen and the rough, humid heights of the Eifel
and the Hunsrück.
The state of Rhineland-Palatinate was founded on August 30, 1946
after the Second World War. It emerged mainly from the southern part of
the Prussian Rhine province (government districts of Koblenz and Trier),
from Rheinhessen, from the western part of Nassau and from the
Rheinpfalz region of Bavaria (without the Saarpfalz district). The joint
German-Luxembourgish territory is the only municipality-free area in the
state of Rhineland-Palatinate. This condominium is formed by the rivers
Moselle, Sauer and Our, where they run on the border between Luxembourg
and Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland.
Emergence
After the Second World War, today's Rhineland-Palatinate was part of the
French occupation zone and was formed from the former Bavarian Rhine
Palatinate, from the administrative districts of Koblenz and Trier of
the former Prussian Rhine Province, from the parts on the left bank of
the Rhine of the province of Rheinhessen, which formerly belonged to the
people's state of Hesse, and from parts of the Prussian Province of
Hesse-Nassau (Montabaur).
On July 10, 1945, the occupation
sovereignty in the area of today's state of Rhineland-Palatinate passed
from the Americans to the French. These provisionally divided the area
into two "upper presidencies", Rhineland-Hesse-Nassau (for the
previously Prussian administrative districts or areas of Koblenz, Trier
and Montabaur) and Hesse-Palatinate (for the previously Bavarian Rhine
Palatinate and the previously Hesse-Darmstadt Rheinhessen). . The
establishment of the country was ordered on August 30, 1946 as the last
country in the western zones of occupation by decree no. 57 of the
French military government under General Pierre Kœnig. It was initially
referred to as "Rhine-Palatinate country" or "Rhine-Palatinate country";
the name Rhineland-Palatinate was first established with the
constitution of May 18, 1947.
The French government at the time
originally wanted to leave open the possibility of annexing other areas
on the left bank of the Rhine after the Saarland had been converted into
a protectorate. However, as the Americans and British led the way in
forming German states, the French came under increasing pressure and
eventually followed suit with the states of Baden,
Württemberg-Hohenzollern, and Rhineland-Palatinate. However, the French
military government forbade the connection of Saarland to
Rhineland-Palatinate. Mainz was designated as the capital in the decree
and the "Mixed Commission", as the supreme state body charged with the
state administration and the preparation of an advisory state assembly,
began its work there. Because of the war damage and destruction, Mainz
did not have enough administrative buildings; Therefore, the seat of the
state government and state parliament was provisionally set up in
Koblenz. On November 22, 1946, the constitutive session of the Advisory
State Assembly took place there, in which a draft constitution was drawn
up. Local elections had previously taken place. On December 2, the
French military government appointed Wilhelm Boden (after a short tenure
as senior government president of Rhineland-Hesse-Nassau) provisional
prime minister of the newly formed state.
Early
years
Adolf Süsterhenn submitted a draft constitution to the Advisory
State Assembly, which, after several negotiations, was passed on April
25, 1947 in a final vote by name with the absolute majority of the CDU
and against the votes of the SPD and KPD. This came about, among other
things, because the draft constitution was clearly based on state
theories of political Catholicism and, among other things, provided for
separate schools according to denominations. On May 18, 1947, the
constitution for Rhineland-Palatinate was approved in a referendum by
53% of those entitled to vote. While the Catholic north and west of the
new country accepted the constitution by a majority, it was rejected by
the majority in Rheinhessen and the Palatinate. The first election to
the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament took place on the same date.
The constitutive meeting took place on June 4, 1947 in the large town
hall of Koblenz. Wilhelm Boden was elected the first Prime Minister of
Rhineland-Palatinate here. Just one month later, Peter Altmeier
succeeded him in this office.
The constitutional bodies (state
government, state parliament and constitutional court) established their
provisional seat in Koblenz. In the period that followed, a tug of war
began between Koblenz and Mainz, both of which emphasized their
suitability as state capitals in the public debate. Prime Minister
Altmeier supported Mainz as the capital from the outset because he was
aware that the south of the country, especially the Palatinate, would
not accept Koblenz, far to the north and formerly Prussian, as a state
metropolis. The Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament therefore decided
on May 16, 1950 to relocate the state parliament and the state
government from Koblenz to Mainz. After the state government and state
parliament moved to Mainz, many state authorities and courts remained in
Koblenz, such as the Rhineland-Palatinate Constitutional Court and the
Rhineland-Palatinate State Archives Administration. In addition, the
Federal Archives and the Federal Institute for Hydrology were located in
Koblenz in 1952.
Consolidation
A
sense of community developed only hesitantly in the "country out of the
test tube", which had largely come into being without regard to the
historically evolved affiliations of the inhabitants. He was given few
chances of survival, especially since there were hardly any major
industrial centers. The settlement of numerous military bases, both of
the Allies and the German Armed Forces, brought about a certain economic
upswing. In 1956, based on Article 29 of the Basic Law, referendums were
held in the then administrative districts of Koblenz, Trier, Montabaur,
Rheinhessen and Palatinate, which involved the incorporation of the
regions concerned into North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse or Bavaria and
Baden-Württemberg. All petitions for a referendum, except for those in
the administrative district of Palatinate, received the required
majority; however, almost 20 years passed before the referendums that
were necessary as a result were finally carried out. In the vote of
January 19, 1975, a majority for a reclassification (nor the necessary
quorum of 25% of those entitled to vote) was not achieved in any of the
affected regions. This put an end to decades of debate. Only the AKK
conflict occupies politics to this day.
The young Rhineland-Palatinate is rich in cultural treasures with
more than 2000 years of prehistory. Numerous cities in the country can
be traced back to Roman foundations. The Romans left some important
buildings and a large number of archaeologically proven relics. In the
Middle Ages, it was German kings and emperors, archbishops and electors,
as well as numerous other imperial estates that ruled the territory of
today's state, who left behind a large number of historically
significant buildings. Occupying powers such as Sweden (in the Thirty
Years' War) and France (repeatedly between 1688 and 1930) and, after the
fall of the Holy Roman Empire, the states of Prussia, Hesse, Bavaria and
smaller territories also left their mark.
Ground monuments,
churches and secular buildings
The Goloring bei Wolken is a
prehistoric earthwork and registered archaeological monument. The
Eifel-Stonehenge is one of the most important complexes in
Rhineland-Palatinate. There is also a Celtic ring wall on the
Donnersberg, which has been partially restored.
Numerous
buildings still bear witness to the cultural splendor of Roman times. A
large number of Roman buildings have been preserved, particularly in the
old Roman provincial capitals of Trier (Augusta Treverorum) and Mainz
(Mogontiacum). In Trier these are the Porta Nigra, the amphitheater, the
Imperial Baths, the Constantine Basilica and the Roman Bridge, the
oldest surviving bridge in Germany. On the Rhine, Mainz can still show a
Roman theater, parts of a Roman aqueduct (the so-called Roman stones),
remains of the Roman city fortifications, the remains of a sanctuary of
Isis and Mater Magna as well as several Roman monuments, Roman ships
recovered in the Rhine and a large number of other finds. In addition,
remains of Roman architecture can be found in numerous other cities,
most of which have decayed over time or been built over. These include,
for example, the Igel Column, a Roman tomb preserved above ground, and
the Limes.
