Klotten is a winemaking centre and an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Cochem, whose seat is in the like-named town. Geography The municipality lies on the river Moselle and is surrounded by steep slate slopes. Vineyards in Klotten include Burg Coraidelstein, Brauneberg and Rosenberg. History In 698, Klotten had its first documentary mention. The Polish queen Richeza, Count Palatine Ezzo's daughter and Emperor Otto II's granddaughter, quite probably stayed with her three children between 1040 and 1049 in Klotten, where she had herself built a chapel (Nikolauskirche, or Saint Nicholas’s Church) and a dwelling tower, which was linked by a bridge to the chapel. Upon her death on 21 March 1063, she bequeathed all that she owned to the Brauweiler Benedictine Abbey near Cologne. Her sarcophagus stands today in Cologne Cathedral, to the left below the High Altar, the “Epiphany Shrine”. Electoral-Trier overlordship ended with the French Revolutionary occupation of the Rhine’s left bank between 1794 and 1796. In 1814 Klotten was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia at the Congress of Vienna. Since 1946, it has been part of the then newly founded state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Politics Municipal council The council is made up of 16 council members, who were elected 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 Klotten's mayor is Holger Becker. Coat of arms The German blazon reads: Von Silber und Blau gespalten. Vorn in Silber ein roter Torturm mit 3 Zinnen, offenem Tor und 3 (2:1) offenen Fenstern. In Blau ein aus dem Schildfuß wachsender goldener Bischofsstab mit Krümme nach außen, darunter im Schildfuß ein schräglinkes, silbernes Wellenbad. The municipality's arms might in English heraldic language be described thus: Per pale argent issuant from base a gate tower embattled of three gules with three windows and gate of the field, and azure issuant from base a bishop's staff sinister Or surmounted in base by a bendlet sinister wavy of the first. The arms were designed by Decku of Sankt Wendel and A. Friderichs of Zell. Town partnerships Klotten fosters partnerships with the following places: Berlaimont, Nord, France since 1972 Culture and sightseeing Buildings The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory