Bad Camberg
Encyclopedia
Bad Camberg is, with 15,000 inhabitants, the second biggest town in Limburg-Weilburg
district in Hesse
, Germany
, as well as the southernmost town in the Regierungsbezirk
of Gießen
. It is located in the eastern Taunus in the Goldener Grund (“Golden Ground”) some 30 km north of Wiesbaden
, 18 km southeast of Limburg an der Lahn
, and 44 km northwest of Frankfurt
, as well as on the German Framework Road
. Bad Camberg is the central community of the Goldener Grund with good infrastructure, and a lower centre partly with a middle centre’s function.
The recognized Kneipp
resort is Hesse’s oldest and Germany’s third oldest. In the outlying centre of Oberselters is found a mineral
spring
that gives forth the well known Selterswasser, often known in English
as “seltzer”. The town’s landmark is the Kreuzkapelle (“Cross Chapel
”).
’s main ridge, 18 km southeast of Limburg an der Lahn
, making it Middle Hesse’s southernmost town. The nearest cities are (distances given here are by road) Wiesbaden
(31 km south), Frankfurt am Main (48 km southeast, 59 km by Autobahn), Wetzlar
(49 km), Koblenz
(72 km), and Gießen
(75 km).
The town’s elevation is 209 m. The Limburg-Weilburg district’s highest elevation, the Kuhbett (“Cow’s Bed”; 526 m), lies within the limits of the outlying centre of Erbach on the boundary with the community of Weilrod
in the Hochtaunuskreis
. The greatest elevation in the central community – also called Bad Camberg – is the Kapellenhügel (“Chapel Hill”), which is somewhat more than 300 m high.
(Hochtaunuskreis), Waldems
(Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis
), Idstein
(Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis), Hünstetten
(Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis) and Hünfelden
(Limburg-Weilburg). All but the two lying within Limburg-Weilburg lie not in the Regierungsbezirk of Gießen, but rather in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt
.
To the Linear Pottery culture
from the New Stone Age (5000-3000 BC), which draws its name from the ceramics that it produced, belong the oldest archaeological
finds in the Camberg area. While most groups at that time were hunter-gatherer
s, the Linear Pottery people were already producing their own food by raising crops (among others emmer
and einkorn wheat
s) and livestock
, the latter being mainly sheep, swine, goat
s and above all cattle
; this covered up to 90% of the people’s meat
requirements.
It is known how these cultures built houses. The houses were mostly 20 to 25 m long and 5 to 7 m wide, consisting of five rows of posts, the three inner ones bearing the roof’s weight, and the two outer ones the wattle-and-daub
walls’. These houses served to house people, supplies and animals, and they were always oriented in a certain direction (northwest-southeast or north-south). Within the settlements, irregular pits are encountered that, when houses were being built, were used as the houses’ excavations. They were then filled more and more with rubbish such as charcoal
, animal bones, ashes, stones and potsherds. In a few built-up areas in the town’s main centre, the streets have cut across several garbage pits. When opening up new cropfields, the farmers preferred loess
.
The second wave of settlers has been determined to have come between 600 and 500 BC. The barrow
fields on both sides of the road to Tenne (a hamlet
) are from this time.
donated the Cagenberg estate to the Burtscheid
Monastery
. Cagenberg means Cargo’s Mountain, Cargo being a short form of the name Garganhardt. From the name Cagenberg developed Cainburg, Camburg, Kamberg and Camberg, and by other sources Cagenberc (1018), Kamberch (1156), Kahberg (1194) Kamberc (1197) and later Kaynburg. In 1281, King Rudolph I granted town rights on the model of the Imperial city of Frankfurt am Main; these were renewed in 1300, 1336 and 1365.
Legend has it that after Epiphany in 1357, all the Camberg townsfolk were drunk and asleep when robber knights from Walsdorf
came to try to rob the town. The town wall had not yet been finished and the knights therefore only needed to cross a hedge. However, there lived some magpie
s, who noticed the attempted robbery
and gave out an alarm call, waking the townsfolk up, who then fended the attack off, putting the Walsdorf knights to flight. To this day, the magpie is still regarded as the town’s “unofficial heraldic bird”.
