The Soonwald ( German pronunciation: [ˈzoːnʋalt] ) is a forested, low mountain region, up to 657.5 m above sea level (NN) , which forms part of the Hunsrück mountains in the German Central Uplands . It lies within the counties of Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis and Bad Kreuznach in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate .
17-622: The Soonwald lies in the west and south of the county of Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis and the east and north of Bad Kreuznach county. It is located within the Soonwald-Nahe Nature Park , roughly between the main crest of the Hunsrück mountains (to the northwest) and the Nahe valley (to the southeast), behind which the Saar-Nahe Uplands rise. The Soonwald extends over about 40 kilometres in
34-556: A partnership with the Hungarian Zala County began. The chequered bar in the top is taken from the coat of arms of the district Simmern, and stands for the Counts of Sponheim, who owned several estates in the district. The imperial eagle to the left was taken from the coat of arms of the St. Goar district, and represents the imperial cities Boppard and Oberwesel. To the right is the lion of
51-884: A southwest to northeast direction from the Simmer valley on the Nahe to the valley of the Guldenbach , which lies on the boundary of the Soonwald with the Bingen Forest , west of the Rhine knee near Bingen . Other ranges and woodlands of the German Central Uplands adjoin the Soonwald in all directions of the compass: to the southwest are the Lützelsoon and, a just to its west, the Idar Forest ; to
68-643: The Alte Grab south of Argenthal , castle ruins and today's settlements and villages suggest that Soonwald and the surrounding area have been inhabited for a long time. To secure ore deposits and smelting sites, such as the Gräfenbacherhütte , many castles were built during the Middle Ages along the valleys of streams flowing southwards to the River Nahe. The picturesque ruins of Wildenburg castle and of
85-575: The Electorate of the Palatinate . Verband -free town: Boppard 50°05′N 7°30′E / 50.08°N 7.5°E / 50.08; 7.5 Landkreis Birkenfeld Birkenfeld ( German pronunciation: [ˈbɪʁkŋ̍fɛlt] ) is a district ( Landkreis ) in Rhineland-Palatinate , Germany . Its seat is the town of Birkenfeld . It is bounded by (from the south and clockwise)
102-601: The Koppenstein on the northern part of the Soonwald ridge became legendary sites in the 19th century thanks to romantic ballads composed by Hunsrück poets, Otto von Vacano and Peter Joseph Rottmann. When searching for an area in the Hunsrück in which to create a National Park , the state's Environment Ministry saw the Soonwald region as an option, alongside the Schwarzwälder Hochwald in the county of Birkenfeld . Because
119-572: The Simmerbach valley near Kellenbach (over 9 °C), thanks to a height difference of about 500 metres. They also receive around 25% more precipitation (800 mm) than in the valleys. The highest mountain in the Soonwald is the Ellerspring (657.5 m). By contrast, its lowest point is near Simmertal – if the village still counts as part of the Soonwald ;– by the confluence of
136-704: The District of Sankt Wendel . After World War I , the southern half of Sankt Wendel had to be ceded to the newly created Saar Territory , and the small part remaining in Prussia was then officially called the Restkreis Sankt Wendel ("remaining district of Sankt Wendel"). In 1937 the Oldenburgian District of Birkenfeld was merged with the remaining Sankt Wendel District to form the new Prussian District of Birkenfeld. Following World War II , on 18 July 1946 by
153-733: The French Ordinance No. 8, twenty-four more villages were ceded to the new Délégation Supérieure de la Sarre , which became the new Saar Protectorate in 1947. Not until 1970 were the present borders of the district set. The Nahe River runs through the district from south to north. The portions west of the river are located on the eastern slopes of the Hunsrück . The German blazon reads: Geschachtet von Rot und Silber; belegt mit einem rot gezungten, golden gekrönten und golden bewehrten blauen Löwen. The arms might in English heraldic language be described thus: Chequy of twenty gules and argent
170-594: The Simmerbach and the Nahe (190 m). The following mountains and hills belong to the Soonwald, sorted by their height in metres (m) above sea level (NN) , unless otherwise indicated (excluding those in the Lützelsoon ): The name Soonwald occurs for the first time in an 868 A.D. document belonging to Prüm Abbey , where it is referred to as the silva sana . Later spellings are: 1128 nemus sane , 1190 waldt San , 1438 off dem Sane , then San and finally Soonwald . Numerous attempts to explain its origin link
187-694: The Soonwald extends over two counties — Rhein-Hunsrück and the Bad Kreuznach — the project needed the support of both. And because Bad Kreuznach was rather critical of the project, the decision went in favour of the Hochwald. Along the crest of the Soonwald run a section of the E3 European long distance path and the Soonwaldsteig trail (opened in 2009). Other attractions in the Soonwald or on its perimeter are: Numerous woodland paths are also signed cycleways . In
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#1732895118630204-530: The area of the district. The Frankfurt-Hahn Airport is located in the district. In 1962, Simmern began a friendship pact with the French region Bourgogne , which was continued after the merging with the St. Goar. In 1985 a partnership was started with the district Nyaruguru (at that time called the municipality Rwamiko ) in Rwanda , as part of the partnership of the Rhineland-Palatinate region with Rwanda. In 1999,
221-657: The districts of Sankt Wendel ( Saarland ), Trier-Saarburg , Bernkastel-Wittlich , Rhein-Hunsrück , Bad Kreuznach and Kusel . In the early nineteenth century, the Nahe River was the boundary between two tiny principalities: Birkenfeld, west of the Nahe; and Lichtenberg , east of it. The principality of Birkenfeld was annexed by Oldenburg in 1817; Lichtenberg became an exclave of the Duchy Saxe-Coburg ( Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld until 1826, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha thereafter). Prussia bought Lichtenberg in 1834 and made it
238-559: The north is the Schinderhannes-Soonwald Cycleway which runs through the Brühl and Lametbach valleys. Rhein-Hunsr%C3%BCck-Kreis Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis is a district ( German : Kreis ) in the middle of Rhineland-Palatinate , Germany . The neighbouring districts are (from north clockwise) Mayen-Koblenz , Rhein-Lahn , Mainz-Bingen , Bad Kreuznach , Birkenfeld , Bernkastel-Wittlich , Cochem-Zell . The district
255-513: The southeast is the Gauchswald ; and to the northeast, the Bingen Forest . The Lützelsoon and parts of the Bingen Wald are sometimes counted as part of the Soonwald rather than as separate forest regions; the entire region then being known as the "Großer Soon" ("Great Soon"). The average annual temperature on the summits of the Soonwald is just under 7 °C, more than 2 °C lower than that in
272-686: The word with Senn ("pasture") or Sone ("pig herd") and indicate the centuries-old function of the Soonwald as a grazing forest. Originally a huge forest extended from Southern Alsace through the Saarland, the Westrich and the Hunsrück up to the Moselle. This was the Vosagus ( Wasgau Forest), a silva regis ("royal forest"). Over time, deforestation resulted in this vast forest being divided into smaller ones that, in turn, were given their own names. Tumuli , such as
289-401: Was created in 1969, when the districts of St. Goar and Simmern were merged. In 2014 it was expanded with the municipalities Lahr , Mörsdorf and Zilshausen , previously part of Cochem-Zell . The name of the district already mentions the two main geographic features of the district - the river Rhine which forms the boundary to the north-east and the hills of the Hunsrück cover most of
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