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Wellenstein (Municipality, Luxembourg)

Flag of Wellenstein - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 21 March 2007, after a photography kindly provided by the municipal administration of Wellenstein

Presentation of Wellenstein
Municipal flag of Wellenstein

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Luxembourg

Presentation of Wellenstein

The municipality of Wellenstein is located in the valley of Mosel, which forms the border with Germany. It is made of the three traditional wine-growing villages of Bech-Kleinmacher (543 inhabitants), Schwebsingen (295 inh.) and Wellenstein (477 inh.).

Wine was already produced in the valley of Mosel in the Gallo-Roman times. Wine-growing and trading allowed the emergence of wealthy lineage whose funerary mausoleums have been excavated in several places of the region. These mausoleums, built on hillsides, have two floors; the lower floor, mostly buried, is the true funerary room, decorated with frescos, whereas the second floor is made of a smaller funerary monument with the same rectangular shape.
The Bech-Kleinmacher mausoleum was found in 1950 on the place named Frieteschwengert; it was completely excavated in 1987-1988 and recently rebuilt. The funerary room is 6.10 x 4.30 m in size, with a 7.60 m long underground corridor with several steps. The monument, built in the beginning of the IVth century, was partially destroyed during the invasions of the Vth century and was reused by the Franks in the late VIIth - early VIIIth century. The exact use of the building by the Franks is still unknown. The excavations made in 1987-1988 have yielded hundreds of late Merovingian pottery and two very unusual coins from the 680-720 period, includig a sceat of Anglo-Saxon or Friesian origin.

Wellenstein has preserved its original design of a typical wine-growing village, with a central square planted with shadow trees, coloured houses and arcades from the XVIth century.
The Wellenstein vinyard is part of Domaines de Vinsmoselle, which group the Luxembourgian vinyards of the valley of Mosel. The Wellenstein Wine-growers' Cellar, founded in 1930, produces every year 3.5 million liters of wine. The area of the vineyard is 230.2 ha.

In Blech-Kleinmacher, the two old wine-grower's houses A Possen (built as Possenhaus in 1617 by the family Post, who owned it until 1965) and Muedelshaus were transformed in 1972 into a folklore and wine-growing museum, now including seven buildings from the XVII-XVIIIth century. Bech-Kleinmacher is the birth village of the painters Nico Klopp and Jos Sünnen.

Schwebsingen has the single river port for leasure sport in the Luxemburgian Mosel, increased in 1999 with eight pontoons and 250 mooring slots. On the first Sunday of September, the village celebrates the Wine Festival, during which wine flows freely from the Wine Fountain (aka the Grapes' Children Fountain).

Source: Municipal website

Ivan Sache, 21 March 2007

Municipal flag of Wellenstein

The municipal flag of Wellenstein is white with the municipal coat of arms in the middle. It is hoisted, together with the national flag in front of the town hall.

The arms of Wellenstein are described in the municipal website. They were adopted by the Municipal Council on 19 December 1984, as proposed by the State Heraldry Commission, confirmed by the Executive on 22 February 1985 and published in the official gazette No 15 on 7 March 1985 as:

Coupé-ondé d'azur à une branche de vigne vrillée, à trois feuilles, le tout d'or, et d'un burelé ondé d'argent et d'azur à un lion de gueules, armé et lampassé d'or, la queue fourchue et passé en sautoir (Per wavy fess azure a bough of vine tendrilled with three leaves all or barruly wavy argent and azure a lion gules armed and langued or the tail forked in saltire).

In the early medieval ages, the territory of today's Wellenstein belonged to the Court of Remich and was therefore placed under the direct authority of the Counts of Luxembourg. Wenceslas made of the Court a Provostship; the seals from that time showed the Count's arms. The municipal arms of Wellenstein, designed by Marcel Lenertz, a member of the State Heraldry Commission, recall the history, the geography and the economy of the villages. The vine bough recalls wine-growing, whereas the three leaves symbolize the three villages of Bech-Kleinmacher, Schwebsingen and Wellenstein. The point of the shield recalls the Count's arms; the barrulets are made wavy to symbolize the Mosel.

Ivan Sache, 21 March 2007