From 1535 to 1794, the Amt of Camberg was in force, to which all current constituent communities belonged under the common administration of the House of Nassau and by the Electorate of Trier. After a short French
occupation, the town was, as of 1806, part of the Duchy of Nassau. In 1866 it passed to Prussia
. Since 1945, the town has been part of the German Federal state
of Hesse.
In 1630 and again in 1659, great witch trials
took place. Thirteen women and one man were found guilty and five women were put to death; one also died in custody. The others were released, often after having been torture
d.
In 1810, Baron Hugo von Schütz zu Holzhausen, himself born deaf
, was first teaching deaf students in rooms at the Amthof, making him a pioneer in this field in Germany. In the years that followed, a scholastic institution grew out of these classes and in 1820 the “Ducal Nassau Deaf-Mute Institute”. Until 1875 it was housed in a side building of the Guttenberger Hof in the Old Town. As of 1894, however, the school had its own building which was built on a plot of land on Frankfurter Straße donated by the town of Camberg. Under the name Freiherr-von-Schütz-Schule, it is still found there today.
In 1861, Moritz Lieber founded a hospital
, the Lieber'sches Hospital, on Gisbert-Lieber-Straße. It was dissolved in 1959. Today, the Freiherr-von-Schütz-Schule uses the building.
During the Second World War, and especially in 1944, many Wehrmacht
units were in the town. In 1942 alone, eight Jewish inhabitants were deported and murdered.
, signed this. On 11 December 1969, the Hessian interior minister announced that suggestions for municipal rearrangements were to be worked out for all communities in the state. This envisaged Camberg, Würges, Erbach, Schwickershausen and Dombach being merged into the Town of Camberg, whereas Oberselters, along with Niederselters, Eisenbach and Haintchen, would form the Community of Selters. The Dombach community representatives were of the opinion, however, that they should keep their village’s autonomy until such time as the state chose to force an amalgamation. Also, the Würges community representatives feared that building projects in their village would be shelved and that Camberg would become the town’s cultural hub.
In January 1971, the district of Limburg once again suggested the small solution. All the current constituent communities but Oberselters were to form the new Town of Camberg. Also brought into question, however, was whether Oberselters, Hasselbach, Walsdorf
and Steinfischbach
might be amalgamated with the Town of Camberg. The Oberselters community representatives favoured amalgamation, if it had to happen, with Camberg, whereas Hasselbach inclined towards Weilrod
. Walsdorf’s and Steinfischbach’s people had voted for Idstein and Waldems respectively so that the planned merger at the time agreed with the current town limits. The communities of Camberg, Erbach, Schwickershausen and Oberselters backed this merger, whereas Dombach first wanted to “wait and see”, and Würges wanted no voluntary amalgamation. The Bundesland of Hesse named 31 December 1971 as the latest possible deadline for voluntary amalgamation.
On 9 November 1971 came the signing of a boundary-changing agreement among today’s five Camberg constituent communities other than Würges along with Eisenbach and Haintchen to found the new Town of Camberg. This agreement, however, was not recognized by the Hesse government, which demanded that Eisenbach, Haintchen and Oberselters be amalgamated with the community of Niederselters and suggested uniting Camberg with Erbach, Schwickershausen and Dombach. The communities complained before the Hessian Administrative Court (Hessischer Verwaltungsgerichtshof) to get it to uphold the merger of Oberselters, Eisenbach and Haintchen at 1 January 1972 anyway. The government was obliged to allow the amalgamation, but it wanted to revise the plan. There was, however, no actual hearing before the Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgerichtshof) in Kassel and the appellate proceedings were suspended in May 1975.
