 Under the terms of the Congress of Vienna, the area passed in 1816 to the Grand Duchy of Hesse and came to be known as "Rheinhessen" (Rhenish Hesse) to distinguish it from the state’s other regions, but also because it had its own special legal status, for example because of the lingering effects of the French Code civil.Rhenish Hesse’s days as part of Hesse ended with the onset of military occupation by the French in 1945 and with the founding of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.An important historical relic, besides the remnants of the old wall complexes built of elms, is the formerly fortified church, a Late Gothic hall structure with a quire enclosed on three sides and a ring of walls with what is perhaps also a Late Gothic, but Baroque-modified gatetower, which als serves as a belltower.