Altenkirchen

For other uses, see Altenkirchen (disambiguation).

Altenkirchen (German pronunciation: [ˌaltn̩ˈkɪʁçn̩] ^ⓘ) is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, capital of the district of Altenkirchen. It is located approximately 40 km east of Bonn and 50 km north of Koblenz. Altenkirchen is the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde ("collective municipality") Altenkirchen-Flammersfeld.

Altenkirchen
Town
Town square
Coat of arms
Location of Altenkirchen within Altenkirchen district
Altenkirchen Show map of Germany Altenkirchen Show map of Rhineland-Palatinate
Coordinates: 50°41′14″N 07°38′44″E
Country	Germany
State	Rhineland-Palatinate
District	Altenkirchen
Municipal assoc.	Altenkirchen-Flammersfeld
Government
• Mayor (2019–24)	Matthias Gibhardt[1] (SPD)
Area
• Total	10.98 km2 (4.24 sq mi)
Elevation	230 m (750 ft)
Population  (2023-12-31)[2]
• Total	6,603
• Density	600/km2 (1,600/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	57601–57610
Dialling codes	02681
Vehicle registration	AK
Website	www.altenkirchen.de

Population development

Year	Inhabitants
1787	112
1800	450
1830	990
1853	1,497
1861	1,700
1900	2,044
1933	3,333
1939	3,562
1950	4,189
1962	4,618
1984	4,553
1999	6,640
2014	6,162

Geography

• Lahrer Herrlichkeit, a landscape region in the collective municipality of Flammersfeld

Notable people

Ernst Lindemann

• Dirk Adorf (born 1969), race car driver
• Sabine Bätzing-Lichtenthäler (born 1975), politician (SPD)
• Ernst Lindemann (1894–1941), an officer of the Imperial Navy and later the Navy commander of the battleship Bismarck
• Marie Gülich (born 1994), WNBA player.

Other personalities

The following figures are not native Altenkirchen people, but have worked or lived in the city:

Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen

• Wilhelm Boden (1890–1961), former Prime Ministers of Rheinland-Pfalz
• Ludwig Julius Budge (1811–1888), physician
• Bernhard Grzimek (1909–1987), zoologist, cooperated in 1938 with the District Veterinary Office in Altenkirchen to combat bovine tuberculosis^[3]
• François Séverin Marceau (1769–1796), French general
• Krzysztof Meyer (born 1943), composer
• Hans Nüsslein (1910–1991), German tennis player, professional world champion in 1933, 1936, 1937
• Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen (1818–1888), social reformer
• Ewald Schnug (* 1954), agricultural researcher, professor, Honorary-President of the International Scientific Center for Fertilizers ^[4]