After Christianization at the end of the Roman period
and during Frankish rule, the territorial rulers of the Archbishops and
later Electors of Electoral Trier, Electoral Mainz and Electoral Cologne
developed alongside the secular rulers of the Electoral Palatinate. The
entire Middle Ages were characterized by the construction of generously
proportioned church buildings. With the construction of the Trier
Cathedral, the oldest bishop's church in Germany was built in Trier.
Elsewhere, the Roman-German emperors or the archbishops erected
magnificent churches of the high Middle Ages. The three imperial
cathedrals in Mainz, Speyer and Worms are epochal works in architectural
history. The Romanesque buildings of the Maria Laach Abbey and the
Basilica of St. Castor in Koblenz are outstanding buildings of their
time. The Liebfrauenkirche in Trier is one of the first Gothic buildings
on German soil. The Oppenheimer Katharinenkirche is also one of the most
important Gothic sacred buildings in today's Rhineland-Palatinate. The
rock church built in Idar-Oberstein between 1482 and 1484 is unique in
Germany.
In addition, there are medieval secular buildings in
Rhineland-Palatinate: In Bingen, the Drusus Bridge, the oldest medieval
stone bridge in Germany, crosses the Nahe, and in Koblenz the Balduin
Bridge over the Moselle has been preserved.
There are also a
large number of sacred and secular buildings from the Baroque period in
Rhineland-Palatinate. The former metropolises of Mainz and Trier still
have a number of baroque buildings. Mainz in particular had the
reputation of a "baroque city" up to the Second World War: the west
group of the Mainz Cathedral was built over in a baroque style by Franz
Ignaz Michael Neumann; in addition to the Augustinian Church, the
Peterskirche and the Ignazkirche, there are several baroque religious
settlements, secular buildings and aristocratic courts in Mainz; many
other buildings that were known to be outstanding at the time, such as
the Jesuit Church, the cathedral deanery, the cathedral provost and
Favorite Palace have disappeared. In Trier, the interior of St. Paulin
was designed by Balthasar Neumann; Electoral Palace, Monaise Palace and
the Quinter Palace are examples of baroque secular buildings in Trier.
Baroque buildings have also been preserved in the (former) bishoprics of
Speyer and Worms and in Koblenz, the residence of the Archbishops of
Trier, as well as in numerous other places.
During the Romantic
period, historicizing buildings were erected in medieval forms,
especially in the Middle Rhine Valley: near Bingen is the Bingen Mouse
Tower, a former defense and watchtower; in Rhens, the king's chair is a
reminder of the negotiations that the electors frequently held here for
the election of the Roman-German kings.
Karl Marx was born in
Trier in 1818. A museum, the Karl Marx House, reports on his life and
work. From the 19th century the Rhineland belonged to Prussia. After the
death of Kaiser Wilhelm I, the Prussian provincial administration in
Koblenz erected the monumental equestrian monument at Deutsches Eck,
located directly at the mouth of the Moselle and Rhine.
For more than a thousand years, today's parts of the state of
Rhineland-Palatinate had belonged to a large number of secular and
spiritual sovereigns, e.g. B. the influential electors of the
Palatinate, of Mainz, of Cologne and of Trier (the latter three were
also archbishops) or knights, who were of lesser importance and whose
status - initially not hereditary - developed from feudalism. Marriages
and divisions of inheritance had contributed to ever further shifts and
fragmentations, so that a veritable patchwork of dominions had emerged.
Every self-respecting sovereign, including the smallest, endeavored
to draw attention to his importance with at least one building, be it a
castle, a fortress or a palace. The edges of the low mountain ranges
(Eifel, Haardt) and the river valleys (Middle Rhine, Moselle) are lined
with castles or fortresses, the Donnersberg massif in the North
Palatinate Uplands was even surrounded by five castles, and in the
larger cities such as Mainz, Koblenz and Trier, the magnificent castles
and palaces are particularly striking.
Although the great wars
(Peasants' War, Thirty Years' War, Palatinate War of Succession,
Napoleonic Wars) repeatedly caused destruction, successor buildings
often rose from the ruins of castles that had been razed or burnt down,
and which even surpassed the lost ones in splendor. And the damage
caused by the shelling and bombardments of the two world wars of the
20th century, especially in cities, has now largely been repaired.
The Middle Rhine Valley has been a tourist attraction for 200 years
and is now home to around 450,000 people. The landscape has an
extraordinary wealth of cultural evidence. The Middle Rhine Valley owes
its special appearance on the one hand to the natural formation of the
river landscape and on the other hand to the shaping by humans. For two
millennia it has been one of the most important routes for cultural
exchange between the Mediterranean region and northern Europe. Located
in the heart of Europe, sometimes border, sometimes bridge of cultures,
the valley reflects the history of the West in an exemplary way. With
its high-ranking architectural monuments, the vineyard-covered slopes,
its settlements crowded together on narrow ledges and the hilltop
castles lined up on rocky outcrops, it is considered the epitome of the
romantic Rhine landscape. Last but not least, it inspired Heinrich Heine
to write his Loreley song.
The most outstanding castles are the
Marksburg, the only undestroyed hilltop castle in the Middle Rhine
Valley, Pfalzgrafenstein Castle on a rocky island in the middle of the
Rhine, and Rheinfels Castle, which was expanded into a fortress over
time. Like no other castle, Stolzenfels Castle is a synonym for Rhine
Romanticism, which was not only limited to the reception of existing
buildings, but also encouraged restoration and new buildings. In
Koblenz, the Electoral Palace was the last residence of the Elector of
Trier until French revolutionary troops smashed the Electoral State. The
most powerful fortress in Rhineland-Palatinate, the Koblenz Fortress,
was built by the Prussians in the 19th century. As part of the
fortification system, Ehrenbreitstein Fortress towers over the Rhine
Valley to this day.
The Mosel river valley is also dotted with hilltop castles. The
Reichsburg Cochem and the Thurant Castle with their two bergfrieds are
particularly worth mentioning. With the help of the Mont Royal fortress,
France wanted to secure its interests in the region. But already in the
year of its completion it was demolished again. If you leave the valley
to the north in the Eifel, you will reach Eltz Castle near
Münstermaifeld. The castle, located in a small river valley, is
considered by many to be the most beautiful castle in Germany. It once
adorned the 500 DM bill of the third series of Deutsche Marks. Similar
to Bürresheim Castle and Lissingen Castle, it is one of the very few
castles that have never been destroyed.
In Mayen, with its
medieval city fortifications that still exist, the Genovevaburg rises
and not far from the city lies the Bürresheim Castle, a jewel that has
never been conquered or devastated. Other important castles in the Eifel
were the Neuerburg, the Schönecken Castle and the two Manderscheid
castles.
Numerous castles, mostly in ruins, can be found on the heights of the Hunsrück. Some castles have been partially rebuilt and thus become accessible to visitors. The Kastellaun Castle, the Balduinseck Castle, the Schmidtburg, the Waldeck Castle, the Ehrenburg and the Baldenau Castle, one of the few moated castles in the Hunsrück, are worth mentioning. Important castles are the inhabited castle Gemünden and the castle Simmern. Relatively few remains can be found of the older castles, some of which are of Celtic origin: the Altburg near Bundenbach, the Alteburg in the Soonwald, the Koppenstein Castle, the Wildenburg and the Ringkopf.
