Evangelical Church

The Protestant Church in Prüm in the Eifel district of Bitburg-Prüm, Rhineland-Palatinate, is the church of the Protestant Congregation of Prüm in the church district of Trier of the Protestant Church in the Rhineland. It is a diaspora community and one of the largest parishes in Germany by area.

The Reformation did not take hold in the Südeifel region. It was not until the Prüm Land became part of Prussia in 1815 after the Congress of Vienna that individual Protestant Christians, primarily Prussian administrative officials, settled in the completely Catholic-dominated area. Prüm became the district town and the location of a garrison of the Prussian Landwehr. Canonically, the Prüm district belonged to the Trier congregation. In 1821, the major, the veterinarian, and the customs commissioner wrote to their king Friedrich Wilhelm III a letter, which is still preserved in the state archive, requesting the establishment of a Protestant congregation. King Wilhelm III subsequently established the Protestant Congregation of Prüm through a cabinet decision on December 23, 1821. The founding of a congregation by cabinet decision is historically unique. Even the congregational seal recalls this with the inscription R W III. At that time, the congregation had 19 members. After the king supported the pastor's salary with 500 thalers annually, the first Prüm pastor could be instituted on April 14, 1829, for the then 86 congregational members. The services were held in the teachers' room of the gymnasium in the old abbey building. The parish area extended beyond the current congregation to include today's congregations of Bitburg, Gerolstein, and Daun. Bitburg became independent in 1875, and Gerolstein and Daun became independent in 1896. From that time on, the parish area covered approximately the current administrative communities of Arzfeld and Prüm and has an area of 780 km².

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