Catholic Parish Church St. Martin

The present parish church was built in 1723 as a cross-vaulted hall with a west tower. The upper part of a gothic sacramentary house, two bells from 1421 and 1477 and the Gothic baptismal font (in front of the building at Kettergasse 3) are the only remnants of the old predecessor church.

Archaeological findings support the theory that at the flood-protected site around the Emmeler parish church there was already a settlement in Celtic, but certainly in Roman times. A Roman column drum and a capital with a Romanesque column of shell limestone point to that. In 1376, the Carthusian monastery of Trier was granted patronage of the church with the patrocinium of St Martin. It had belonged to the parish of Piesport before. The present parish church was built in 1723 as a cross-vaulted hall building with a western tower. The upper part of a Gothic sacramentary house, two bells from 1421 and 1477 and the Gothic baptismal font (in front of the building at Kettergasse 3) are the only remnants of the old predecessor church. In order to cope with the population growth in the 19th century, the 150 years old altar room was demolished in 1930 and the eastern side of the church was extended with a wide transept and a spacious choir. In 1967/68, the church was redesigned according to the requirements of the renewed liturgy. In the mid-nineties, the dilapidated nave was renovated and equipped with tie rods. In 2003/2004, the transept was reconstructed and the sanctuary redesigned. Eberhard Münch, church painter from Wiesbaden, planned and executed the new coloring of the sanctuary. This included the medieval wooden carcass of the crucified with the red glass background and the windows in the choir. It is also thanks to him that the six plagues of mankind (sickness, hunger, war, ignorance, bondage and death) are written under the sanctuary windows - with the cross as a sign of salvation in between. In addition, he donated a self-painted 12-square-meter Lenten veil of canvas, which now covers the crucified with the glass-plate construction in the period between Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. The large staircase window with an Easter motif at the parsonage (facing the cemetery) is also his work. Another important artist of this church is Hermann-Josef Runggaldier from St Ulrich in South Tyrol. He not only designed the apostle lampstands of bronze, the baptismal font, which is part of the paradisiacal tree of knowledge in the middle of the church and the pillar of fire, which, together with the eternal flame, indicates the presence of God. He is also the maker of the lectern displaying the legendary coat of benevolent St Martin, and the grapevine tabernacle with the heart-connection of two vines so typical of Moselle vineyards. Last but not least, he also made the bronze Madonna on the outer northern wall of the parish church. The priest´s seat and the choir benches were designed and created by the metalsmith workshop Hans-Jörg Bender from Schweich. The lead glazing of the turning doors was made by Heidemarie Leder from Kanzem. Since 2010, there is a replica of the relief "Christ in the winepress" in the tower. It is part of the bequest of building contractor Ludwig Wanninger from Piesport. Until the administrative reform of 1969, the present municipality of Piesport consisted of the two independent villages of Piesport and Niederemmel. The municipalities of Müstert, Reinsport and Niederemmel had been consolidated at the beginning of the 20th century.