Mainz was heavily fortified in the 17th century. The associated Mainz citadel, the most important remnant of the fortress era, is considered the most important historical building in the city next to the Mainz Cathedral. The Electors of Mainz resided in the Electoral Palace in Mainz. The Ingelheim Imperial Palace from the 8th century was the residence and seat of government of Franconian emperors and kings. The Alzeyer Castle emerged from a Staufer imperial castle completed in 1118 and was expanded into a castle in the 16th century.
Impressive Celtic fortifications, e.g. on the Donnersberg the Keltenwall or on the Haardt the Heidenmauer, a 26 hectare settlement. In the Middle Ages, with the increasing influence of the Salian dynasty, one of the centers of power on German soil developed in the area of today's Palatinate, which also manifested itself in the electoral dignity. One of the most important castles was the Reichsburg Trifels; the imperial jewels were once kept here, and the English king Richard the Lionheart was probably the most famous prisoner. However, the castles of the Counts of Leining along the northern half of the German Wine Route have also written history – such as Neuleiningen Castle with the surrounding medieval town - or the Berwartstein of the alleged robber baron "Hans Trapp", which is still inhabited today. And in 1523, the “last knight” Franz von Sickingen died of a serious wound at his besieged Nanstein Castle. In later history, the Hambach Castle near Neustadt an der Weinstraße was the scene of the Hambach Festival and has been a symbol of the German democracy movement ever since.
So far, seven Rhineland-Palatinate sights or ensembles have been
included in the UNESCO World Heritage List:
1981: Speyer Cathedral
1986: The Roman monuments as well as the cathedral and the Church of Our
Lady in Trier
2002: The cultural landscape of the Upper Middle Rhine
Valley between Bingen and Koblenz
2005: The 550 km long Upper
Germanic-Rhaetian Limes between Rheinbrohl and Eining (transnational)
2021: The spa town of Bad Ems as part of the transnational World
Heritage Site Important Spa Towns in Europe
2021: the legacy of the
ShUM cities, the three Rhenish Jewish centers Schpira (Speyer), Warmaisa
(Worms) and Magenza (Mainz)
2021: The southernmost section of the
Lower Germanic Limes from Remagen to the state border with North
Rhine-Westphalia (cross-state)
In the summer of 2012,
Rhineland-Palatinate applied to the Conference of Ministers of Education
for three additional cultural heritage sites to be included in the
German list of proposals:
the three Rhenish imperial cathedrals of
Mainz, Speyer and Worms - the existing World Heritage status for the
Speyer Cathedral is to be extended to the entire ensemble of the three
cathedrals (As early as 1981, the International Council for the
Preservation of Monuments (ICOMOS) had in its statement for the World
Heritage recognition procedure for the Speyer Dom describes the three
cathedrals as "major works of Romanesque architecture in Germany").
the Sayner Hütte in Bendorf.
schools
In a nationwide comparison, Rhineland-Palatinate has been
among the three federal states that spend the least on education per
student at general and vocational schools every year since 2016.
Colleges
In the education report of the New
Social Market Economy Initiative, the education systems of the 16 German
federal states are compared using various indicators.
Rhineland-Palatinate was in 15th place in the “Research Orientation”
indicator in 2021.
The educational landscape in
Rhineland-Palatinate includes six universities, eleven technical
colleges and the German University for Administrative Sciences Speyer.
German University for Administrative Sciences Speyer
Johannes
Gutenberg University Mainz
Technical University of Kaiserslautern
University of Koblenz-Landau – Locations: Koblenz, Landau
University
of Trier
Technical University of Bingen
University of the Deutsche
Bundesbank – Location: Hachenburg
School of Finance - Location:
Edenkoben
Rhineland-Palatinate University of Public Administration -
Location: Mayen
Rhineland-Palatinate Police University – location:
Hahn
Kaiserslautern University of Applied Sciences – locations:
Kaiserslautern I and II, Pirmasens and Zweibrücken
Koblenz University
of Applied Sciences – Study locations: Koblenz, Höhr-Grenzhausen,
Remagen
Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences (with East Asia
Institute)
University of Mainz
Trier University of Applied
Sciences – locations: Trier, Idar-Oberstein, Environmental Campus
Birkenfeld
University of Worms
Catholic University of Mainz
WHU
– Otto Beisheim School of Management (formerly: University of Applied
Sciences for Management), Vallendar near Koblenz (private university)
Vinzenz Pallotti University of the Society of the Catholic Apostolate
(Pallottines) (Ecclesiastical University)
As part of the Greater Region, Rhineland-Palatinate took part in the
European Capital of Culture 2007 programme. Rhineland-Palatinate has a
permanent cultural representation in Dijon, the sister city of Mainz,
the House of Rhineland-Palatinate, which promotes cultural and economic
exchanges between Burgundy and Rhineland-Palatinate.
theatre
There are five larger theaters in Rhineland-Palatinate. Specifically,
these are the State Theater in Mainz and three municipal theatres,
namely the Theater im Pfalzbau Ludwigshafen, the Theater in Koblenz and
the Municipal Theater in Trier. The Pfalztheater Kaiserslautern is
supported by the Pfalz district association and therefore occupies a
special position between the state theater and the city theatres. With
its annual budget of 18.2 million euros (2008), it is financially better
equipped than the state's municipal theaters or the Saarbrücken State
Theater in neighboring Saarland. In addition, there are many
medium-sized and countless small theaters, including purely amateur
theater.
Movie
In 2001, FILMZ, the first feature film festival
in Rhineland-Palatinate, was launched. The ten-day event takes place
every year at the beginning of November in the state capital of Mainz.
In 2005, the city of Ludwigshafen am Rhein also got its own film
festival, which emerged from an initiative of the International Film
Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg. The festival of German film is held every
summer on the Ludwigshafen Park Island in two cinema tents.
The
Hachenburg Film Festival of New German Film took place in 2009 for the
third and last time.
Museums
The state museums of
Rhineland-Palatinate are located in Mainz, Trier and Koblenz. The Mainz
State Museum, which has existed since 1803, including its predecessor
institutions, is one of the oldest museums in Germany and is home to the
most important art and cultural history collection in the state. The
Rhenish State Museum in Trier shows Renaissance and Baroque art in its
departments, as well as Roman Trier and the State Museum Koblenz at the
Ehrenbreitstein Fortress sees itself as a technical museum with
additional departments on the economic and social history of the region.
Other important museums are the Mittelrhein Museum and the military
technology study collection in Koblenz; the Roman-Germanic Central
Museum and Gutenberg Museum in Mainz; the Historical Museum of the
Palatinate and the Technology Museum in Speyer and the Wilhelm Hack
Museum in Ludwigshafen.
The two large open-air museums in the
state are the Roscheider Hof folklore and open-air museum and the
Rhineland-Palatinate open-air museum in Bad Sobernheim. The state's
mining history is currently (2009) documented in 14 visitor mines and
several mining history open-air museums.
events
The cultural
summer of Rhineland-Palatinate offers an extensive cultural program from
May to October.
