Kelmis (Kelmis)
| Kelmis | |||
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| State : |
 Belgium
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| Region : | Wallonia | ||
| Province : | Liege | ||
| District : | Verviers | ||
| Coordinates : | 50 ° 43 ' N , 6 ° 1' E | ||
| Residents: | 5,804 pop. | ||
| Post Code: | 4720 | ||
| Prefix: | 087 | ||
| Mayor: | Luc Frank | ||
| Website: | kelmis.be | ||
Kelmis is a village in the north of the German-speaking Community of Belgium , which is the capital of the municipality of the same name ; the other districts of the community Kelmis are Hergenrath and Neu-Moresnet . As of December 31, 2013, 5,804 people lived in Kelmis.
geography
In the west, the village of Kelmis borders the French-speaking community of Bleyberg , in the south and east of the village of Neu-Moresnet, which also belongs to the community of Kelmis . In the north, the Dutch municipality of Vaals is a direct neighbor.
history
The place name is derived from the ore Galmei (predominantly silicate calamine at this deposit, i.e. pebble zinc ore ), which is known in this area as Kelms or Kelmes and was already mined there in the early Middle Ages. Until 1920 the place was called Moresnet .
Kelmis is sometimes also referred to as "Altenberg", but this name actually goes back to the "Old Mountain" located in today's Kelmis, whose galmei pits were already exploited by the Frankish Carolingians in the Middle Ages. The name later became known primarily through the “ Société Anonyme des Mines et Fonderies de Zinc de la Vieille-Montagne ” founded in 1837 by the Parisian banker of Brussels descent François-Dominique Mosselman (1754–1840) (German: “Aktiengesellschaft der Zinkminen- und Gießereien” vom Alten Berg ”). The company, known for short as “Vieille Montagne”, extracted around 135,000 tons of debris and a total of around 30,000 tons of raw ore per year from the Altenberg mine alone .
Until 1805, calamine was used exclusively for brass production (so-called yellow or gold copper ) and was supplied to the copper hammers in the Maas cities of Dinant and Namur as well as to the nearby Aachen industrial area and Stolberg. Since the 15th century there was an important trade in Galmeifern to Nuremberg and later to Sweden and Lorraine . The company "Vieille Montagne" founded what is now Kelmis; descendants of the former employees and workers of the mine live here.
Between 1816 and 1919, the area of the village of Kelmis was state semi-independent as Neutral Moresnet , because Prussia and the Netherlands (which at that time still belonged to today's Belgium) could not agree after the Congress of Vienna because of the open pit "Vieille montagne". who should manage the area. This situation ended de facto in 1914 with the invasion of German troops.
On January 1, 1977 the communities Neu-Moresnet (i.e. the former Prussian Moresnet) and Hergenrath were added to the municipality of Kelmis, which increased the total area of the new municipality to around 1820 hectares.
tourism
In September 2018, the Vieille Montagne museum was opened in the former management building of the zinc mine in the former management building Vieille-Montagne , which replaces the previous "Göhltalmuseum" after several years of preparatory work. In this museum, both the history of zinc mining in Kelmis, which goes back to the Middle Ages, and the history of the neutral area are documented in detail.
Place emblem
Postcard from Neutral-Moresnet, around 1900
Former management building of the Vieille Montagne and today's seat of the museum
Model car of the historic Vieille Montagne railway on Ligne 39 A
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Sports
There are two football clubs in Kelmis that are affiliated to the Belgian national football association. The RFC Union Kelmis , founded in 1923, currently plays in the 3rd Division B (3rd division at national level). This makes the RFCU the second highest-ranking football club in the German-speaking community of Belgium after KAS Eupen . For the 2014/15 season, the Sporting Club Kelmis, a newly founded club in the 4th provincial class D, will start. The Sporting Club will use the infrastructure of the RFCU, which, however, is located in New Moresnet.
people
- Mathieu Grosch , Member of the European Parliament and Mayor of the Kelmis municipality from 1991 to December 2012
- Gottfried John , German actor, lived in Kelmis until 2008.
- Rolf Schnier , Skatclub "ohne 11 La Calamine", Skat world champion 2016 in Las Vegas and vice world champion with the Belgian team
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Official information from the Kelmis community, obtained on February 20, 2014
- ↑ BRF : Kelmis opens the “Vieille Montagne” museum (accessed on January 1, 2019)
- ↑ Homepage of the RFCU Kelmis ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ grenzecho.net: "Old Lady" RFC Union faces competition ( memento of the original from April 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed February 20, 2014
- ↑ Bunte: Gottfried John lives in Germany again , accessed on February 20, 2014
