Altenkirchen, Kusel

Altenkirchen
Coat of arms
Altenkirchen
Location of Altenkirchen within Kusel district
Coordinates: 49°26′32″N 7°19′13″E / 49.44222°N 7.32028°E / 49.44222; 7.32028Coordinates: 49°26′32″N 7°19′13″E / 49.44222°N 7.32028°E / 49.44222; 7.32028
Country	Germany
State	Rhineland-Palatinate
District	Kusel
Municipal assoc.	Oberes Glantal
Government
• Mayor	Manfred Geis
Area
• Total	6.44 km2 (2.49 sq mi)
Elevation	297 m (974 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	1,316
• Density	200/km2 (530/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	66903
Dialling codes	06386
Vehicle registration	KUS
Website	Altenkirchen (Pfalz)

Altenkirchen 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 Oberes Glantal, whose seat is in Schönenberg-Kübelberg.

The municipality lies, like its neighbours Dittweiler and Frohnhofen, in the Kohlbach valley in the Western Palatinate. Altenkirchen lies at an elevation of some 285 m above sea level, partly in the Kohlbach valley itself and partly in the narrower valleys through which the tributary brooks flow, as well as on their slopes. Roughly a fourth of the municipal area is wooded. The farmland is made up in no small measure of cherry orchards. Some of the mountains in the area reach heights of more than 400 m (Hühnerkopf 441 m).

The municipal area measures 644 ha, of which 148 ha is wooded.

Altenkirchen borders in the north on the municipality of Frohnhofen, in the east on the municipality of Ohmbach, in the south on the municipality of Dittweiler and in the west on the municipality of Breitenbach. Altenkirchen also meets the municipality of Krottelbach at a single point in the northeast.

Also belonging to Altenkirchen are the outlying homesteads of Wilgenhof and Hainhof. There is also a Forsthaus (“forester’s house”) in the Ahlenwald (forest).

The original settlement arose around the church, which stands about 150 m up from the brookside, as does likewise the built-up area, the original village core, around the church with its former graveyard. The important village streets with newer building along their extensions spread out in an almost starlike pattern from the church, Friedhofstraße (“Graveyard Street”, which leads to the new graveyard) running to the north, Breitenbacher Straße running to the west, Hohlstraße running to the south and Schillerstraße, set a bit to the south, running to the east. The rectory stands across the street from the church on Schillerstraße. The graveyard used today lies at the village’s north end on the Kohlbach’s right bank. On Schulstraße (“School Street”), which branches off from Schillerstraße to the south, stands the former schoolhouse from 1919, which currently is still used for primary school. Another, older, former schoolhouse from 1783 stands on Bergstraße, which branches off from Breitenbacher Straße to the northwest. This building was used by the Altenkirchen Mine Administration (Altenkirchener Grubenverwaltung) in the earlier half of the 19th century as the mine office, and is nowadays under private ownership. Yet another former schoolhouse, in which classes were held between 1820 and 1919, stands on Friedhofstraße. This building is now used as the town hall and the local history museum.