With the Rhineland-Palatinate Day, an annual state
festival has been held since 1984.
Festivals and festivals:
FILMZ – Festival of German Cinema, Mainz
Nibelungen Festival, Worms
Antiquity Festival, Trier
Old Town Festival Trier
Rock am Ring,
Nurburgring, one of the biggest rock festivals in Europe
Nature One
Festival, Pydna (former rocket base) near Kastellaun
Ludwigshafen
Festival, Ludwigshafen am Rhein
Festival of German Film, Rhine-Neckar
Metropolitan Region, Ludwigshafen am Rhein
Castle Festival, Mayen
Lukasmarkt, Mayen
Wine and Festival, Oppenheim
Juggler and cabaret
festival, Koblenz
Dürkheimer Wurstmarkt, largest wine festival in the
world, Bad Dürkheim
Karl May Festival, Mörschied
Karl May
Festival, Pluwig
Especially in the Rhineland, the street carnival
is also part of the traditional customs. The Mainz carnival with the
largest Shrove Monday procession in the country is important; But
carnival is also celebrated in other cities, for example at the Trier
Carnival, Koblenz Carnival or in Ludwigshafen.
The Rhein in
Flammen fireworks display takes place every year at various locations on
the Middle Rhine. Passenger ships travel along the Rhine in a convoy,
allowing a view of the fireworks set off by various castles. The largest
fireworks spectacle as part of Rhine in Flames is shot down from
Ehrenbreitstein Fortress in Koblenz every year on the second Saturday in
August and is watched by hundreds of thousands of spectators.
The Federal Garden Show 2011 took place in the city of Koblenz, the
first Federal Garden Show in Rhineland-Palatinate. According to the
state government, it was the largest event in the country's history.
With more than 3.5 million visitors, it was the most successful federal
garden show since the electronic counting system was introduced in 1997.
The first Rhineland-Palatinate state garden show took place in
Kaiserslautern in 2000. In 2004, the City of Trier took over the
organization of the State Horticultural Show, followed in 2008 by the
City of Bingen. The following state garden show was organized in 2015 by
the city of Landau. This was actually supposed to take place in 2014,
but had to be postponed due to several bomb finds on the site. In 2023,
the fifth Rhineland-Palatinate State Horticultural Show was to take
place in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler. After the devastating flood disaster in
July 2021, the State Garden Show was cancelled. This was justified by
the fact that the financial and human resources would be needed for the
reconstruction of the city.
The later German Empress Augusta had the Rhine facilities in Koblenz
designed as a park from 1856. She was also a patron of the Catholic
Pastor Kraus and supported his efforts to create the Pastor Kraus
Plants, a landscape picture bible that is named after him today.
With the barefoot park near Bad Sobernheim, a new and popular leisure
facility was developed in 1992. This was imitated in many places in
German-speaking countries.
The following nature, leisure and
animal parks are located in Rhineland-Palatinate:
Geopark Vulkanland
Eifel
Worms Zoo
Kaiserslautern Zoo
Landau Zoo in the Palatinate
Zoo Neuwied
Eifel Park in Gondorf
Holiday Park in Hassloch
Kurpfalz Park in Wachenheim
Klotten wildlife and leisure park in
Klotten
Wildlife and hiking park Southern Wine Route in Silz
Hunsrück wild game protection park in Rheinböllen
Wildlife enclosure
in Wildenburg near Kempfeld
Eifel Zoo near Lünebach, near Prüm
Wildlife Park Rheingönheim Ludwigshafen am Rhein
Daun Wildlife Park
on the German Wild Road
The cuisine in Rhineland-Palatinate is determined by the mild
temperatures on the Rhine and Moselle. An important export item is wine
from the Palatinate, from Rheinhessen, from the Mittelrhein, from the
Nahe and Ahr valleys and from the Moselle wine-growing region.
Well-known foods are the Palatinate Saumagen, Weck, Worscht un Woi,
Lewwerknepp, Spundekäs and Handkäs (Mainzer cheese). In the entire
northern part of the country, but especially around Idar-Oberstein, the
spit roast is widespread, in the Birkenfeld region potato sausage
(Grumbierwurscht) is a specialty.
In the Hunsrück, but also
beyond, people like to eat stuffed dumplings (potato dumplings filled
with minced meat, liver sausage or similar, depending on the region).
Dishes such as tarte flambée or onion tart are also popular in the
border area with France.
In the north of Rhineland-Palatinate,
Kröbbelsche (also known as potato pancakes or potato pancakes) and
Döppekooche (mashed potatoes with Mettwurst or bacon) and Rhenish
sauerbraten are popular.
In the Trier region there is Terdisch
(sauerkraut with mashed potatoes). The combination of Grumbeersupp and
Quetschekuche, i.e. potato soup and plum cake, is also popular
(especially in the Palatinate).
Wine capital of Mainz/Rheinhessen
Since May 2008, Mainz and Rheinhessen have been members of the Great
Wine Capitals Global Network (GWC),[24] an association of the world's
best-known wine-growing cities. In addition to Mainz, this network
includes cities and regions such as Bilbao: Rioja, Bordeaux: Bordeaux
(wine-growing region), Florence: Tuscany, Cape Town: Cape Winelands,
Mendoza: Mendoza, Melbourne/Melbourne region, Porto: Douro Valley and
San Francisco: Napa Valley .
Orders, decorations and honorary
citizenship
The state of Rhineland-Palatinate awards the following
medals and decorations:
Order of Merit of the State of
Rhineland-Palatinate
Honorary citizenship of the state of
Rhineland-Palatinate
Medal of Merit of the State of
Rhineland-Palatinate
Badge of Honor of the State of
Rhineland-Palatinate
In addition, the following are awarded in
Rhineland-Palatinate:
Carl Zuckmayer Medal
Judicial Council
(honorary title for lawyers, no official title)
Until the state elections in 1991, the CDU was the dominant party in
Rhineland-Palatinate, which is structurally more rural and small-town
and has a high proportion of members of Christian churches, especially
Catholics , Peter Altmeier, Helmut Kohl, Bernhard Vogel and Carl-Ludwig
Wagner). From 1971 to 1987 she even governed with an absolute majority
(cabinets Kohl I, II and III, Vogel I, II, III and IV).
In 1991,
the SPD Rhineland-Palatinate became the strongest party in a state
election in Rhineland-Palatinate for the first time; Rudolf Scharping
became prime minister (Scharping's red-yellow cabinet). Factors for the
losses of the CDU are the years of quarrels between the
Rhineland-Palatinate CDU and the fact that Federal Chancellor Helmut
Kohl broke a campaign promise – he had announced during the election
campaign before the federal elections on December 2, 1990 that
reunification should be financed without tax increases .
When
Scharping switched to federal politics after the federal elections in
1994, Kurt Beck was elected the new prime minister. The SPD was the
strongest party in the state elections of 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011,
2016 and 2021 with at least 35.7%, winning seven state elections in a
row. Beck remained Prime Minister until January 2013 (reigned with an
absolute majority between 2006 and 2011); he was followed by Malu Dreyer
(cabinets I, II and III). The CDU has been in opposition in its former
home country since 1991.
