The Eifelkreis Bitburg-Prüm is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) Luxembourg, Belgium and the districts of Euskirchen, Vulkaneifel, Bernkastel-Wittlich and Trier-Saarburg.

History

There are three different historical regions: the abbey and the city of Prüm have been directly subordinate to the Holy Roman Emperor in medieval times; later the free city became the principality of Prüm, occupying large portions in the north. The southwest including the town of Bitburg was a part of the Duchy of Luxemburg from the 10th to the 15th century. Later it was a part of the Seventeen Provinces and hence under Spanish and then Austrian rule. After the Napoleonic Wars the region was handed over to Prussia. The eastern parts of the district, including the town of Kyllburg, were part of the Prince-bishopric of Trier. When Prussia gained all these regions about 1815, it established the three districts of Bitburg, Prüm and Trier. In 1970 the districts of Bitburg and Prüm were merged with parts of the former district of Trier in order to form the present district. On 1 January 2007 the full name of the district was changed to be Eifelkreis Bitburg-Prüm instead of Landkreis.

Geography

The district covers the sparsely populated southwestern part of the Eifel Mountains. The portions along the western borders are occupied by a common German-Belgian nature park and a German-Luxembourgish nature park. A great number of rivers rise from the Schneifel in the northwest and from the Kyllwald in the east, and runs southward to the river Sauer (French: Sûre), which is an affluent of the Moselle.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms displays:

Towns and municipalities

It consists of 234 municipalities, making it is the district in Germany with the most municipalities.