Birkenfeld

Birkenfeld
Coat of arms
Birkenfeld
Location of Birkenfeld within Birkenfeld district
Coordinates: 49°39′N 7°11′E / 49.650°N 7.183°E / 49.650; 7.183Coordinates: 49°39′N 7°11′E / 49.650°N 7.183°E / 49.650; 7.183
Country	Germany
State	Rhineland-Palatinate
District	Birkenfeld
Municipal assoc.	Birkenfeld
Government
• Mayor	Peter Nauert (CDU)
Area
• Total	13.58 km2 (5.24 sq mi)
Elevation	410 m (1,350 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	6,883
• Density	510/km2 (1,300/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	55765
Dialling codes	06782
Vehicle registration	BIR
Website	www.stadt-birkenfeld.de

Birkenfeld is a town and the district seat of the Birkenfeld district in southwest Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is also the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde.

The town lies in the Nahegebiet (Nahe area), to the north of the namesake river, on the edge of the Naturpark Saar-Hunsrück. Birkenfeld lies roughly 13 km southwest of Idar-Oberstein and 12 km northwest of Baumholder.

Clockwise from the north, these are Gollenberg, Elchweiler, Schmißberg, Rimsberg, Dienstweiler, Ellweiler, Dambach, Brücken, Buhlenberg and Ellenberg.

The name Birkenfeld has its origin in an old German dialect, Old Frankish. It means something rather like “at the field with the birches” (it is directly cognate with the English words “birch field”). From the name’s Frankish roots it can be inferred that today’s town arose on a spot where there was quite a noticeable stand of birch trees sometime about the year AD 500, and that it was founded by Frankish-German farmers. To this day, there are a great number of birch trees in the bird conservation area at the clay quarries.

The first attestation of the name is spelled Bikenuelt (about 700) or Birkinvelt at the time when it had a documentary mention from Archbishop of Trier Egbert in 981. From this document comes knowledge that Saint Leudwinus (Archbishop of Trier 695-713) had donated to the St. Paulinus' Abbey in Trier the churches at Birkenfeld and Brombach.