elected by proportional representation at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the chief mayor as chairwoman. Since this election, the town has been run by a Jamaica coalition of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, the Free Democratic Party and the Greens. The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results: Mayors Bad Kreuznach's current mayor (Oberbürgermeister) is Emanuel Letz, elected in March 2022. Listed here are Bad Kreuznach's mayors since Napoleonic times: Coat of arms The town's arms might be described thus: On an escutcheon argent ensigned with a town wall with three towers all embattled Or, a fess countercompony Or and azure between three crosses pattée sable. Bad Kreuznach's right to bear arms comes from municipal law for the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The three crosses pattée (that is, with the ends somewhat broader than the rest of the crosses' arms) are a canting charge, referring to the town's name, the German word for "cross" being Kreuz. The crosses are sometimes wrongly taken to be Christian crosses. In fact, the name Kreuznach developed out of the Celtic-Latin word Cruciniacum, which meant "Crucinius's Home", thus a man's name with the suffix —acum added, meaning "flowing water". The coat of arms first appeared with this composition on the keystone at Saint Nicholas's Church in the late 13th century. The mural crown on top of the escutcheon began appearing only about 1800 under French rule. The stylised stretch of town wall was originally rendered reddish-brown, but it usually appears gold nowadays. Twin towns – sister cities Bad Kreuznach is twinned with: Bourg-en-Bresse, France (1963) Neuruppin, Germany (1990) Culture and sightseeing Buildings The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate's Directory of Cultural Monuments: Bad Kreuznach (main centre) Paul's Evangelical Church (Pauluskirche), Kurhausstraße 2/4 – Late Gothic quire and transept, early 15th century, west façade after 1458, Classicist nave and tower 1768–1781, architect Philipp Heinrich Hellermann, Meisenheim; furnishings Saint Wolfgang's Catholic Church (Kirche St. Wolfgang), in Breslauer Straße 2 – four colourfully made sculptures; Baroque Madonna, replica of the Late Gothic Saint Wolfgang figure in Sankt Wolfgang, Late Gothic Crucifix, Late Gothic Pietà Holy Cross Catholic Parish Church (Pfarrkirche Heilig-Kreuz), Wilhelmstraße 39 – Gothic Revival hall church, red-sandstone-block building, 1895–1897, architect Ludwig Becker, Mainz; furnishings Saint Nicholas's Catholic Parish Church (Pfarrkirche St. Nikolaus), Poststraße 5 – three-naved basilica, substantially from the 13th and 14th centuries, lengthened