Mörschied

Mörschied is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde Herrstein-Rhaunen, whose seat is in Herrstein.

Mörschied
Municipality
Coat of arms
Location of Mörschied within Birkenfeld district
Mörschied Show map of Germany Mörschied Show map of Rhineland-Palatinate
Coordinates: 49°47′26″N 07°18′25″E
Country	Germany
State	Rhineland-Palatinate
District	Birkenfeld
Municipal assoc.	Herrstein-Rhaunen
Government
• Mayor (2019–24)	Harald Friedrich[1]
Area
• Total	10.69 km2 (4.13 sq mi)
Elevation	420 m (1,380 ft)
Population  (2023-12-31)[2]
• Total	718
• Density	67/km2 (170/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	55758
Dialling codes	06785
Vehicle registration	BIR
Website	www.moerschied.de

Geography

Location

The municipality lies on the Naturpark Saar-Hunsrück. The municipal area is 64% wooded. To the east lies Herrstein. The nearest major town is Idar-Oberstein to the south.

Constituent communities

Also belonging to Mörschied are the outlying homesteads of Am Herrsteinerweg, Asbacherhütte, Hahnenmühle and Harfenmühle.^[3]

Politics

Municipal council

The council is made up of 12 council members, who were elected by majority vote at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.^[4]

Mayor

Mörschied’s mayor is Harald Friedrich.^[1]

Coat of arms

The municipality’s arms might be described thus: Per bend sinister sable issuant from the line of partition a demilion with tail bifurcated argent crowned Or and chequy gules and argent issuant from base a mount of three.

Culture and sightseeing

Buildings

The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:^[5]

• Evangelical church, Äckerchen – aisleless church with ridge turret, 1731-1746; décor; organ, firm of G. Stumm, 1896; two tomb slabs
• Herrsteiner Straße 11 – stately timber-frame Quereinhaus (a combination residential and commercial house divided for these two purposes down the middle, perpendicularly to the street), partly solid, partly slated, half-hipped roof, 19th century
• Herrsteiner Straße 21 – Quereinhaus, partly timber-frame (plastered), timber-frame gallery, marked 1830, conversion 1860
• Hahnenmühle, southeast of the village on the Fischbach – stately miller’s and farmer’s house, marked 1907; mill gear from time of building, bakehouse, mountain cellar
• Schleiferei Biehl (gemcutting shop), northwest of the village on the Fischbach – latter half of the 19th century, technical equipment

Regular events

Since 1990, Mörschied has had an open-air stage on which the Karl-May-Festspiele Mörschied are staged in the summer months each year. In 2010, the play Winnetou gegen Santer (gegen means “against”; both those named in the title are characters from Karl May’s writings) was produced.

Economy and infrastructure

To the south runs Bundesstraße 422. Serving nearby Idar-Oberstein is a railway station that, as a Regional-Express and Regionalbahn stop, is linked by way of the Nahe Valley Railway (Bingen–Saarbrücken) to the Saarland and the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region. The Rhein-Nahe-Express running the Mainz-Saarbrücken route serves the station hourly. Every other train goes through to the main railway station in Frankfurt with a stop at Frankfurt Airport. Formerly, fast trains on the Frankfurt-Paris route had a stop at Idar-Oberstein.