The FDP was only not elected to the
state parliament in the 1983 and 2011 elections. In all other electoral
periods, it was always the third largest parliamentary group in the
state parliament; since 2016 it was only the fourth-largest faction
(behind the AfD); since 2021, with 5.5%, it has only been the
fifth-largest fraction.
Bündnis 90/Die Grünen had a difficult
time in Rhineland-Palatinate for a long time. In 2001 they narrowly made
it into the state parliament; In 2006 they failed at the five percent
hurdle with 4.6 percent. The 2011 state election was held on March 27,
16 days after the start of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. With 15.4
percent of the votes, the Greens received by far the best state result
in their history to date; The SPD and the Greens formed a coalition (→
Cabinet Beck V). From then on, the Greens were always involved in the
state government; since 2016 in a traffic light coalition.
In the
2016 state election, the AfD made it into the state parliament of
Rhineland-Palatinate with 12.6%, and in 2021 it reached 8.3%.
With 5.4%, the Free Voters 2021 made it into the Rhineland-Palatinate
state parliament for the first time.
The left never got over 3%
in Rhineland-Palatinate.
The state of Rhineland-Palatinate goes back to decree number 57 of
the French occupying power of August 30, 1946. This ordered the
formation of a "Rhine-Palatinate" state. A first draft of the
constitution was created "in the consciousness of responsibility before
God, the source of law and creator of all human community, inspired by
the will to secure human freedom and dignity, to organize community life
according to the principle of social justice, to promote economic
progress of all and to form a new democratic Germany as a living member
of the international community" in the so-called Advisory State
Assembly. Its members were elected by the Rhineland-Palatinate district
and community assemblies in November 1946.
The constitutive
session of this advisory state assembly took place on November 22, 1946
in Koblenz. Shortly thereafter, on December 4, 1946, a provisional state
government was formed under Wilhelm Boden (CDU). After the state
constitution was adopted by a referendum on May 18, 1947, the previous
head of the state, Boden, was elected the first prime minister of the
new state on June 13. On July 9, 1947, Peter Altmeier (CDU) became his
successor.
Article 79 paragraph 1 of the state constitution
stipulates that the state parliament is “the supreme organ of political
decision-making elected by the people”. "It represents the people,
elects the prime minister and confirms the state government, passes the
laws and the state budget, controls the executive power and participates
in the state's decision-making in dealing with public affairs, in
European policy questions and in accordance with agreements between the
state parliament and state government.”
The state is represented
at the federal level by an authorized representative whose seat is in
the representation of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate in Berlin.
Denomination statistics
At the end of 2020, Rhineland-Palatinate had 38.7% Catholic
residents, 25.9% Protestant residents and 35.4% of the population had
either another religious affiliation or no religious affiliation.
According to an estimate by the Ministry of Integration from 2016,
200,000 people of Muslim faith live in Rhineland-Palatinate, which
corresponds to 5.0% of the population.
According to the 2011
census, 1.0% of the population belonged to a Protestant free church,
1.1% to a Christian Orthodox church, 0.1% to a Jewish community and 2.3%
to other public religious communities recognized in Rhineland-Palatinate
(plus include Old Catholics and Jehovah's Witnesses).
In Rhineland-Palatinate, West Central German dialects are mainly
spoken, which belong to Middle Franconian and Rhine Franconian. A small
area in the south of the Palatinate belongs to the language area of
southern Franconian, which is one of the Upper German dialects.
In ancient times, most of the country belonged to Gaul. In late
antiquity, Trier was the prime capital of the province of Belgica and at
times one of the capitals of the entire Roman empire. The population
mixture of immigrated Romans and Romanized Celts remained after the
Frankish conquest, their language, Moselle Romansh, remained on the
Moselle until the High Middle Ages, but was isolated from the rest of
Romania by the purely Moselle Franconian-speaking areas in what is now
the western part of the Rhineland- Palatinate and today's Luxembourg.
In the eastern part of the country there was already a mixture of
Celtic and Germanic tribes in Roman times. Alemanni and Franks settled
in this part of the country during the migration of peoples. Different
variations of the Palatinate dialects emerged from the mixing. Due to
the centuries-long tradition of emigration due to poverty or religious
beliefs, Palatinate formed the basis for various German dialects abroad.
Germans from Russia, Banaters, Amish (Pennsylvania Dutch) and some of
the ethnic Germans in Brazil (Riograndenser Hunsrückisch) have retained
this dialect to some extent to this day.
According to the State Statistical Office in 2018, almost three quarters (2.97 million, 74%) of the Rhineland-Palatinate are ethnically German and do not have a migration background. Around a quarter have a migration background (1.04 million, 26%), i. This means that at least one parent is of foreign origin. Among them are almost 450,000 foreigners without German citizenship. The five most common countries of origin are Turkey (58,000), Poland (44,000), Syria (39,000) and Italy and Romania (30,000 each).
The average life expectancy in the period 2015/17 was 78.6 years for
men and 83.0 years for women. Men thus rank 4th among the German federal
states, while women rank 10th. Regionally, in 2013/15 the
Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis (expectation of the total population: 81.96 years),
Mainz (81.84) and Mainz-Bingen (81.79) had the highest, as well as the
Donnersbergkreis (79.39), Birkenfeld (79.21) and Pirmasens (77.35) had
the lowest life expectancies. Pirmasens also took last place in Germany.
In 2015 there were 87 hospitals with 25,282 beds and 3 day clinics
with 87 places in Rhineland-Palatinate. The country had 7,835 doctors
and over 48,000 other hospital workers.
In Germany, Rhineland-Palatinate is primarily known for wine and
sparkling wine, although the share of industry in economic output is
higher than the national average. With an export rate of approx. 46
percent, the state is in the top group of German federal states. A
cornerstone of the economy, in addition to foreign trade and industry,
is the middle class. Tourism also plays an important role. In comparison
with the gross domestic product of the EU, expressed in purchasing power
standards, Rhineland-Palatinate achieved an index of 112.0 in 2014
(EU-28: 100.0).
At 4.9% (February 2023), the unemployment rate is
the lowest in the Federal Republic of Germany after Baden-Württemberg
(3.8% (February 2023)) and Bavaria (3.6% (February 2023)).
In
2021, the gross domestic product in Rhineland-Palatinate was around
162.2 billion euros.
Important sectors in the chemical industry are BASF in Ludwigshafen (the largest employer in the state), pharmaceutical industry Boehringer Ingelheim (second largest employer), Biontech in Mainz and Idar-Oberstein, vehicle and mechanical engineering e.g. Daimler plant in Wörth am Rhein (the largest truck plant in the world), Wirtgen Group in Windhagen (world market leader for road construction machinery), KSB SE & Co. KGaA in Frankenthal (largest German pump manufacturer), Opel plant in Kaiserslautern, Stabilus Koblenz (world market leader in the manufacture of gas springs), Schottel (ship machinery), thyssenkrupp Rasselstein GmbH in Andernach (world's largest production site for packaging steel), food manufacturer Griesson - de Beukelaer (leading confectionery group), Schott AG (manufacturer of glass and glass ceramics) in Mainz and the beverage manufacturers Bitburger Brauerei, Koblenzer Brauerei Koblenz and Gerolsteiner Brunnen. Cigarettes have been manufactured in Trier since 1873 by formerly Johann Neuerburg called Haus Neuerburg, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and today JT International Germany and since 1925 by Heintz van Landewyck.
