Riesweiler

According to historical researchers, though, Riesweiler must already have existed by 995, when the oldest royal estate, “Denzen” was donated by King Otto III to his stalwart, Bezelin.

The Eremitage Maria Reizenborn near Riesweiler, reconstructed since 1980, was from the 12th to 14th century a resting place on Saint James’s Way, the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, the section of which running from Frankfurt and Mainz by way of Bingen to Trier crossed the Soonwald ridges between Stromberg and Kirchberg.

In the time of famine in the early 19th century, many people from Riesweiler turned their backs on the village and emigrated.

At the same time, efforts were brought to bear on modernizing the village centre and building a multipurpose hall, the Soonblickhalle, which was dedicated in 1979.

The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:[3] Riesweiler’s mayor is Johannes Herrmann.

According to one theory, the original Celtic inhabitants already had a worshipping place at this spring (the —born part of the name) in pre-Christian times ringed with stone god figures.

After Christianization in the Middle Ages, the monumental heads of the idols that remained were taken on orders from Archboshop of Mainz Willigis sometime about 1000 and incorporated into the walls of Riesweiler’s first church, and into its successor buildings as well.

Typologically, these ancient works in stone are immediately related to the god figures from Mont Beuvray (Bibracte) and the idols from a Celtic sanctuary in the Seine’s headwaters, now kept at the Musée archéologique in Dijon.

Transport links to the national road network are afforded by Bundesstraße 50, which runs by the village only a few hundred metres away.

The village centre
Jahnstraße 2: Evangelical church