Quirnheim

Quirnheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It lies in the northwest of the Rhine-Neckar urban agglomeration.GeographyLocationThe municipality lies in the Palatinate on a rise at the edge of the Haardt near the north end of the German Wine Route. Until 1969 it belonged to the now abolished district of Frankenthal. It has belonged to the Verbandsgemeinde of Grünstadt-Land, whose seat is in Grünstadt (although that town is itself not in the Verbandsgemeinde) since it was formed in 1972.Constituent communitiesTo the village belong the Ortsteile of Quirnheim-Tal and Boßweiler.HistoryIn May 771, Saint Mary’s and Saint Martin’s Church (Kirche St. Maria und St. Martin) had its first documentary mention. It is therefore said to be the district’s oldest church. The outlying centre of Boßweiler was mentioned as early as 767 in the Lorsch codex. In 1467, Quirnheim came to be under the ownership of the Counts of Leiningen-Westerburg. In the 17th century, Quirinus von Merz was enfeoffed with both places.