User:Jarry1250/Weinheim

Weinheim (Bergstrasse) is a town in the north west of the state of Baden-Württemberg in Germany with 43 000 inhabitants, approximately 15 km north of Heidelberg and 10 km northeast of Mannheim. Together with these cities, it makes up the Rhine-Neckar triangle. It has the nickname "Zwei-Burgen-Stadt", or Two-Castle city ('Burg' means 'fortress'), named after the two fortresses on the hill overlooking the town in the east on the edge of the Odenwald, the Windeck and the Wachenburg.

Geography
Weinheim is situated on the Bergstrasse ("Mountain Road") on the western rim of the Odenwald. The old town lies in the valley, with the new part of town further to the west. The Market Square is filled with numerous cafes, as well as the old Rathaus (Council building). Further to the south is the Schlossgarten (Palace garden) and the Exotenwald (Exotic forest), which contains species of trees imported from around the world, but mostly from North America and Japan.

History
Weinheim celebrated its 1250th anniversary in 2005.

The earliest record of Weinheim dates back to 755 AD, when the name "Winenheim" was recorded in the Lorscher Codex, the record book of the Lorsch monastery.

In 1000 AD, emperor Otto III bestowed Weinheim the right to hold markets, and in 1065 the right to mint and issue coins. A new town developed next to the old town from 1250. In 1308, the old town was transferred to the Palatinate. From 1368 onwards the whole town belonged to the Electoral Palatinate and its district Heidelberg since the end of the 14th century. With the transfer to the duke of Baden in 1803, Weinheim became a regional centre, which was unified with the district of Mannheim in 1936. From 1938 onwards Weinheim belonged to the new district of Mannheim until January 1, 1973, when the Rhine-Neckar district was formed.

The name Weinheim does not derive from wine, which is grown in the region, but rather from "Wino's Home".

Population over time
These are the population figures for particular years. There are drawn from guesses, 'Volkszählungsergebnisse (semi-official figures, demarcated by a ¹) and official statistics based on place of residence (Hauptwohnsitz). ¹ These are taken from a Volkszählungsergebnes.

Culture and local attractions



 * Windeck Castle, originally built around 1100 to protect the Lorsch monastery, it was badly damaged in the Thirty Years War and by Louis XIV of France.
 * Wachenburg Castle, built between 1907 and 1928 by student fraternities.
 * The Market Square
 * The Schloss, home of the town council
 * Gerberbach Quarter, old haunt of the leather makers
 * Schlosspark
 * Exotenwald
 * Weinheim's beautiful synagogue was destroyed on Kristallnacht.

Museum
Winheim's town museum occupies what used to be the headquarters of the Teutonic Order in the town and holds exhibits about Weinheim and its surroundings: archaeology from the prehistoric through to the Merovingian dynasty, the highlight of which is the so-called "Nächstenbacher Bronze-find" of 76 objects from the late bronze age; displays documenting the Medieval and modern social history of the town and works from contemporary artists.

Musik
Weinheim has a Jazz Club, well-known throughout the region. Since 1984, "Muddy´s Club" has presented Blues und Jazz. The club is situated under the town library and has featured performances from Willie Littlefield, Art Farmer, Silvia Droste, Rose Nabinger und Angela Brown.

Building works
The steep marketplace with its historic Old Town Hall of 1557, market well and Lions pharmacy dating from the beginning of the 17th Century, is especially worth seeing.

In the vicinity are two major churches: the Evangelical church of 1731, and the church to St. Laurentius. The evangelical St. Peter's next to the Weschnitz (a local river) was built in an Art Nouveau style in 1912 on the site of its predecessor. In the west of the town stands St. Marks' church, built in 1957 with large stained-glass windows.

The two castles, the Windeck, now ruined, and the Wachenburg, built by the Weinheimer Senioren-Convent (foundation stone laid in 1907, building work completed in 1928), are the landmarks of the town. They also give it its nickname of the two-castle town.

Weinheim's Schloss (1537) now houses the town hall, as well as the former headquarters of the Teutonic Order, now a museum.

The Gerberbach quarter, in the valley carved out by the Grundelbach, is a largely closed and carefully restored late medieval tradesmam area, which, with timber-framed houses lining its winding streets, offers numerous romantic angles and interesting aspects onto architectural and social history.

In addition, numerous individual buildings are worth seeing, for example the Büdinger Hof, the Kerwehaus in the Gerberbach quarter and the Molitor'sche house.

Parks
Exotenwald, an arboretum spanning 60 hectares and 170 species, was funded by the freeman] Christian von Berckheim in 1860. Because of the mild climate, the arboretum can include such trees as [[Ailanthus altissima, [Cryptomeria japonica]] and Cedrus atlantica. Der Exotenwald ist besonders für seinen Bestand an Mammutbäumen bekannt, die bis zu 60 Meter Höhe erreichen. Der Exotenpark ist an der Bergstraße gelegen und schließt sich an den Schlosspark an, wo eine der größten und ältesten Zedern Deutschlands zu finden ist. Es handelt sich hierbei um eine Libanon-Zeder, die etwa um 1720 gepflanzt wurde und mittlerweile eine Höhe von 23 Meter, einen Kronendurchmesser von 27 Meter und einen Stammumfang von etwa 5,20 Meter besitzt. Auch einige außerordentlich hohe und alte Ginkgobäume können dort besichtigt werden.

