Oberreidenbach

Oberreidenbach
Coat of arms of Oberreidenbach Coat of arms
Oberreidenbach
Location of Oberreidenbach within Birkenfeld district 250px
Coordinates:
Country	Germany
State	Rhineland-Palatinate
District	Birkenfeld
Municipal assoc.	Herrstein
Government
• Mayor	Peter Gleßner
Area
• Total	10.93 km2 (4.22 sq mi)
Population (2013-12-31)
• Total	615
• Density	56/km2 (150/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	55758
Dialling codes	06788
Vehicle registration	BIR
Website	www.vg-herrstein.de

Oberreidenbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Herrstein, whose seat is in the like-named municipality.

Geography

Location

The municipality lies on Bundesstraße 270, in a side valley of the Upper Nahe, between the Palatinate and the Hunsrück. Oberreidenbach lies right at the edge of one of Germany’s biggest military drilling grounds, the Truppenübungsplatz Baumholder, which for decades has been used mainly by the Bundeswehr and the United States Army.

The municipality has at its disposal a municipal area of 1 093 ha, of which 277 ha is wooded, and another 412 ha of which is occupied by the military drilling ground.

Neighbouring municipalities

Oberreidenbach’s neighbours are Mittelreidenbach, Schmidthachenbach and Sienhachenbach. The nearest major towns are Idar-Oberstein and Kaiserslautern.

Politics

Municipal council

The council is made up of 12 council members, who were elected by majority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.

Mayor

Oberreidenbach’s mayor is Peter Gleßner, and his deputies are Reiner Weiß and Stefan Becker.

Coat of arms

The municipality’s arms might be described thus: Per pale gules a fess between in chief a lion’s head sinister erased and in base an oakleaf slipped palewise, all argent, and countercompony azure and Or.

Culture and sightseeing

Buildings

The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:

• Evangelical church, Hauptstraße 60 – Gothic Revival aisleless church, sandstone-framed breccia building, 1902, architect August Senz, Cologne
• Saint Louis’s Catholic Church (Kirche St. Ludwig), Hauptstraße 82 – Late Romanesque quire tower, pointed cupola with corner turrets renovated in 1930; nave 1819-1821, architect Becker, Kirn; cast-iron grave cross, about 1895

The Evangelical church dates from 1903, and it is believed that the Catholic church dates from the mid 13th century; since 1927 it has been under monumental protection.

Recreation

The municipality has at its disposal a club hall with a stage, a bar and a sideroom. Up on the Brockelberg is a pavilion with a grilling pit and a lookout at an elevation of some 510 m above sea level. There are also many hiking trails in Oberreidenbach. There are clubs, too: football, table tennis, aerobics, the fire brigade, the Landfrauen (“Countrywomen”), the beautification club and the music club, among others.

Regular events

Oberreidenbach has its Maifest on 1 May, and a kermis on the second weekend in June.

Economy and infrastructure

Oberreidenbach has two small grocer’s shops, a bakery and a commercial area with a company in mechanical engineering, a nursery, a swimming pool builder and a car dealership. There are four farmers, although only one works the land full-time.

There is also a new residential development zone called Auf dem Rain with a children’s playground, a sport ground and a small playing field with plastic covering.

Education

There is one primary school in Oberreidenbach, Grundschule Reidenbachtal.

External links

• Oberreidenbach in the collective municipality’s webpages (German)