Gelenberg

Gelenberg is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Kelberg, whose seat is in the like-named municipality.GeographyLocationThe municipality lies in the Vulkaneifel, a part of the Eifel known for its volcanic history, geographical and geological features, and even ongoing activity today, including gases that sometimes well up from the earth.GeologyNear a basalt mountain at Gelenberg, an amygdaloidal layer was found in the greywacke.HistoryGelenberg was settled very early on as witnessed by a group of prehistoric barrows. There are at least 17 of them, mostly untouched.As early as 1683, Gelenberg had an oratory, as shown on a 1683 map of the Electoral-Trier Amt of Daun. It was consecrated to Saint Roch, patron saint of Plague victims. It was replaced in 1717 by a new chapel, this one consecrated to Saint Wendelin. However, by 1834, the chapel was in such a state of disrepair that services could no longer be held there. In 1848, a new one was built.