Our wine town is divided into a total of five districts - the core town of Zell and Merl on the right bank of the Moselle, Kaimt on the left bank of the Moselle, the high-altitude district of Barl and the Althaus settlement on the Hunsrück. On this page you will find a city map of Zell (Mosel) and read interesting facts about its districts.
The wine town of Zell has always been believed to have been founded by the Romans, although there were no concrete building remains in the town center to prove this. It was not until 1978 that extensive finds were made during sewerage work, which showed that Zell had already been inhabited in Roman times. The remains of a bathing facility were discovered, which - as was common at the time - was equipped with hypocaust heating. The bathing building had dimensions of more than 10 x 20 m and was located in the area of Oberstraße, Käsgasse and Mariengasse.
In the same year, a longer stretch of Roman road with traces of a settlement was found only 150 m away. There was an important connection between the Roman main roads Trier-Mainz and Trier-Andernach, which led from Wittlich to Simmern and crossed the Moselle between Zell and Kaimt on a ford. Zell came into being as a Roman road station with warehouses (“cellae”), possibly also with a harbour. This could be proved by the excavations in 1978.
Zell had already received town rights in 1222, and in 1229 the town wall with its three gates was completed. In 1532, while defending Trier against the attacking forces of Franz von Sickingen, 300 soldiers from Zeller Hamm made a name for themselves due to their special bravery. This is how the saying "He staiht ferm (firm), like en Celler from the Hamm!" came into being in the dialect. Elector Richard von Greiffenklau thanked the people of Zell by moving the seat of the Trier office for the area from Arras Castle to Zell and having the Zell Castle built from 1535 to 1543, which is still one of the most attractive buildings in the city today. The door of the former synagogue of the Jewish community in Zell can be found at the back of the palace on Jakobstraße.
Fires in 1848 and 1857 destroyed a large part of the old structure. Zell was then rebuilt with widened streets and therefore today looks more "urban" than most Moselle towns. Among other things, the "Caspary House" in Balduinstraße was preserved at that time - an interesting Gothic building that was built in 1515 for the Electoral Trier magistrate Johann von Senheim. The parish church of St. Peter and Paul from 1786 also survived the fire disaster.
Two towers in particular have survived from the medieval city fortifications: the "square tower" in the Zeller Bachtal and the "round tower" at the cemetery above the city. The latter is a landmark of the wine town that can be seen from afar and should not be missing from any panoramic photo of Zell. The focal point of the town is the small market square, which connects Balduinstrasse, Zell's main shopping street, with the green spaces along the riverbank. The trademark of the Zeller wines, the "Zeller Schwarze Katz", stands on a fountain here. Today, delicious wine is regularly served at the newly designed market square, a weekly market is held and many a festival is celebrated.
Kaimt is located opposite the core town of Zell, is connected to it by two Moselle bridges and yet is "miles away" in terms of the local structure and, above all, the mentality of the residents. This has a lot to do with history, as Zell was founded in Roman times, while Kaimt already existed in Celtic times. Zell has always been the city where trade and administration took place. Even today, the core city has a small-town character due to its shops and straight streets. Kaimt, on the other hand, was a winegrower's, farmer's and fisherman's village and has partly remained so to this day. Business and administration buildings are not to be found here.
Narrow and winding streets with winegrowers' houses form the center of Kaimt. The main road runs behind the village, which means that the small streets that lead to the banks of the Moselle are rather quiet. This village character, the picturesque half-timbered houses and the sunny banks of the Moselle form the special charm of Kaimt. The two locations of the Campingpark Zell Mosel and the schools of the town of Zell are located in Kaimt today.
Like Kaimt, Merl is also a Celtic foundation. Mentioned for the first time in 782 as "Merila", the town lies at the foot of the 371 meter high "König" and at the entrance to the Merler Bachtal, which leads far up into the Hunsrück. Today's elongated town was probably created by the growing together of several parts, with the district of Spay located downstream of the Moselle still being a little isolated today. In 1969 Merl lost its independence and has been a district of Zell ever since.
For centuries, the "Zandt von Merl" were in the service of the Electors of Trier as hereditary bailiffs of the "Hamm". The knight family had great influence in the entire Moselle valley. It is said to have ensured that the Riesling vine was cultivated in Merl as early as the 17th century and spread from there as "Merl-Riesling" to the Moselle and Rhine. The still powerful and well-preserved "Zandthof" was the ancestral seat and castle house of the family. Today it is privately owned.
After a city council decision in 1968, a completely new district for industrial, commercial and residential buildings was developed on the Barl, which led to an upward development of the city of Zell (Mosel). Due to its quiet and easily accessible location, the new part of the city was ideal for the construction of a new, efficient, modern hospital that is still of national importance today. He also had sufficient space for the construction of storage and parking spaces.
While in 1983 there were still 700 citizens and just as many jobs, today both numbers have already clearly exceeded the thousand mark. Attractive residential areas, the St. Josef Hospital and the largest contiguous industrial and commercial area in the district of Cochem-Zell with a nationally important shopping center underline the current importance of the Barl district.
Althaus
In 1927 the Althaus district of Zell was expropriated by the state and handed over to the "Rheinische Heim" for settlement. After the outbreak of World War II, the Reich Labor Service was ordered to clear the site. However, during the war it was mostly covered by tall gorse bushes again. On February 21, 1952, the Trierer Landeszeitung reported that the "Rheinische Heim" intended to build five settlements in the Althaus district. However, the settlement buildings were to be erected on urban soil opposite the former labor service camp near Tellig, and not in the Althaus district. This measure secured the new settlers' ties to school and church, and the otherwise high road construction costs could be saved.
On October 22, 1952, the Trierischer Volksfreund wrote that the now seven houses / farmsteads in the Althaus settlement were built and furnished according to the latest aspects at the time. The new farmers, all of whom came from German areas beyond the Oder-Neisse line and from the German-speaking areas of Czechoslovakia and Bessarabia, finally found a place to settle down after seven years of wandering across the country. The settlement deviated from the normal village form: the farmsteads were now far apart (as in the southern German model), but the lord of the manor had his land directly behind the house. 30 new citizens soon settled in “Neu-Zell”, as Althaus was also called. This ended the settlement. A 1.5 km long water pipe was laid from Tellig to "Neu-Zell" in order to secure the supply of fresh water and waste water to the settlement.
The immigrants had to pay the city in annual installments (plus interest) for their new property. This procedure, called annuity, amounted to 56 years. Only after this time were the settlers allowed to regard the farms as their property. During the first three years, the new farmers received financial support from the settlement cooperative for the purchase of agricultural machinery. In the fourth year of retirement, repayment could begin. Another condition of the city to the immigrants was that there should be no division in the yard.