On 1 July 1974, Camberg, Würges, Erbach, Schwickershausen and Dombach were forcibly merged. The community of Oberselters joined.
inherited half the town, while the other half was kept by Dillenburg. Eight years later, the Lords of Eppstein acquired a further fourth of Camberg. This was bought in 1453 by the Counts of Katzenelnbogen
, who a year later also bought a further eighth from Dillenburg, although they sold this back to Dillenburg only a year later. In 1470, Katzenelnbogen passed to Hesse-Marburg and in 1508 Eppstein to the Counts of Königstein. When the Counts of Königstein died out in 1535, the Electorate of Trier occupied Camberg and acquired half the town. In 1557, the Treaty of Frankfurt added the Hessian fourth to Nassau-Dillenburg. From 1607 to 1628, one fourth, which had been Dillenburg domain before this and also was afterwards, belonged to Nassau-Hadamar. In 1652, the Dillenburg half went to Nassau-Diez, and in 1743 to the House of Orange-Nassau.
In 1802, Nassau-Weilburg
took over the Electorate of Trier half. In 1806 arose, out of Orange-Nassau, Nassau-Usingen and Nassau-Weilburg, the Duchy of Nassau, thereby ending the town’s manifold overlordships. In 1816, the Amt of Camberg was made part of the Amt of Idstein. In 1866 Nassau passed to Prussia
, in which it belonged to the province of Hesse-Nassau, the Regierungsbezirk
of Wiesbaden and the district of Untertaunuskreis. In 1886 Camberg became part of the new Limburg district. In 1945, the town was assigned to the United States Occupation Zone and thereby to Hesse. The town belonged then to the Regierungsbezirk of Wiesbaden until this was abolished in 1968, whereupon Camberg became part of the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt. In 1981, it became part of the Regierungsbezirk of Gießen. Camberg became part of Limburg-Weilburg district in 1974.
All Camberg’s centres are mostly Catholic. There are six Catholic parishes that have merged into the Bad Camberg pastoral area: St. Peter und Paul in Camberg, St. Mauritius in Erbach, St. Ferrutius in Würges, St. Antonius in Oberselters, St. Georg in Schwickershausen and St. Wendelin in Dombach. To the parish of St. Peter und Paul belong 3,600 Catholics, and thereby two thirds of the townsfolk. Saint Martin’s Evangelical
Church (Martinskirche) has been in Camberg since 1890.
These are the results by centre:
The next municipal election will be held in 2011.
show the Obertorturm (“Upper Gate Tower”), Camberg’s eastern town gate tower
, with its gate. On the tower are two golden lions on a red field. The roof is blue. The golden lions on the red field stem from the arms borne by the County of Diez, to which Bad Camberg belonged. The background in the arms is red.
, Indre-et-Loire
, France
Bad Sulza
, Thuringia
, Germany
.
On 9 January 1991 the town friendship agreement between Bad Sulza and Bad Camberg was ceremonially signed.
The Kreuzkapelle is the town’s landmark. Today’s chapel
was built east of the town on a mountain in 1725 and can be seen from far away.
In the Old Town quite a number of timber-frame
houses are still to be found, some very elaborately decorated. The houses were mostly built between the 15th and 18th century. Many houses are grouped around the marketplace
, which was a trading station on the High Road (Hohe Straße) from Cologne
to Frankfurt.
The town’s most popular sightseeing spot is the row of timber-frame houses that together make up the Amthof, the seat of the long defunct Amt. It stretches over a frontage of 155 m, making it one of Hesse’s biggest timber-frame structures. The representative building was built in 1605 on a former building’s foundations. In the years that followed, up until 1669, it was further expanded and the three formerly separate buildings were melded into one great structure.
The Amthof was seat and home to the Oberamtmänner (high Amt officials) of the Amt of Camberg in the Electorate of Trier. Once the Amt was dissolved in 1815, it lost its importance. In 1942 the town acquired the Amthof and had it thoroughly restored in 1989. Today it is the town administration’s seat.
Another important timber-frame building is the old Amt apothecary
’s shop, whose foundations go back to 1330, and which was newly built in 1492 as a Burgmann
enhaus for the Hattsteins. From 1663 the house harboured an apothecary’s shop. Today’s Guttenberger Hof was first mentioned in 1336 as the family von Hattstein’s seat. It was overhauled and built into its current form in 1526. In 1767 ownership passed to the family von Guttenberg and in 1820 to common (that is to say, not noble) ownership. As of October 2007, the Guttenberger Hof is being restored.
