Nieder-Wiesen

In Nieder-Wiesen, the Rheinhessisches Hügelland (Rhenish-Hessian Upland) gives way to the foothills of the North Palatine Highland, thus explaining the former presence of the old border running along the Wiesbach 500 m south of the village which once marked the place where the Grand Duchy of Hesse (“GH”) met the Palatine exclave ruled by the Kingdom of Bavaria (“KB”).

The particularly lovely rural location on the Wiesbach – nowadays known as the Rhenish-Hessian Switzerland (Rheinhessische Schweiz) – must have appealed to the Celts, who built a place of worship or perhaps even a castle on the Schlossberg (mountain).

Before the persecution and outright murder wrought by the National Socialists, Nieder-Wiesen was home to a remarkably large Jewish community that formed about a third of the population.

This place, near nature and the forest, is wonderfully suited to tent camping and children's and youth's leisure activities.

Also to be found lying before the youth tent site in Nieder-Wiesen is a big Wanderparkplatz (“hiking park square”) with information and display notices about the trails that have been laid out and marked and the Nordic walking courses through the Vorholz Forest Area.

There is a permanent International Federation of Popular Sports [de] (IVV) hiking trail, a loop through the Vorholz, running for 10 km through the Rhenish-Hessian Switzerland.

The Bürgerhaus (“citizens’ house”) with its kitchen and great hall is part of the former school (a modern wing built in 1988) and it can likewise be hired through the municipal administration.

The church is equipped with the oldest and smallest Stumm organ in Rhenish Hesse (from about 1725) with a stylish character (eight stops).

Furthermore, the clerical family Fresenius’s descendants founded a healthcare business that today is active worldwide, and also a well known chemical analysis institute.

Upon close inspection, though, it turns out that the place depicted in the work, far from being the Holy City, is in fact Nieder-Wiesen, with its former synagogue on fire.

The entrance portal is furnished with the clerical family Fresenius's heraldic motto from Psalm 92: Die gepflanzt sind im Hause des Herrn, werden in den Vorhöfen unseres Gottes grünen (“Planted in the Lord’s house, they grow in the courts of our God”[4]), and above is found the Hunolstein family's former coat of arms with the noble crown.

Worth seeing here is the fully functional overshot waterwheel, which today is run to generate renewable electrical energy from the flowing water.

Its area is about 1 ha, and there are all kinds of native fruit trees planted there that once grew all around the village of Nieder-Wiesen in great numbers.

An informational notice explaining the various fruit trees can be found at the orchard's lower edge, and at the upper end is an “insect hotel”, installed in 2008.

Gimbsheim Hamm am Rhein Eich Alsheim Mettenheim Osthofen Bechtheim Dittelsheim-Heßloch Frettenheim Westhofen Monzernheim Gundheim Bermersheim Gundersheim Hangen-Weisheim Hochborn Offstein Hohen-Sülzen Monsheim Wachenheim Mölsheim Flörsheim-Dalsheim Mörstadt Wendelsheim Stein-Bockenheim Wonsheim Wonsheim Siefersheim Wöllstein Gau-Bickelheim Gumbsheim Eckelsheim Gau-Weinheim Vendersheim Wallertheim Partenheim Saulheim Udenheim Schornsheim Gabsheim Wörrstadt Sulzheim Spiesheim Ensheim Armsheim Flonheim Erbes-Büdesheim Nack Nieder-Wiesen Bechenheim Offenheim Bornheim Lonsheim Bermersheim vor der Höhe Albig Biebelnheim Bechtolsheim Gau-Odernheim Framersheim Gau-Heppenheim Alzey Ober-Flörsheim Flomborn Eppelsheim Dintesheim Esselborn Mauchenheim Freimersheim Wahlheim Kettenheim Hesse Mainz Mainz-Bingen Worms Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis Bad Dürkheim (district) Bad Kreuznach (district) Donnersbergkreis
Coat of arms
Coat of arms