# Hartenfels

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Not to be confused with [Andreas Hartenfels](/source/Andreas_Hartenfels).

**Hartenfels** is an *Ortsgemeinde* – a community belonging to a *[Verbandsgemeinde](/source/Verbandsgemeinde)* – in the [Westerwaldkreis](/source/Westerwaldkreis) in [Rhineland-Palatinate](/source/Rhineland-Palatinate), [Germany](/source/Germany). The community belongs to the [*Verbandsgemeinde* of Selters](/source/Selters_(Verbandsgemeinde)), a kind of collective municipality.

## Geography

Hartenfels lies 4 km from [Herschbach](/source/Herschbach,_Selters) and 8 km from [Selters](/source/Selters_(Westerwald)) on the Holzbach.

## History

Hartenfels Castle was first mentioned in old writings in 1249. The community is known for its castle ruins, of whose former shape only a few walls and one tower now remain. It was built in the 13th century to keep watch over the nearby trade road leading from [Frankfurt](/source/Frankfurt_am_Main) to [Cologne](/source/Cologne). In dialectal speech, the ruins bear the name *Schmanddippe*. In 1999, the community celebrated 750 years of existence. Seven years later came a chronicle.

## Politics

The municipal council is made up of 12 council members, as well as the honorary and presiding mayor (*Ortsbürgermeister*), who were elected in a [majority vote](/source/Plurality_voting_system) in a municipal election on 7 June 2009.

## Economy and infrastructure

The most important employer is [Huf Haus GmbH & Co](/source/Huf_Haus) which employs 470 people.

### Hartenfelser Kopf Windfarm

In the summer of 2006, 12 Enercon E-70 [wind turbines](/source/Wind_turbine) were installed on the Hartenfelser Kopf. These supply roughly 12,500 households, making it one of the biggest windfarm projects in a forest that has ever been built in the Federal Republic. Four of the turbines stand within Hartenfels’s limits.

### Regular events

In January, in honour of the community’s [patron saint](/source/Patron_saint), [Anthony](/source/Anthony_the_Great), whose feast day is 17 January, two concerts are held by the community’s music club on two consecutive weekends. On the Burgberg (“Castle Mountain”), the yearly music festival *Rock am Turm* is held at [Whitsun](/source/Whitsun). At [Christmas](/source/Christmas), a lit, real [fir](/source/Fir) tree (*Tannenbaum* in [German](/source/German_language)) up to 8 m tall is put up on top of the castle tower. The [kermis](/source/Kermis) in Hartenfels is usually held on the first weekend in July.

### Choirs, clubs, etc.

The community is enriched by a music club with many members, a likewise popular volunteer [fire brigade](/source/Fire_brigade), a *Möhnenverein* (roughly, “Foolish Women’s Club” – it is an organization devoted to the yearly [Carnival](/source/Carnival) festivities) with a men’s ballet, as well as a church [choir](/source/Choir).

### Transport

The community lies west of *[Bundesstraße](/source/Bundesstra%C3%9Fe)* 8, leading from [Limburg an der Lahn](/source/Limburg_an_der_Lahn) to [Siegburg](/source/Siegburg). The nearest [Autobahn](/source/Autobahn) [interchange](/source/Interchange_(road)) is *[Mogendorf](/source/Mogendorf)* on the [A 3](/source/Bundesautobahn_3) ([Cologne](/source/Cologne)–[Frankfurt](/source/Frankfurt_am_Main)). There are further Autobahn interchanges near [Dierdorf](/source/Dierdorf) and [Montabaur](/source/Montabaur). The nearest [InterCityExpress](/source/InterCityExpress) stop is the [railway station](/source/Railway_station) at Montabaur on the [Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line](/source/Cologne-Frankfurt_high-speed_rail_line).

## References

1. [Direktwahlen 2019, Westerwaldkreis](https://www.wahlen.rlp.de/de/kw/wahlen/kd/gebiete/1430000000000.html), Landeswahlleiter Rheinland-Pfalz, accessed 9 August 2021.

## Further reading

On the occasion of its 750-year jubilee, the community of Hartenfels published a chronicle, written and compiled by the late *Altbürgermeister und Ehrenbürger*(“Old Mayor and Honorary Citizen”)*:* Josef Marx.

## External links

- [Hartenfels in the collective municipality’s Web pages](https://web.archive.org/web/20070928052200/http://www.selters-ww.de/adressedetail.php?addrid=436&lay1=2&lay2=1&lay3=0&lay4=0) (in German)
- [Private homepage with gallery](http://www.Hartenfels-ww.de)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Hartenfels](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartenfels) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartenfels?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.