The service industry is predominantly based on smaller companies,
with this economic sector being below the national average. In addition,
there are also nationally leading companies in the service sector in the
state, such as Debeka Koblenz (insurance) and United Internet, one of
the leading Internet service providers in Germany. Trade in local
mineral resources and agricultural and forestry products (wine, wood,
clay, stones, etc.) and jewelry is particularly important.
Important shopping centers in Rhineland-Palatinate are the Römerpassage
in Mainz, the Löhr-Center and the Forum Mittelrhein in Koblenz, the
Rathaus-Center in Ludwigshafen, the Rheingalerie in Ludwigshafen and the
Trier-Galerie in Trier. Lotto Rheinland-Pfalz GmbH, based in Koblenz, is
the lottery company of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Mainz
has been one of the four headquarters of Landesbank Baden-Württemberg
since 2008. Westdeutsche ImmobilienBank, which belongs to WestLB, is
based in Mainz, as are the two development banks in the state, namely
the Investment and Structure Bank Rhineland-Palatinate (ISB) and the
Landestreuhandbank Rhineland-Palatinate (LTH). The savings banks in
Rhineland-Palatinate form an important backbone in the financing of
medium-sized companies as well as in economic development and location
security. In addition, they are committed to culture, sport, science and
social affairs through donations and sponsorships.
The only nuclear power plant in Rhineland-Palatinate, the Mülheim-Kärlich nuclear power plant, was completed in 1986. It had to be taken off the grid in 1988 due to an incorrect building permit. The dismantling should be essentially completed by 2012 and by 2013 only the steam generators and the actual reactor pressure vessel should remain in the plant. The cooling tower was demolished in 2019.
Large parts of Rhineland-Palatinate were primarily agricultural until
the 1960s. In 1957, 36% of all workers were still employed in
agriculture and forestry. Today, agriculture plays a role above all in
the Rhenish-Hessian hill country and in the Upper Rhine Graben. The
agricultural area covers around 719,400 hectares, which corresponds to
around 36% of the country. These areas are used by around 24,700
companies. Organic farming is practiced on around 10 percent of the
total agricultural area.
The Palatinate Forest, the Hunsrück and
the Westerwald are of significant forestry importance.
In Rhineland-Palatinate there is a total of approx. 64,000 hectares
of vineyards in the six wine-growing regions of Ahr, Mittelrhein,
Moselle, Nahe, Rheinhessen and Pfalz. Of the approximately 102,000
hectares in Germany, Rhineland-Palatinate has the largest share. On
average over the years, between 6.0 and 6.5 million hectoliters of wine
are harvested in the country, of which around 1.6 million hectoliters
are exported.
The most commonly cultivated white wine grape
varieties (approx. 45,563 ha) are in descending order: Riesling,
Müller-Thurgau (Rivaner), Silvaner, Kerner, Scheurebe, Pinot Blanc,
Bacchus, Pinot Gris (Ruländer), Faberrebe, Huxelrebe, Ortega,
Chardonnay, Morio -Muscat, Elbling, Gewürztraminer, Reichensteiner,
Ehrenfelser, Siegerrebe, Optima, Regner, Würzer, Sauvignon Blanc,
Auxerrois. For the red wine grape varieties (approx. 18,648 ha), these
are in descending order: Dornfelder, Blauer Portugieser, Pinot Noir,
Regent, St. Laurent, Dunkelfelder, Merlot, Müllerrebe, Cabernet
Sauvignon, Heroldrebe, Frühburgunder, Cabernet Mitos, Acolon, Cabernet
Dorsa, Domina .
The state itself manages four state wineries in
Oppenheim, Bernkastel-Kues, Bad Kreuznach and Neustadt an der
Weinstraße.
The sparkling wine producers are also important:
Kupferberg and Goldhand (wine-growing in Mainz), Deinhard (Koblenz),
administration of the episcopal wineries in Trier, Bernard-Massard
sparkling wine producers (Trier), Wachenheim Castle (Wachenheim an der
Weinstraße) and Faber, both owned by Günther Reh AG (Trier) as well as
many medium-sized producers of Winzersekt. Some larger German trade
wineries such as Reh Kendermann and Peter Mertes are based in
Rhineland-Palatinate.
Tourism is an important economic factor for Rhineland-Palatinate.
The analyzes for tourism in Rhineland-Palatinate show for the year
2015: With 7.18 billion euros gross turnover and 3.32 billion euros
income effect, as well as around 148,000 employees, tourism is one of
the mainstays of the state's economy. According to official information
from the State Statistical Office in Bad Ems, a total of 25,869,203
guests stayed in Rhineland-Palatinate in 2019. This means an increase of
0.9 percent compared to the previous year.
In addition, there is
tax revenue from tourism of 679 million euros. The state participates in
sales tax and income tax as part of the state financial equalization
system. These numbers come about because every year millions of
holidaymakers come to the country for camping or wellness stays, spa
guests, city, wine and event travelers as well as day trippers, for
example for hiking or cycling, not to mention business travelers and
conference participants. A special tourist attraction in the Palatinate
is the 85 km long German Wine Route. In addition to it, there is also
the approx. 70 km long German Gemstone Route near Idar-Oberstein on the
Upper Nahe and in the Hunsrück. The Hunsrück-Hochwald National Park,
which covers around 10,120 hectares, has existed since 2015.
Air traffic
The largest airport in
Rhineland-Palatinate is Frankfurt-Hahn Airport, which is located in the
Hunsrück near the municipality of Hahn. This should not be confused with
Frankfurt Main Airport, which is about 100 kilometers away. It was
converted from a US military airfield to a civilian airport in 1993. In
terms of passenger traffic, the low-cost airport is mainly served by
various low-cost airlines, particularly Ryanair. The airport is
connected to the A 61 via the B 50, which has been expanded to four
lanes since 2011. The reactivation of the Hunsrück railway line, which
has been discussed for a long time, has been postponed indefinitely.
The second airport with regular international connections was
Zweibrücken Airfield, which evolved from Zweibrücken Air Base and was
used by the Allied Air Forces from 1953 to 1991 (Royal Canadian Air
Force 1953-1969, United States Air Force 1969-1991). On November 3,
2014, commercial services were discontinued there.
Smaller
airfields are located in Ailertchen, Bitburg, Koblenz-Winningen,
Lachen-Speyerdorf, Mainz-Finthen, Pirmasens, Speyer, Trier-Föhren and
Worms.
Road traffic
The federal
motorways 1, 3, 60, 61, 62, 63 and 65 run from north to south, the A 6,
8, 48, 64, 602 and 650 from west to east. Approximately 861 km of
motorways run through Rhineland-Palatinate. The Moseltalbrücke, the
crossing of the A 61 over the Moselle, was the highest motorway bridge
in Europe when it was built. In the Middle Rhine Valley, a crossing of
the Rhine via the Middle Rhine Bridge between St. Goar and St.
