In 1040, Ruppertsberg had its first documentary mention. Most likely it grew out of the Hoheburg (castle) beginning in 800. About 1100, the last Count of the Kraichgau donated the village to the Bishopric of Speyer, which then enfeoffed the Knights of Ruppertsberg with it. In the 14th century, Imperial troops destroyed the castle, whereupon the Knights built a moated castle, the so-called Schloss, in the village's northeast. After the destruction wrought by the Thirty Years' War, only two families were left in Ruppertsberg.
The German blazon reads: In Gold ein in den Ecken gemauerter schwarzer Turm mit vier Zinnen über einer schwarzen Mauer mit je einer Zinnen rechts und links und mit einem offenen Spitztor, darin in Gold eine grünbestielte blaue Traube.
The municipality's arms might in English heraldic language be described thus: Or a tower embattled of four and masoned at the corners sable on a wall of the same with a merlon at each end, in base a gateway with pointed arch of the field in which a bunch of grapes azure slipped vert.
The arms were approved in 1955 by the Mainz Ministry of the Interior.[5] They replaced the old armorial bearing which bore the letters “BS” flanking a charge that does not seem to be identifiable. It looked like a rake or perhaps a harrow. Many explanations have been put forth (a tool of some kind, a village symbol, somebody's monogram, a charge from the arms borne by the old feudal lords, and still others). The current arms are meant to represent the Knights’ castle and, with the bunch of grapes, the local winegrowing.[6]
Town partnerships
Ruppertsberg fosters partnerships with the following places:
Interior of St. Martin's Parish ChurchTea housePlan of Schloss Ruppertsberg from 1719
Buildings
Saint Martin'sCatholic Parish Church (Katholische Pfarrkirche St. Martin) in Ruppertsberg is a three-naved Late Gothic building from the early 16th century. Particularly worth seeing is the stone pulpit, created about 1510 with its images of saints and prophets.
The former Teehaus (tea house) is Ruppertsberg's landmark. It was built in 1840 a few hundred metres west of the village in the vineyards on the model of the one at the English Garden in Munich. The former tea house is a big rectangular pavilion with a glazed upper floor.
Of the moated castle (Wasserburg) on the northeast side of the municipality, expanded into a residential castle (Schloss) in the 18th century under Damian Hugo Philipp von Schönborn, two of the original four wings have been preserved. Owing to later conversions, the building's character as a residential castle has been all but lost.
Regular events
The Ruppertsberger Weinkerwe (wine fair) is held each year on the last weekend in August. The Sunday of this weekend is also Erlebnistag Deutsche Weinstraße (“German Wine Route Adventure Day”).
Economy and infrastructure
Winegrowing
The municipality is characterized to a considerable extent by winegrowing and is among the Palatinate’s biggest winegrowing centres.
