Hochstätten

Hochstätten
Coat of arms
Hochstätten
Location of Hochstätten within Bad Kreuznach district
Coordinates: 49°45′57″N 7°49′57″E / 49.76583°N 7.83250°E / 49.76583; 7.83250Coordinates: 49°45′57″N 7°49′57″E / 49.76583°N 7.83250°E / 49.76583; 7.83250
Country	Germany
State	Rhineland-Palatinate
District	Bad Kreuznach
Municipal assoc.	Bad Kreuznach
Government
• Mayor	Hermann Spieß
Area
• Total	5.46 km2 (2.11 sq mi)
Elevation	138 m (453 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	613
• Density	110/km2 (290/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	55585
Dialling codes	06362
Vehicle registration	KH
Website	www.hochstaetten-pfalz.de

Hochstätten is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Bad Kreuznach, whose seat is in the like-named town. Hochstätten is a winegrowing village. The municipality also markets itself as a recreational destination with the self-given nickname das Tor zur Pfalz im Erholungsgebiet Rheingrafenstein (“The Gateway to the Palatinate in the Rheingrafenstein Recreational Area”).

Hochstätten lies in the Alsenz valley on the German Avenue Road. Being a winegrowing village, it is surrounded by vineyards. Hochstätten’s elevation is 140 m above sea level.

Clockwise from the north, Hochstätten’s neighbours are the municipalities of Altenbamberg, Fürfeld, Winterborn, Alsenz (these last two lying in the neighbouring Donnersbergkreis), Hallgarten and Feilbingert.

Also belonging to Hochstätten is the outlying hamlet of Im Steinbruch.

Many dates are given as Hochstätten’s first documentary mention. An often-cited date is 1108, the date of a document issued by the Archbishopric of Mainz to Disibodenberg Abbey, which names "Hosteden". Somewhat more certain mentions of Hochstätten date from 1260, 1350 and 1366. It is likely that Hochstätten had its own parish by 1261. The church tower, an icon of the village's appearance today, was built in the 13th century. This church has been put under monumental protection. Very early, Hochstätten came under the lordship of the Raugraves and Rhinegraves, who were based at Rheingrafenstein Castle, and later at Gaugrehweiler. Beginning in 1754 or 1755, Hochstätten belonged to Palatinate-Zweibrücken before passing to the Electoral Palatinate in 1768. In 1801, after French Revolutionary troops had overrun and occupied the German lands on the Rhine's left bank, Hochstätten, along with all the lands that the French had occupied, was absorbed into the French state. Hochstätten was grouped into the Department of Mont-Tonnerre (or Donnersberg in German). After Napoleon's defeat in the German campaign, the last and decisive phase of the War of the Sixth Coalition and indeed of the Napoleonic Wars, the Congress of Vienna placed Hochstätten in the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1816. The village remained in Bavaria until during the Allied occupation after the Second World War, the state of Rhineland-Palatinate was founded. Bearing witness to Hochstätten's history as part of Bavaria, the Bavarian state arms can still be seen today above the stage at the municipal hall, and even the favourite card game at the local Stammtische (regulars' tables) is still one that Germans commonly associate with Bavaria – Schafkopf. In the course of administrative restructuring in Rhineland-Palatinate, Hochstätten was transferred from the old Rockenhausen district (which was dissolved) to the Bad Kreuznach district in 1969.