Of the town’s old fortifications, only remnants are left. The Obertorturm (32 m tall, built about 1380) and the Untertorturm, the town’s two gate towers, are all that is left of the 13 towers that once girded the town.
Abutting the Amthof is the Obertorturm, likewise one of the town’s landmarks, which also appears in the town’s arms
. Right next to it stands the Hohenfeldkapelle (chapel). The chapel is decorated with many fixtures from various centuries, among them plaques with grave inscriptions from the von Metternich und Hohenfeld, von Schütz zu Holzhausen, von Bechtolsheim and von Spies-Büllesheim families, who were of importance in the town. Today, the Obertorturm and the Hohenfeldkapelle serve as the Town and Tower Museum.
The Untertorturm is known locally as the Schiefer Turm von Bad Camberg (“Leaning Tower of Bad Camberg”), a name that owes itself to a lean of 1.44 m over a height of 21 m. On its base once stood three gates in a row. Its old cupola was destroyed in 1945 as the Second World War neared its end.
and early Classicism
development), and is therefore one of the few examples of this building style in the region. The Electorate of Trier Auxiliary Bishop Johannes Maria von Herbain consecrated this church on 15 July 1781 in honour of the Apostles Peter
and Paul.
L. Hofmann from Herborn
took on the leadership of the building work under the royal government’s supervision.
course and several tennis
courts. In 2002, a herb garden exhibit of about 800 m² was laid out in the health resort park.
scene, has been a tradition in Bad Camberg since 1979. Every four years, the oldest and rarest automobiles can be found here. The 8th rally was even held a second time, after the founder’s death, thanks to the family’s support, beginning 22 June 2007.
Furthermore, the firm HACA Leitern (ladders), known Europe
-wide, has its headquarters in Bad Camberg.
Health resort offerings comprise the Hohenfeldklinik (psychosomatic medicine: 160 beds, internal medicine
: 120 beds, orthopaedics: 87 beds) as a health clinic, a neurological
rehabilitation clinic (150 beds), several sanatoria
, the Kur-und Gesundheitszentrum (municipal bathing department with gymnastics for the sick) and several Kneipp water treading pools. In 2005, Bad Camberg recorded 176,663 overnight stays by resort guests. The average stay lasted 8.6 days.
–Frankfurt), which goes back to one of the world’s oldest trade roads, and on the Cologne-Frankfurt InterCityExpress line. Many inhabitants from the main town and the outlying centres commute to work in the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region.
, which in Germany began about 1750 BC, the Hohe Straße (“High Road”) led through the Ems-Wörs drainage basin
, running from Constantinople
to Brussels
. The feeder road from the town to the High Road was the Limburger Weg (first mentioned in 1355 as Lympurger Weg), whose name was changed in 1959 to Taunusstraße and in 1979 to Lahnstraße to avoid confusion with Limburger Straße. By the 18th century, the High Road was no longer used.
In 1934, the town of Camberg joined the company for preparing the Frankfurt-Cologne Autobahn. This Reichsautobahn (now Bundesautobahn 3/Europastraße
35) was built between 1937 and 1939. In the Goldener Grund, its route roughly follows the old High Road’s.
Bad Camberg is linked to the Autobahn through the like-named interchange
. This interchange was not in the original plans but was built later to let the communities in the Goldener Grund share in the transport and economic development. In 1954, the Bad Camberg-Ost service centre
was opened on the Cologne-bound side of the Autobahn; a year later followed Bad Camberg-West on the Frankfurt-bound side.
In the 12th century, bit by bit, roads were also built in the valleys. This was due not only to the upswing in goods trading but also to the growing danger on the High Road. Thus came into being the Emstalstraße (“Ems Valley Road”), a part of the old Via Publica between Brussels and Prague
.
