Jünkerath, along with its outlying centre of Glaadt, lies in the Kyll valley in the Eifel. Geologically, Jünkerath is part of the Kalkeifel.
History
Jünkerath is among the Eifel's oldest places. The name is derived from Icorigium, a station on the Trier-Cologne Roman road, which was marked as early as the 4th century on the Tabula Peutingeriana. As a result of the Treaty of Lunéville, Jünkerath passed along with the rest of the lands on the Rhine’s left bank to France in 1801, and then in 1815 came the cession to Prussia. Count Sternberg-Manderscheid acquired in the 1803 Reichsdeputationshauptschluss as the landholder, among other things, the holdings formerly belonging to the monasteries at Weissenau and Schussenried in Upper Swabia to offset his loss of Blankenheim, Jünkerath, Gerolstein and Dollendorf.
''Landgemeinde Jünkerath''
The municipality of Jünkerath was newly formed by law on 27 February 1930. In the Gesetz betreffend die Bildung der Landgemeinde Jünkerath , the following was set forth:
Politics
Municipal council
The council is made up of 16 council members, who were elected by proportional representation at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman. The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:
Mayor
Jünkerath's mayor is Rainer Helfen, and his deputies are Erhard Bohn, Johann Thielen and Alois Bömmels.
The German blazon reads: Ein blauer Schild darin ein silberner Löwe mit goldener Krone, umgeben von 6 goldenen Lilien. Der Löwe trägt einen fünfzackigen roten Turnierkragen. The municipality's arms might in English heraldic language be described thus: Azure semée of fleurs-de-lis Or a lion rampant argent armed and langued gules and crowned of the second surmounted at the shoulder by a label of five points of the fourth. Curiously, the German blazon does not match the coat of arms shown at the municipality's website. The blazon stipulates six lilies, but only five are shown, the lion's attitude, rampant, is not mentioned, nor does anything in the blazon deal with the tongue's or the claws’ tincture. Jünkerath's arms go back to the old arms borne by the Lords of Jünkerath and to the time when Jünkerath belonged to the lordship at Schleiden. The noblemen of Jünkerath possessed, like almost all Eifel noble families, their own coat of arms. The Jünkerath arms can also be found in the arms of the County of Blankenheim, which is quarterly. On 28 September 1934, the municipality appointed Schulze Grady to request of the ReichMinister of the Interior that Jünkerath be allowed to bear its own arms. Approval came early the next spring. The arms have been borne since 28 March 1935.
Culture and sightseeing
Museums
The Eisenmuseum in Jünkerath documents the Eifel iron industry's history since the 15th century. On display are, among other things, moulds, decorative ovens, cast iron plating and much more.
Buildings
Main centre
Evangelical church, Kölner Straße 62, small quarrystone aisleless church from 1894–1895, rebuilt in 1950-1951, whole complex with churchyard and gravestones from the 18th to 20th centuries, fence from the time of building.
Gewerkschaftstraße 1 – former iron foundry's administration building, representative Baroquemansard roof building, apparently from 1770.
Glaadter Straße 16 – Quereinhaus, apparently from 1875.
Glaadter Straße 23 – stately building with half-hipped gables
Glaadter Straße 45 – Quereinhaus from 1860
Glaadter Straße/corner of Am Sonnenberg – wayside cross, red sandstone pedestal cross, from 1758, possibly once a grave cross.
Kölner Straße 69 – Catholic rectory.
Schwarzer Pfad 1, 3 and 5 – three houses, possibly late 19th century, two-storey buildings with small-block walls with knee walls and flat saddle roofs, with wings from the time of building and outbuildings in the back.
Glaadt
Catholic Parish Church of the Finding of the True Cross, Auf den Eichen 3, new building, late 19th century.
Burgbering 1-20, former railwaymen's settlement Neue Kolonie, from about 1920-1925, housing estate laid out in a ring shape in traditional local style with a gatehouse, six semidetached houses and a terrace of six bungalows, along with a central yard/garden enclosed by walls with gates or small outbuildings.
Kölner Straße 27, 29 and 33 – three identically shaped semidetached houses, two-storey buildings with unplastered small-block walls built in a similar shape to the railway station.
Economy and infrastructure
Transport
lies on the Eifelbahn and at peak times is served by the following trains:
the Eifel-Mosel-Express ;
the Eifel-Express ;
the Eifel-Bahn.
For all local public transport, three tariff systems apply: the Verkehrsverbund Region Trier, the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg, and for journeys crossing tariff zones, the NRW-Tarif. Once, there was a junction in Jünkerath where the now abandoned and dismantled Vennquerbahn branched off the Eifelbahn, leading by way of Losheim at the Belgian border to Malmedy.
