Reil

Reil is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Reil is strongly characterized by winegrowing and tourism. It was the second capital of the Kröver Reich, a Carolingian crown estate that existed until the French Revolution.GeographyLocationThe municipality lies on the Moselle. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Traben-Trarbach.HistoryIn 1008, Reil had its first documentary mention. The document in question, from King Heinrich II, is dated 18 May 1008 and documents an exchange agreement under which Archbishop Willigis of Mainz traded to Saint Stephen’s Church at Mainz an estate in Reil (then known as Rigula) for another estate in Büchenbach (then known as Buochinbah). During the Middle Ages, an important pilgrimage centre, called Reilkirch, stood across the Moselle from Reil, whose Romanesque tower and Early Gothic nave were completely demolished in the 19th century.