Theisbergstegen

Theisbergstegen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Kusel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Kusel-Altenglan, whose seat is in Kusel. The village of Theisbergstegen, which grew together from the two former villages of Theisberg and Stegen, lies on both sides of the river Glan in the bottom of the dale at an elevation of some 209 m above sea level. On the Glan's right bank (Theisberg), the southwest slope of the Potzberg with its extensive forest within municipal limits – and a castle that is now nothing more than a heap of stones in the woods – rises up steeply to an elevation of 480 m above sea level. Theisberg itself sits on this slope. Left of the Glan looms the 368 m-high Remigiusberg with its castle ruin and church, presenting a picturesque view, which was immortalized as long ago as the early 19th century in a now famous steel engraving. The two historic buildings, however, stand within neighbouring Haschbach's municipal limits. The Glan valley here narrows sharply between the slopes of the Potzberg and the Remigiusberg, which are quite close together. Stretching south from the Remigiusberg is the valley of the Röderbach, which near Theisbergstegen empties into the Glan. Stegen spreads across this likewise narrow side valley and also along the long ridge that stands between the two dales. Running alongside the river Glan are Bundesstraße 423 on the right bank and the railway on the left. The outlying centre of Godelhausen also lies in the Glan valley, with the Potzberg and the Remigiusberg right across the river on the other side, on the outliers of Wackenhübel and Röderwald that edge the Glan valley on the west. The built-up area lies on the comb of a high ridge that drops off smoothly into the dale, while also forming the southern flank of another side valley, through which two more brooks flow on their way to empty into the Glan.