Goarshausen was planned. During the coalition negotiations after the
state elections in 2011, the SPD and the Greens agreed not to build the
"Middle Rhine Bridge" project for the time being, while the construction
of the large bridge, known as the High Moselle crossing, was carried
out. The longest road tunnel is the Malberg tunnel near Bad Ems at 1540
m.
Local public transport is divided into six transport
associations. Specifically, these are the associations of Karlsruhe,
Rhine-Main, Rhine-Moselle, Rhine-Nahe, Rhine-Neckar and the Trier
region.
Rail transport
The most
important junction stations for long-distance rail passenger transport
are Mainz main station, Koblenz main station, Ludwigshafen (Rhein) main
station, Montabaur station, Neustadt an der Weinstrasse main station,
Trier main station and Kaiserslautern main station. The right and left
Rhine lines and the Mainz–Mannheim line run along the Rhine as important
railway lines. The Moselle line is located on the Moselle, and the
Cologne–Rhine/Main high-speed line, completed in 2004, runs through the
Westerwald. The connection from Central Germany to Paris via Mannheim,
Kaiserslautern and Saarbrücken runs through the Palatinate Forest with
the Mannheim–Saarbrücken railway. The longest railway tunnel is the
Kaiser Wilhelm Tunnel near Cochem at 4205 m.
According to a
railway spokesman, federal funds of 48 million euros were approved for
the North Head in Mainz for the expansion of the long-distance freight
network. The increased performance is also required because the Gotthard
base tunnel in Switzerland was opened in 2016 and freight traffic
between the North Sea and the Mediterranean (and thus across
Rhineland-Palatinate) will almost double to 40 million tons. In 2012,
the planning of a new route for rail freight traffic to relieve the
Rhine-Main-Cargo route in the Rhine Valley is still in an early
evaluation phase.
Waterways and ports
The Rhine is the most important waterway in Rhineland-Palatinate. In
addition, only the Moselle, since it was canalized from 1958 to 1964,
and the Saar are of importance for passenger and transport ship traffic.
The Lahn is navigable in its middle and lower reaches, but is used
almost exclusively for tourism.
The Ludwigshafen Rhine port is
the largest and most efficient public port in Rhineland-Palatinate and
one of the most important inland ports in Germany. It covers an area of
over 150 hectares and in 2005 handled 7.1 million tons of goods. The
container terminal of the customs and inland port of Mainz, inaugurated
in 2011, has an area of 8 hectares suitable for storing 10,300 TEU, a
turnover of 1.3 million tons and is called at by 2,200 ships every year.
Other important inland ports are in Andernach (annual handling over 2.8
million tons) as well as in Germersheim, Worms, Bendorf, Koblenz, Wörth
am Rhein and Trier.
Cable car
Germany's largest cable car, the Rheinseilbahn, has been operating in
Koblenz since July 2, 2010. The first 890 meter long three-cable gondola
to be built in an urban environment connects the Rhine facilities at the
level of the Kastorkirche with the plateau in front of the
Ehrenbreitstein Fortress. With 18 cabins for 35 passengers per hour, it
can carry around 3,800 people in each direction. With this transport
capacity of a total of 7600 people per hour, it is unmatched anywhere in
the world. It was built as an attraction and ecologically sensible
transport link for the 2011 Federal Horticultural Show. In order not to
jeopardize the UNESCO World Heritage status of the Upper Middle Rhine
Valley cultural landscape, it was agreed in a concession agreement to
operate the cable car until November 2013 and then to dismantle it. On
June 19, 2013 in Phnom Penh, UNESCO decided at the 37th session of the
World Heritage Committee to allow operation until 2026. In 2026, the
technically longest possible service life ends.
On November 12, 1955, the first soldiers of the army of the newly
founded Bundeswehr moved into the Krahnenberg barracks in Andernach.
Since then, the Bundeswehr has had important locations in
Rhineland-Palatinate. Until the end of the 1980s, Koblenz was the
largest garrison town in Germany. Despite the closure of some barracks,
many key military and civilian facilities remained here. Koblenz is home
to the German Army memorial, the Bundeswehr Medical Service Command, the
Federal Office for Equipment, Information Technology and Use of the
Bundeswehr, the Center for Internal Management and the Bundeswehr
Central Hospital. Until the dissolution, the Army Command, the Medical
Command and the Federal Office for Defense Technology and Procurement
were based in Koblenz. The Air Force has stationed Tactical Air Force
Squadron 33 at Büchel Air Base. The Bundeswehr's troop support station
"Radio Andernach" is broadcast from the Bundeswehr's operational
communication center in Mayen. The Baumholder military training area has
been in use since 1937 and has been administered by the Bundeswehr since
1960. Since 1957, the Federal Armed Forces Technical Service Center 41
has been active in Trier. In 1956 the Bundeswehr artillery school was
stationed in Idar-Oberstein. There, soldiers of the Bundeswehr and
allied forces are trained for the Panzerhaubitze 2000 and other weapon
systems using the latest technology. A mobility center operated by
BwFuhrparkService GmbH is also located in Idar-Oberstein, and its
vehicles are used throughout south-western Germany.
Foreign
Forces
Foreign armed forces have played a significant role in the
country's development since the 1950s. Rhineland-Palatinate was
considered the most important regional military base for Allied air
defense in NATO. The Börfink command bunker in the Hunsrück, for
example, was used for air surveillance in Central Europe during the Cold
War. The Pydna nuclear missile base was also located in the Hunsrück
until the late 1980s. The US armed forces in particular were and are
present. Up to 69,000 US soldiers were stationed in Rhineland-Palatinate
during the Cold War. In June 2006 there were 27,200. To this day, the
United States maintains two important US Air Force bases, Ramstein Air
Base and Spangdahlem Air Base, the importance of which has increased
since the Rhein-Main Air Base in Frankfurt am Main was closed in 2005.
The US Air Force uses Ramstein, the largest NATO airport in Europe,
mainly as a hub for cargo and troop transport for the regions of Europe,
Africa and the Middle East and as a destination for evacuation flights,
as Landstuhl is the largest US hospital ( Landstuhl Regional Medical
Center) outside of the United States. The Miesau Army Depot near Miesau
is considered the largest ammunition depot in Germany and the largest US
Army ammunition depot outside the United States. Because of the numerous
military aircraft stationed in Rhineland-Palatinate, the state is also
called "aircraft carrier Rhineland-Palatinate". Baumholder is the
largest American garrison town in Germany; here is, among other things,
the headquarters of the 2nd Brigade of the 1st US Armored Division.
Units of the Forces françaises en Allemagne were also stationed in
the country, including one armored division each in Trier and Landau. At
times up to 30,000 soldiers and their families lived in and near Trier.
They withdrew in the 1990s.
The United States and Britain stored up to 5,000 nuclear weapons in German bunkers during the Cold War. Up until 2004, there were still 150 nuclear bombs in the bunkers at the Ramstein (130) and Büchel (20) air bases in Germany; here the so-called nuclear sharing exists. In July 2007 it became known that the Büchel Air Base has probably been the only location in Germany since 2004 where nuclear weapons are located. Only in Büchel does the German Air Force continue to train for nuclear use with Tornado-type fighter-bombers.
