Albessen

Albessen
Coat of arms
Albessen
Location of Albessen within Kusel district
Coordinates: 49°31′07″N 7°19′48″E / 49.51861°N 7.33000°E / 49.51861; 7.33000Coordinates: 49°31′07″N 7°19′48″E / 49.51861°N 7.33000°E / 49.51861; 7.33000
Country	Germany
State	Rhineland-Palatinate
District	Kusel
Municipal assoc.	Kusel
Government
• Mayor	Traute Bortscher
Area
• Total	4.43 km2 (1.71 sq mi)
Elevation	360 m (1,180 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	142
• Density	32/km2 (83/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	66871
Dialling codes	06384
Vehicle registration	KUS
Website	vg.kusel.de

Albessen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Kusel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Kusel, whose seat is in the like-named town.

Albessen lies near Kusel in the Westrich – an historic region that encompasses areas in both Germany and France – on the state boundary with the Saarland, at the foot of the lengthy mixed forest area known as the Albesser Hain, after the municipality (Hain means “grove” in German). The municipality has a mainly agricultural structure, and is the smallest municipality within the Verbandsgemeinde of Kusel.

Albessen lies some 370 m above sea level in the broad, fertile hollow of the Albessbach, which rises in the municipality’s west, flowing down eastwards to the Konker Bach. The elevations each side of the hollow reach up beyond 400 m in some places. The highest, in the cadastral area called Rothöll, reaches 479 m above sea level. The wooded area within the municipality stretches from the southwest to the northeast. To the village’s east, the Autobahn A 62 (Kaiserslautern–Trier) cuts across the municipal area. The municipal area measures 443 ha, of which 118 ha is wooded.

Albessen borders in the north on the municipality of Pfeffelbach, in the northeast on the municipality of Ehweiler, in the southeast on the municipality of Konken, in the southwest on the municipality of Selchenbach, in the west on the municipality of Herchweiler and in the northwest on the town of Freisen in the Saarland. Albessen also meets the municipality of Langenbach at a single point in the south. Konken is home to the local telephone exchange for area code 06384, and also to a kindergarten, a general store, a bakery, a butcher’s shop and a plant nursery.