Gillenfeld Maars The
Pulvermaar, a lake that has formed in a volcanic crater, lies not far from Gillenfeld, and is, after
Lake Constance and the lakes in the foothills of the
Alps, Germany's deepest lake. In the summer, there is a great deal of bathing here. Together with the
Holzmaar, it forms the Gillenfeld Maars.
Dry maars – Dürres Maar and Hitsche Maar West of the
Alf valley lie three
maars in a group of volcanoes side by side: the Holzmaar, the
Dürres Maar and the
Hitsche Maar. They arose one after the other along the geological
fault: first, in the northwest, the Hitsche Maar, then the Dürres Maar and then last the Holzmaar in the southeast, meaning that volcanic activity shifted from northwest to southeast. The Hitsche Maar is therefore the oldest maar and the
Holzmaar the newest in this group. These three maars came into being during the
Weichselian glaciation and are believed to be more than 20,000 years old. The lakes’ age sequence was revealed in the layering of
tuffs, with the Hitsche Maar's tuffs buried under the Dürres Maar's, which in turn were buried under the Holzmaar's tuffs, which were the last to be cast up in the time of greater volcanic activity.
Buildings • Am Kirchberg – former Saint Andrew's Parish Church's tower (today a warriors’ memorial chapel), essentially a
mediaeval tower of the church built in 1729 and torn down in the late 19th century. • Saint Andrew's
Catholic Parish Church, Am Kirchberg 4,
Gothic Revival basalt quarrystone building, 1898-1899; churchyard: eclectic grave, Family Maas, after 1863, four former wayside crosses, 18th century and earlier half of 19th century. • Auf dem Hof –
Heiligenhäuschen (a small, shrinelike structure consecrated to a saint or saints),
sandstone, 1696 (?). • Bahnhofstraße 1 – former
railway station, built to standard plans, roof with half-hipped gables, goods shed, 1907-1909. • Bahnhofstraße 3 – one-floor plaster building. • Friedhofsweg 2 – small villa, 1910 • Holzmaarstraße 26 – former
Quereinhaus (a combination residential and commercial house divided for these two purposes down the middle, perpendicularly to the street), 1880. • Pulvermaarstraße 2 – former administrative building or school (?), Late
Classicist plaster building. • Pulvermaarstraße 7 – stately
mansard roof building, about 1800, shop installed about 1900. • At Pulvermaarstraße 23 – former blacksmith's shop (?), one-and-a-half-floor quarrystone building, about 1900. • Pulvermaarstraße 39 –
timber-frame house, partly solid or revetted, timber-frame stable-barn, partly solid. • Pulvermaarstraße 45 – timber-frame house, partly solid or plastered, stable-barn. • Between Pulvermaarstraße 55 and 65 – wayside chapel, basalt, possibly 18th century, altar with older sandstone relief. • Railway bridge on the former
railway line between
Daun and
Wittlich at railway kilometre 28.357, bridge on two piers revetted with basalt, 1907-1908 by
Eisenbahndirektion St. Johann-Saarbrücken. •
Heiligenhäuschen, west of the village at the
Kreisstraße 17/18 crossroads, gable-shaped, closed wall block. • Wayside chapel, southwest of the village in the woods, small plaster building, basalt façade, from 1908, older sandstone relief. • Wayside chapel, west of the village, east of the Dürres Maar, small building with hipped roof, timber-frame, from 1782. == Economy and infrastructure ==