Mainz is home to one of the largest broadcasting stations in Europe,
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen. In addition, Südwestrundfunk operates a
third television program, SWR Fernsehen, as well as state-wide radio
programs with the radio stations SWR1 Rheinland-Pfalz, SWR2, SWR3, SWR4
Rheinland-Pfalz and Dasding. In addition, there are the nationwide
private radio stations RPR1, BigFM and Rockland Radio as well as the
local operators Antenne Koblenz 98.0, Antenne Bad Kreuznach, Antenne
Kaiserslautern, Antenne Landau, Antenne Mainz, Antenna Pfalz, Cityradio
Trier, Radio Idar-Oberstein and Radio Pirmasens. AFN provides
English-language radio to US soldiers stationed primarily in the
Palatinate and Eifel regions. Metropol FM broadcasts for the
Turkish-speaking residents in the Mainz, Koblenz and Ludwigshafen area.
On January 1, 1984, the era of private television started as part of
the Ludwigshafen cable pilot project. The program company for cable and
satellite broadcasting (PKS) went on the air from a basement studio in
Ludwigshafen. A year later, this became what is now Germany's second
largest private television broadcaster, Sat.1. Regional television
programs are offered in various cities in the country. In the north
these are wwtv, TV Mittelrhein and rheinahr.tv, and in the east and
south Rhein-Neckar Fernsehen and gutenberg.tv. There are 16 different
citizen radio stations nationwide. Since 2006, students have been
designing the SRRP Radio & TV. Digital television (DVB-T) has been
available nationwide in Rhineland-Palatinate since the end of 2008.
The Rhein-Zeitung, Allgemeine Zeitung, Die Rheinpfalz, Pirmasenser
Zeitung, Pfälzischer Merkur and Trierischer Volksfreund appear as
regional daily newspapers.
The media location of
Rhineland-Palatinate is also supported by the two feature film
festivals, FILMZ - Festival of German Cinema in Mainz and the Festival
of German Film in Ludwigshafen.
Football
Since the 2009/10 season, 1.
FSV Mainz 05 has played uninterruptedly in Germany's highest football
league, the Bundesliga. The club had previously played there from 2004
to 2007. The four-time German champions 1. FC Kaiserslautern have been
part of the 2nd Bundesliga again since 2022 after being temporarily
relegated to the 3rd division.
In the 2022/23 season, four teams
from Rhineland-Palatinate will play in the fourth-rate Regionalliga
Südwest, which has existed since 2012/13: FC Rot-Weiß Koblenz, 1. FSV
Mainz 05 II, Eintracht Trier and Wormatia Worms.
The women's
soccer department of SC 07 Bad Neuenahr, founded in 1969, won the German
championship in 1978. The club was a founding member of the women's
soccer Bundesliga. After three promotions and relegations, he has been
in this league without interruption since 1997, from which he retired in
2013 for financial reasons. The first German champion in women's
football was TuS Wörrstadt in 1974, who also played in the women's
football Bundesliga from 1993 to 1996. The women's soccer department of
TuS Niederkirchen (now 1. FFC 08 Niederkirchen) also won the German
championship in 1993. The Niederkirchen club was also a founding member
of the women's soccer Bundesliga and belonged to it until 2000 and again
in 2003/04.
Motorsports
On the Nürburgring in the Vulkaneifel,
in addition to other racing events, Formula 1 races have been held
regularly since 1951, as the German Grand Prix or the European Grand
Prix. The Rally Germany came from Adenau to Trier in 2000 and has been a
round of the FIA World Rally Championship since 2002. From 1991 to 2011,
the Trier Hill Climb was part of the FIA European Hill Climb
Championship. Mention should be made in motorcycling among others the
traditional sand track race in Herxheim on Ascension Day in front of up
to 20,000 spectators, the sand track race in Altrip on Corpus Christi
and the grass track race in Zweibrücken.
Cycling
From 1998 to 2008, Team Gerolsteiner was home to a top professional
cycling team in the Eifel. The Rhineland-Palatinate Tour is an
international, five-day cycling stage race and is part of the UCI Europe
Tour.
Other sports
In weightlifting, AC Mutterstadt athletes
have won over 100 German championships.
The DJK/MJC Trier became
German women's handball champions in 2003. For men, TSG Friesenheim will
play in the 1st Handball Bundesliga in the 2010/11 season. TSG Hassloch
was the last German field handball champion.
The men's teams of
Dürkheimer HC and TG Frankenthal have been German champions in hockey,
field and indoor several times. Both also celebrated international
successes.
VfK Schifferstadt is the club with the most German
championships in wrestling.
In rowing, the state performance
center is located at the Mainz Rowing Club. The club, together with the
Ludwigshafen rowing club, is also one of the largest and, with several
Olympic champions each, also one of the most successful and traditional
rowing clubs in the state.
The Gladiators Trier play in the
second German basketball league.
The TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau plays
in the table tennis Bundesliga and has won numerous titles at German and
European level. FSV Kroppach was German champion six times for women,
and they were also able to win international titles.
The chess
clubs SC Bann and SC Remagen played or play in the 1st Bundesliga, the
SG Turm Trier 1877 has played with the 1st team in the 2nd Bundesliga,
Staffel Süd, since the 2005/06 season and from the 2007/08 season to for
the 2016/17 season in the 1st Bundesliga. She then moved to the British
Four Nations Chess League. TSV Schott Mainz plays in the Bundesliga for
women.
The women's team of the Golfclub Rheinhessen Hofgut
Wißberg St. Johann e. V. played in the DGV 1st Bundesliga for the first
time in the 2008 season.
EHC Neuwied played in the second highest
ice hockey league until 2000, in which it won the championship in 1997
and 1998.
The Kaiserslautern Pikes are very successful in
American football and within five years they managed to get promoted
from the Landesliga (5th division) to the German Football League 2 (2nd
Bundesliga), in which the “Hechte” have been playing since 2009.
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Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2012;
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Volumes 2 (From the late 18th century to the 21st century) and 3
(Historical Statistics), ISBN 978-3-8053-4291-9.
Hans-Martin Braun,
Carsten Braun: Natural beauty in Rhineland-Palatinate. literary
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3-932515-23-4.
Heinz Cüppers (ed.): The Romans in
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Heinz Fischer:
Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland - a geographical study. Scientific
Book Society, Darmstadt 1989, ISBN 3-534-08892-1.
Michael Kißener:
Little history of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. 1945-2005. Ways to
integrate a “post-war federal state”. Brown, Karlsruhe 2006, ISBN
3-7650-8345-3.
Karin Leydecker, Enrico Santifaller: Construction site
home. Architectural guide of Rhineland-Palatinate 1945-2005. Fast and
Steiner, Regensburg 2005, ISBN 3-7954-1759-7.
Hans-Jürgen Wunschel
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country. Knecht-Verlag, Landau 1997.
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Ulrich
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Rhineland-Palatinate. Mainz 2000.
Archeology in Rhineland-Palatinate.
Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz (published annually since 2002).
Ulrich Sarcinelli, Timo S. Werner: Development and change of the party
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Rhineland-Palatinate, Mainz 2010.
Rhineland-Palatinate. Our country
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Leaflets on the state, published by the state agency for
political education RLP.
Rhineland-Palatinate. culture and economy.
Mushakesche Verlagsanstalt / Franzmathes Verlag, Trautheim 1953.