Hillesheim () is the third largest town in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It was the seat of the former Verbandsgemeinde Hillesheim.
Geography
Location
The town lies almost in the middle, halfway between Cologne and Trier (70 km from the former and 60 km from the latter, as the crow flies), and only 30 km from the Belgian border. Hillesheim 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.
Constituent communities
Hillesheim's outlying Stadtteile are Niederbettingen and Bolsdorf.
History
Hillesheim is an old market town in the heart of the Eifel dating back more than a thousand years.
On 17 March 1974, the until then self-administering municipalities of Niederbettingen and Bolsdorf were amalgamated with Hillesheim. On 24 October 1993, Hillesheim was granted town rights.
Politics
Town council
The council is made up of 20 council members, who were elected by proportional representation at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:
Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: Schild durch eine geschweifte Spitze dreigeteilt; vorn in Silber ein rotes Kreuz, hinten in Gold eine schwarze Wolfsangel, unten in Blau über goldenem Halbmond eine silberne Madonna mit Kind, je mit goldenem Nimbus.
The town's arms can in English heraldic language be described thus: Tierced in mantle, dexter Argent a cross Gules, sinister Or a cramp Sable and in base Azure standing on a crescent of the third the Madonna and Child of the first, both with nimbus of the third, ensigning the shield a wall masoned, embattled of five and embowed with an arched gateway of the first.
Hillesheim was from 1352 to 1794 the northernmost outpost of the Archbishopric of Trier. This was made clear to all in that time by the town walls, which were particularly imposing for the Eifel. This small town grew with the building of the town walls in the 13th century into a regionally influential town. Marking this is the so-called Mauerkrone – "wall crown" – on top of ("ensigning") the escutcheon (although curiously, the German blazon does not mention this part of the arms).
The cross on the dexter (armsbearer's right, viewer's left) side is the Electoral-Trier armorial bearing, referring to that state's rule over the town in feudal times. The "cramp", as it is called in English heraldry, or Wolfsangel as it is known in German heraldry, seen on the sinister (armsbearer's left, viewer's right) side, is a charge seen in several coats of arms borne by a particular Hillesheim family, some of whom functioned as Schöffen (roughly "lay jurists"). The Madonna in the base was already to be found in the old town seal from 1306, reappearing on Schöffen seals in the 14th and 15th centuries. These Madonna seals were in use until the late 18th century, and thus the Madonna was always closely bound to the townsfolk.
Culture and sightseeing
The town is one of the few European Model Towns and its renovation works are therefore subsidized by the town's urban development promotion programme. There is a mediaeval town centre partly surrounded by a town wall and with a church worth seeing for its Baroque organ from 1772, built by the famous Stumm family, annually attracting talented international organists. Hillesheim's municipal area is almost round. From the historical town centre, the town broadened out in all directions, growing from its location in the valley through new building developments up to the surrounding slopes.