Wickenrodt 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 Herrstein-Rhaunen, whose seat is in Herrstein.
Geography
Location
The municipality lies in the Hunsrück on a plateau overlooking the Hahnenbach valley between
Idar-Oberstein and
Rhaunen.
Neighbouring municipalities
Wickenrodt borders in the north on the municipality of
Bollenbach, in the northeast on the municipality of
Bundenbach, in the east on the municipality of
Sonnschied, in the south on the municipality of
Niederhosenbach, in the southwest on the municipalities of Breitenthal and
Oberhosenbach and in the northwest on the municipality of Sulzbach. Wickenrodt also meets the municipality of
Griebelschied at a single point in the southeast.
Politics
Municipal council
The council is made up of 6 council members, who were elected by majority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
[ Kommunalwahl Rheinland-Pfalz 2009, Gemeinderat]
Mayor
Wickenrodt's mayor is Michael Adam.
[ Wickenrodt’s executive]
Coat of arms
The municipality's arms might be described thus: Per bend vert a stylized W and in base an adze in bend argent, and Or a lion rampant gules armed and langued azure.
Culture and sightseeing
Buildings
The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
[ Directory of Cultural Monuments in Birkenfeld district]
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Evangelical parish church, Unterdorf – aisleless church; nave essentially Romanesque, alterations in the 18th and 19th centuries; Romanesque quire tower with Late Gothic pointed spire; two bells: one about 1340 by Magister Sifride, Cologne, the newer one marked 1466
-
Unterdorf 8 – Evangelical rectory; Classicism building with hipped roof, 1840s
Regular events
Each year, the Wickenrodt Beautification Club (
Verschönerungsverein Wickenrodt) stages a folk and children's festival (last weekend in July), and the Wickenrodt Riding Club (
Reitverein RV Wickenrodt) holds a
Equestrianism tournament (first weekend in September).
Every other year (in even-numbered years), Saint Nicholas’s Market ( Nikolausmarkt) takes place around the municipal centre on the first Saturday in December.
Economy and infrastructure
Transport
Running to the southeast of the municipality is
Bundesstraße 41, which towards the south leads to the
Autobahn A 62 (
Kaiserslautern–
Trier). Serving nearby
Kirn is a
railway station on the Nahe Valley Railway (Bingen–Saarbrücken).
