Stein-Neukirch

Stein-Neukirch is an Ortsgemeinde – a community belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde – in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.GeographyLocationThe community of Stein-Neukirch lies in the Westerwald between Siegen in the north and Limburg in the south. At 605 m above sea level, it is the Westerwald’s highest community. Stegskopf and Salzburger Kopf are at 654 m and 653 m respectively Stein-Neukirch’s landmark mountains.HistoryThe church in the constituent community of Neukirch had its first documentary mention in 1231. The “new church” (“neue Kirche” in German) originally functioned as a resistance and fortress church. Later it was the community’s ecclesiastical-cultural hub on the high plateau of the Westerwald. In the Middle Ages, Neukirch was a court seat, and formed with the High Westerwald’s two other court regions, Marienberg and Emmerichenhain, the “Lordship over the Westerwald”, long governed by the House of Nassau.PoliticsCommunity councilThe council is made up of 8 council members who were elected in a majority vote in a municipal election on 13 June 2004.Coat of armsThe basalt columns in the community’s arms stand for the constituent community of Stein (whose name in German means “stone”), and the churches stand for the constituent community of Neukirch, making this an example of canting arms (that is, the charges in the arms suggest the community’s name, Stein-Neukirch).