In 1768, the Electorate of Trier began expanding highways into boulevardlike roads, and so it also was for the road from Limburg to the border between Würges and Walsdorf, which was finished in 1780. This work on the road, which ran by the Untertortum west of what was then town limits, was after two or three years, owing to the great volume of traffic, once again utterly destroyed. Given this, the town proposed to have the road run from Erbach to the Obertorturm, then through the town to the Untertortum and thence on to Würges. The proposal was, however, turned down. Owing to the Electorate of Trier Road-Building Ordinance of 1753, the citizens of the Amt of Camberg were obliged to perform compulsory labour on the road early in the year and in autumn. Wages and material costs for the bridgebuilding were borne by the Electoral Court Chamber (kurfürstliche Hofkammer), while the communities and the Amt were expected to lay on the materials. Only after the Revolution of 1848
was all compulsory labour abolished.
Out of this road developed the Imperial Long-Distance Road (Reichsfernstraße) 8 in the early 20th century, now Bundesstraße 8, which currently runs through Erbach, Bad Camberg and Würges and by Oberselters. For those first three places, a bypass road has been planned for more than thirty years.
line 20 (Main-Lahn-Bahn), and to Wiesbaden runs line 21 (Ländchesbahn).
Since December 2004, a town bus
service has been running in Bad Camberg. There are two routes, LM-31 (railway station-inner town-Erbach) and LM-32 (railway station-inner town-Würges). Each takes a different route from the railway station to the inner town before running to Erbach or Würges.
at which a finishing certificate (Hauptschulabschluss), a lower secondary certificate (Mittlere Reife) or an Abitur
can be earned. The Freiherr-vom-Schütz-Schule, which goes back to 1810 and now includes a boarding school
, served seven Hessian districts as a school for the deaf.
s, three municipal and three sponsored by the Catholic Church.
Limburg-Weilburg
Limburg-Weilburg is a Kreis in the west of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Lahn-Dill, Hochtaunuskreis, Rheingau-Taunus, Rhein-Lahn, Westerwaldkreis.-History:...
district in Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, as well as the southernmost town in the Regierungsbezirk
Regierungsbezirk
In Germany, a Government District, in German: Regierungsbezirk – is a subdivision of certain federal states .They are above the Kreise, Landkreise, and kreisfreie Städte...
of Gießen
Gießen (region)
Gießen is one of the three Regierungsbezirke of Hesse, Germany, located in the middle of the state.- External links :*...
. It is located in the eastern Taunus in the Goldener Grund (“Golden Ground”) some 30 km north of Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
, 18 km southeast of Limburg an der Lahn
Limburg an der Lahn
Limburg an der Lahn is the district seat of Limburg-Weilburg in Hesse, Germany.-Location:Limburg lies in western Hesse between the Taunus and the Westerwald on the river Lahn....
, and 44 km northwest of Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, as well as on the German Framework Road
German Framework Road
The German Timber-Frame Road is a German tourist route leading from the river Elbe in the north to Lake Constance in the south. Along the road you can find nearly 100 cities and towns with remarkable timber-framed houses...
. Bad Camberg is the central community of the Goldener Grund with good infrastructure, and a lower centre partly with a middle centre’s function.
The recognized Kneipp
Sebastian Kneipp
Sebastian Kneipp was a Bavarian priest and one of the founders of the Naturopathic medicine movement...
resort is Hesse’s oldest and Germany’s third oldest. In the outlying centre of Oberselters is found a mineral
Mineral water
Mineral water is water containing minerals or other dissolved substances that alter its taste or give it therapeutic value, generally obtained from a naturally occurring mineral spring or source. Dissolved substances in the water may include various salts and sulfur compounds...
spring
Spring (hydrosphere)
A spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground...
that gives forth the well known Selterswasser, often known in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
as “seltzer”. The town’s landmark is the Kreuzkapelle (“Cross Chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
”).
Location
Bad Camberg lies north of the TaunusTaunus
The Taunus is a low mountain range in Hesse, Germany that composes part of the Rhenish Slate Mountains. It is bounded by the river valleys of Rhine, Main and Lahn. On the opposite side of the Rhine, the mountains are continued by the Hunsrück...
’s main ridge, 18 km southeast of Limburg an der Lahn
Limburg an der Lahn
Limburg an der Lahn is the district seat of Limburg-Weilburg in Hesse, Germany.-Location:Limburg lies in western Hesse between the Taunus and the Westerwald on the river Lahn....
