Whale horn

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Walhorn Church

Walhorn is a Belgian town in the German-speaking community of Belgium . The place has been part of the municipality of Lontzen since the municipal merger in 1977 . Hamlets belonging to Walhorn are Rabotrath and Astenet .

Today the E 40 motorway and the express railway line running parallel to it cut through the town.

Worth seeing

  • The Romanesque-Gothic Sankt Stephanus parish church, the construction of which dates back to 1504. The organ from 1859 was built by the Müller brothers from Reifferscheid and restored to its original condition in 2002.
  • The gatehouse of Thor Castle in Astenet, built in the early 18th century according to plans by Johann Joseph Couven .
  • The chapel, consecrated in 1968 to St. Catherine of Siena, and the meeting center in Astenet, with windows by the Raeren artist André Blank .

history

Founded as the royal court "Harna" around 850, the place is first mentioned in a bull of Lothar II from the year 888. In 1072 King Heinrich IV donated the royal court to the Marienstift Aachen . From an ecclesiastical point of view, the Duke of Limburg assigned the abbot of Rolduc Monastery (Rode) pastoral care of the parishes of the duchy in 1176 . Rolduc provided the pastors and priests of the area until 1792. Until 1695, Walhorn was the mother parish of surrounding places such as Lontzen, Raeren - Neudorf , Kettenis or Eynatten . Until 1795 Walhorn was one of the five high banks (administrative and judicial districts) in the Duchy of Limburg . During the time of the French occupation under Napoléon Bonaparte , Walhorn belonged to the canton of Eupen from 1803 to 1815 and then came to Prussia . As a result of the First World War , Walhorn was assigned to Belgium in 1920.

Born in Walhorn, Nicolaus Wilhelm Beckers was the personal physician of Emperor Leopold I and was ennobled by him.

Three Walhorns were abbots of Rolduc, such as Winand Lambertz (1617–1664), abbot from 1650, Nicolaus Heyendal from Astenet, was prior from 1706 and abbot from 1712 to 1731, also his nephew Johann Joseph Haeghen, (1699–1781) abbot 1757. In their function as abbots of Rolduc they were also members of the “High Council” of the Duchy of Limburg. Ancestors and family members of the three named were Drossarde , lay judges and clerks within the Hochbank Walhorn or the duchy.

language

In addition to the standard German taught at school and used in the community , the population speaks the regional Platdiets , a Limburg dialect.

literature

  • Victor Gielen: The mother parish and high bench Walhorn. Contributions to their history. Publisher, Walhorn Parish Office, 1965.

Web links

Commons : Walhorn  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 40 ′  N , 6 ° 3 ′  E