The valley of the six mills
Weinheim includes the Sechs-Mühlen-Tal (literally "Six-Mill-Valley") with the mills being:
 * Carlebachmühle
 * Kinscherf'sche Mühle
 * Obere Fuchs'sche Mühle
 * Untere Fuchs'sche Mühle
 * Hildebrand'sche Obere Mühle
 * Hildebrand'sche Untere Mühle

Weitere Sehenswürdigkeiten

 * Schau- und Sichtungsgarten Hermannshof
 * Rodensteiner-Brunnen (Hauptstraße, Höhe Tannenstraße), Jugendstilbrunnen von 1903 aus rotem Sandstein
 * Wachenberg: Schon von weitem sichtbar ist der große Steinbruch des Wachenbergs am Ausgang des Birkenauer Tals. Hier wird Quarzporphyr abgebaut.
 * Geopark-Pfad „Steine, Schluchten, Sagen“ in Oberflockenbach und Rippenweier

Sport and leisure parks

 * Sepp-Herberger Stadium
 * Waldschwimmbad (also TSG Turnerbad)
 * Waidsee lido
 * Miramar leisure pool
 * Sport and activity centre (with an indoor swimming pool, TSG-Halle, and beach volleyball facilities)
 * Hohensachen indoor pool
 * Athletic Club and sports park
 * A Segelflugplatz (facilities for non-self-propelled aircraft, etc)
 * TSG Waldstadion
 * Riding facilities of RuF Weinheim

Sport
Mit dem AC Weinheim und der TSG Weinheim, zu der das American-Football-Team Weinheim Longhorns gehört, sind hier die beiden mitgliederstärksten Sportvereine Nordbadens beheimatet. Außerdem ist Weinheim die Heimat des Radsportteams Team Bergstraße und des Faustballvereins TV 1920 Wünschmichelbach und des Motorsportclubs MSC-Oberflockenbach.

Events

 * February: High-jump Gala, with world class high-jumpers
 * March: the Sommertagszug, a festival celebrating the coming of summer.
 * May/June (near Ascension Day): day of the Weinheimer Senioren-Convents
 * June-August: Weinheim's summer of culture
 * June: Scheuerfest (barn party) in Ritschweier
 * July: the Weinheim road race
 * May-September: Kerwes in Rippenweier, Sulzbach, Lützelsachsen, Oberflockenbach und Hohensachsen
 * August (second weekend thereof): Weinheim's Kerwe (Friday to Monday)
 * October: Bergsträßer Winzerfest (lit. "mountain-road winter festival") in Lützelsachsen

Local businesses

 * Beltz Verlag
 * Management group Freudenberg
 * Kukident GmbH, Reckitt Benckiser AG
 * Naturin
 * OAGIS
 * T-Systems ITS GmbH
 * Wiley-VCH publishers
 * 3 Glocken
 * Weinheimer Nachrichten
 * Druckhaus Diesbach

Transport

 * Deutsche Bahn
 * Rhein-Neckar Verkehr

Honorary citizens
The town of Weinheim has made the following people honorary citizens (Ehrenbürger):
 * 1894: Carl Johann Freudenberg, Geheimer Kommerzienrat (royal economist)
 * 1904: Erhard Bissinger, Consul general
 * 1913: Aute Bode, chief engineer and the architect behind the Wachenburg
 * 1918: Hermann Ernst Freudenberg, Geheimer Kommerzienrat (royal economist)
 * 1922: Georg Friedrich Vogler, vice-mayor
 * 1923: Adam Karrillon, doctor and author
 * 1928: Emil Hartmann, construction engineer
 * 1928: Prof. Arthur Wienkoop, Architect
 * 1949: Richard Freudenberg, factory owner
 * 1953: Hans Freudenberg, factory owner
 * 1954: Sepp Herberger, sports trainer, trainer of the German World Cup winning side of 1954
 * 1962: Wilhelm Brück, Lord Mayor
 * 1986: Theo Gießelmann, Lord Mayor
 * 2004: Dieter Freudenberg, factory owner
 * 2004: Wolfgang Daffinger, mayor, representative in the Landtag
 * 2005: Uwe Kleefoot, Lord Mayor

Sons and daughters of the town

 * Heinrich Hübsch (1795–1863), head of public works
 * Karl Seidenadel (1829–1894), translator of Greek works
 * Philipp Bickel (1829–1914), baptist theologian and publisher
 * Friedrich August Bender (1847–1926), chemist and entrepreneur
 * Wilhelm Platz (1866–1929), factory owner and author
 * Richard Freudenberg (1892–1975), DDP MP, MdB, for a long time one of the town's aldermen and benefactors
 * Erwin Linder (1903–1968), actor and voice actor
 * Heidi Mohr (born 1967), national football player
 * Ralf Sonn (born 1967), high jumper

People who worked in the town

 * Ingrid Noll (born 1935), racing driver (known as "Die Apothekerin"), lived in Weinheim.
 * Karl Friedrich Bender (1806–1869), theologian, teacher, principal of the Erziehungsanstalt für Knaben (boys' school)