, making it Middle Hesse’s southernmost town. The nearest cities are (distances given here are by road) Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
(31 km south), Frankfurt am Main (48 km southeast, 59 km by Autobahn), Wetzlar
Wetzlar
Wetzlar is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany. Located at 8° 30′ E, 50° 34′ N, Wetzlar straddles the river Lahn and is on the German Timber-Framework Road which passes mile upon mile of half-timbered houses. Historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Lahn-Dill-Kreis on the north edge of...
(49 km), Koblenz
Koblenz
Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...
(72 km), and Gießen
Gießen
Gießen, also spelt Giessen is a town in the German federal state of Hesse, capital of both the district of Gießen and the administrative region of Gießen...
(75 km).
Heights
Weilrod
Weilrod is a municipality made up of several villages in the northwest Hochtaunuskreis lying in the Weil Valley in Hesse, Germany.-Location:Weilrod lies north of the crest of the Taunus, from 210 to 600 m above sea level...
in the Hochtaunuskreis
Hochtaunuskreis
The Hochtaunuskreis is a Kreis in the middle of Hesse, Germany and is part of the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Neighbouring districts are Lahn-Dill, Wetteraukreis, district-free Frankfurt, Main-Taunus, Rheingau-Taunus, Limburg-Weilburg.The Hochtaunuskreis and the Landkreis Starnberg...
. The greatest elevation in the central community – also called Bad Camberg – is the Kapellenhügel (“Chapel Hill”), which is somewhat more than 300 m high.
Neighbouring communities
Bad Camberg’s neighbours are, clockwise from the north, Selters (Limburg-Weilburg), WeilrodWeilrod
Weilrod is a municipality made up of several villages in the northwest Hochtaunuskreis lying in the Weil Valley in Hesse, Germany.-Location:Weilrod lies north of the crest of the Taunus, from 210 to 600 m above sea level...
(Hochtaunuskreis), Waldems
Waldems
Waldems is a community in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. The community’s administrative seat is Waldems-Esch.-Location:...
(Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis
Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis
Rheingau-Taunus is a Kreis in the west of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Limburg-Weilburg, Hochtaunuskreis, Main-Taunus, district-free Wiesbaden, Mainz-Bingen, Rhein-Lahn.-Geography:...
), Idstein
Idstein
Idstein is a town of about 25,000 inhabitants in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. Because of its well preserved historical Altstadt it is part of the Deutsche Fachwerkstraße , connecting towns with fine timber-frame buildings and...
(Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis), Hünstetten
Hünstetten
Hünstetten is a community in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany.-Location:Hünstetten lies in the Taunus north of the main ridge between Limburg and the state capital Wiesbaden.-Neighbouring communities:...
(Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis) and Hünfelden
Hünfelden
Hünfelden is a community in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany. Hünfelden lies on the Hühnerstraße, an historic part of Bundesstraße 417.- Location :...
(Limburg-Weilburg). All but the two lying within Limburg-Weilburg lie not in the Regierungsbezirk of Gießen, but rather in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt
Darmstadt (region)
Darmstadt is one of the three Regierungsbezirke of Hesse, Germany, located in the south of the state.- External links :*...
.
Constituent communities
The town comprises six Stadtteile.| Stadtteil | Population | Area | Wooded in km² |
in % | Pop. density |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bad Camberg (main town) | 6,903 | 19.91 | 10.89 | 54.7 | 346.7 |
| Erbach | 2,804 | 10.66 | 4.91 | 46.0 | 263.0 |
| Würges | 2,545 | 13.82 | 6.27 | 45.4 | 184.1 |
| Oberselters | 1,173 | 4.22 | 0.84 | 19.9 | 278.0 |
| Schwickershausen | 585 | 2.77 | 0.66 | 23.8 | 211.2 |
| Dombach | 382 | 3.26 | 1.38 | 42.3 | 105.5 |
| Totals | 14,397 | 54.64 | 24.95 | 45.7 | 263.5 |
Early history
Linear Pottery culture
The Linear Pottery culture is a major archaeological horizon of the European Neolithic, flourishing ca. 5500–4500 BC.It is abbreviated as LBK , is also known as the Linear Band Ware, Linear Ware, Linear Ceramics or Incised Ware culture, and falls within the Danubian I culture of V...
