The municipality lies at the southwest edge of the Soonwald, a heavily wooded section of the west-central Hunsrück. The village is found between Kirchberg to the northwest and Simmertal to the southeast. In Gemünden, the Lametbach empties into the Simmerbach, whereupon the combined stream is known down to its mouth into the river Nahe as the Kellenbach.
In 1304, Gemünden had its first documentary mention. This holding of the Counts of Sponheim was granted town rights along with its trappings, namely fortifications, a court and a market. Beginning in 1794, Gemünden lay under French rule. In 1815 it was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia at the Congress of Vienna. Since 1946, it has been part of the then newly founded stateofRhineland-Palatinate.
The council is made up of 16 council members, who were elected by proportional representation at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:[3]
The German blazon reads: Schild geteilt, oben blau/gold geschacht, unten in Rot eine silberne Gewandschließe.
The municipality’s arms might in English heraldic language be described thus: Per pale chequy of eight azure and Or and gules an arming buckle argent.
The “chequy” pattern above the line of partition refers to the village’s former allegiance to the “Further” County of Sponheim. The lower half of the escutcheon is a reference to the Schmidtburg.[4]
Schloßstraße: Evangelical churchSimmerbach and Schloss GemündenSchloßstraße 20: Schloss Gemünden
For its historic village centre and its valley location, locals call Gemünden the “Pearl of the Hunsrück” (Perle des Hunsrücks). Standing above the Simmerbach is Schloss Gemünden, a residential castle still used as a private home today. A good two kilometres south of Gemünden stands the Castle Koppenstein ruin on the Koppensteiner Höhe, a 555 m-high hilltop in the Soonwald. Five kilometres to the east is the Alteburgturm, a lookout tower on the Alteburg (mountain). Southwest of Gemünden is the Lützelsoon plateau.
The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:[5]
Kirchberger Straße 5
Evangelical church, Schloßstraße – tower’s lower floors Late Romanesque, earlier half of the 13th century; Late Gothic quire, about 1450; nave and – tower’s upper floors 1905/1906; Classicist monument, after 1822
Schloss Gemünden, Schloßstraße 20 – older castle house, about 1300 (?), partly in ruins, arcade gallery “new building” mentioned about 1417, extensively restored in 1520, rectangular building with corner towers, after 1689 destruction rebuilt as three-floor building, 1718-1728, Electoral-Trier Court master builder Hans Georg Judas; commercial estate, early 18th century; whole complex of buildings with the Schlossberg (mountain)
Auf der Hohl – electrical substation tower; three-floor quarrystone building, marked 1927
Burgweg 1 – one-floor plastered villa, about 1930
Hauptstraße 13 – timber-frame building house, partly solid, half-hipped roof, about 1700
Hauptstraße 19/21 – Forellenhof (“Trout Estate”); timber-frame house, partly solid, earlier half of the 18th century
Hauptstraße 54 – timber-frame house, partly solid, about 1700
Kaisergrube (monumental zone) – slate mine, in terraces and galleries; site protected by law against digging (Grabungsschutzgebiet)
Jewish graveyard (monumental zone) – possibly opened in 1815/1820, 92 grave steles beginning from 1814; 14 gravestones from the early 19th century, last burial in 1970
A 4 km-long geological teaching path begins and ends in Gemünden. Twenty-three mineral groups from the Hunsrück-Nahe region are shown and explained on display boards. On the way, the path comes into contact with the Kaisergrube, the mine opened in 1873, where until 1969 slate was mined. Slate mining began in Gemünden in the early 19th century. On average, 600 t of slate was mined each year, and up to 35 miners were employed.
Gemünden is the starting point of the Schinderhannes-Soonwald-Radweg (cycle path) to Simmern.
Zwiebelberg, Werner: Das alte Gemünden; Veröffentlichung der landeskundlichen Arbeitsgemeinschaft im Regierungsbezirk Koblenz e. V.; Boppard: Harald Boldt, 1970
Zwiebelberg, Werner: Die Bürger und Einwohner von Gemünden im Hunsrück: 1360–1800; Hunsrücker Geschichtsverein, Schriftenreihe Nr. 10; 1975
