It is said to be certain that there was a Roman settlement within the limits of what is now Bullay, which had its first documentary mention as Buley infra Cell in 1150. From 1470 to 1550 there was mining in Bullay. Four baronial noble families held the lordship in the village: Zand von Merl, Boos von Waldeck, von Metzenhausen and von Kellenbach. Beginning in 1794, Bullay lay under French rule. In 1815 it was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia at the Congress of Vienna. In 1879, the Koblenz–Trier line was opened. Since 1946, it has been part of the then newly founded state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Under the Verwaltungsvereinfachungsgesetz of 18 July 1970, with effect from 7 November 1970, the municipality was grouped into the Verbandsgemeinde of Zell. In 1993 came the highest ever floods in the region, the “Christmas Flood”, also known as the “Flood of the Century”.
Politics
Municipal council
The council is made up of 16 council members, who were elected by proportional representation 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
Bullay’s mayor is Matthias Müller, and his deputies are Willi Schumacher, Oswald Menten and Thomas Scheidt.
The municipality’s arms might be described thus: Quarterly, first sable a cramp bendwise argent, second argent a cross engrailed gules surmounted in chief by a label of three points of the first, third argent a lion rampant of the third, and fourth sable three annulets of the second.
Culture and sightseeing
Buildings
The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
Bahnhofsplatz – Bullay railway station; many-winged Late Historicist quarrystone railway station building, partly plastered, about 1905; whole complex with platforms
Bergstraße 20 – stately villa, partly sided with wood, 1920s
Brautrockstraße 40 – Renaissance Revival quarrystone building, about 1900
Eisenbahnbrücke – double-deck bridge, 1875–78, renovated in 1928–29, in 1945 partly destroyed, subsequently repaired
Yeşil Camii - the only mosque in the district of Cochem-Zell
The double-deck bridge mentioned above is the Alf-Bullay bridge, which carries a roadway across the Moselle on the lower deck, and the Moselbahn – the Koblenz-Trier railway line – on the upper deck. Bullay also has an “Environmental Railway Station” that has been awarded an architectural prize by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Religion
Although in a mainly Catholic area, Bullay has a mosque named Yeşil Camii. All five daily prayers have been offered since March 14, 2014. The mosque's association is linked to the DITIB, but welcomes Muslims from all countries to join the prayers.
Gallery
Economy and infrastructure
Transport
Bullay is linked by the double-deck bridge to the Moselle’s left bank, and thereby to Bundesstraßen 49 and 53. Bullay lies on the Koblenz-Trier line, completed in 1879, over which it is linked to the Deutsche BahnInterCity network. Furthermore, the ICE 856/855 stops daily towards 6:00 and 22:00 at Bullay railway station. This “Environmental Railway Station” is moreover the last station on the Moselweinbahn running between Bullay and Traben-Trarbach. From 1905 to 1961, another station, Bullay Süd, was the northern terminus of the Moselbahn running between Trier Nord and Bullay Süd. This line, however, was dismantled in 1961 and a bus service replaced the trains. The double-deck bridge, which carries the railway from the station to the Prinzenkopftunnel is a nationally known work of railway construction.