from the New Stone Age (5000-3000 BC), which draws its name from the ceramics that it produced, belong the oldest archaeological
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
finds in the Camberg area. While most groups at that time were hunter-gatherer
Hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
s, the Linear Pottery people were already producing their own food by raising crops (among others emmer
Emmer
Emmer wheat , also known as farro especially in Italy, is a low yielding, awned wheat. It was one of the first crops domesticated in the Near East...
and einkorn wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
s) and livestock
Livestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
, the latter being mainly sheep, swine, goat
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
s and above all cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
; this covered up to 90% of the people’s meat
Meat
Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...
requirements.
It is known how these cultures built houses. The houses were mostly 20 to 25 m long and 5 to 7 m wide, consisting of five rows of posts, the three inner ones bearing the roof’s weight, and the two outer ones the wattle-and-daub
Wattle and daub
Wattle and daub is a composite building material used for making walls, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung and straw...
walls’. These houses served to house people, supplies and animals, and they were always oriented in a certain direction (northwest-southeast or north-south). Within the settlements, irregular pits are encountered that, when houses were being built, were used as the houses’ excavations. They were then filled more and more with rubbish such as charcoal
Charcoal
Charcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of carbon, and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen...
, animal bones, ashes, stones and potsherds. In a few built-up areas in the town’s main centre, the streets have cut across several garbage pits. When opening up new cropfields, the farmers preferred loess
Loess
Loess is an aeolian sediment formed by the accumulation of wind-blown silt, typically in the 20–50 micrometre size range, twenty percent or less clay and the balance equal parts sand and silt that are loosely cemented by calcium carbonate...
.
The second wave of settlers has been determined to have come between 600 and 500 BC. The barrow
Tumulus
A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn...
fields on both sides of the road to Tenne (a hamlet
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
) are from this time.
Middle Ages
On 6 February 1000, Emperor Otto IIIOtto III, Holy Roman Emperor
Otto III , a King of Germany, was the fourth ruler of the Saxon or Ottonian dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire. He was elected King in 983 on the death of his father Otto II and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 996.-Early reign:...
donated the Cagenberg estate to the Burtscheid
Burtscheid
Burtscheid is a town in western Germany, near Aachen. It was founded in the year 997 AD and was an independent town till 1897. From 1816 it was administrative capital of the district of Aachen. In 1897 Burtscheid became part of the city of Aachen...
Monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
. Cagenberg means Cargo’s Mountain, Cargo being a short form of the name Garganhardt. From the name Cagenberg developed Cainburg, Camburg, Kamberg and Camberg, and by other sources Cagenberc (1018), Kamberch (1156), Kahberg (1194) Kamberc (1197) and later Kaynburg. In 1281, King Rudolph I granted town rights on the model of the Imperial city of Frankfurt am Main; these were renewed in 1300, 1336 and 1365.
Legend has it that after Epiphany in 1357, all the Camberg townsfolk were drunk and asleep when robber knights from Walsdorf
Walsdorf
Walsdorf is a community in the Upper Franconian district of Bamberg and a member of the administrative community of Stegaurach. It lies in the valley of the Aurach roughly ten kilometres west of Bamberg.-Constituent communities:...
came to try to rob the town. The town wall had not yet been finished and the knights therefore only needed to cross a hedge. However, there lived some magpie
Magpie
Magpies are passerine birds of the crow family, Corvidae.In Europe, "magpie" is often used by English speakers as a synonym for the European Magpie, as there are no other magpies in Europe outside Iberia...
s, who noticed the attempted robbery
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
and gave out an alarm call, waking the townsfolk up, who then fended the attack off, putting the Walsdorf knights to flight. To this day, the magpie is still regarded as the town’s “unofficial heraldic bird”.
Modern times
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
occupation, the town was, as of 1806, part of the Duchy of Nassau. In 1866 it passed to Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
. Since 1945, the town has been part of the German Federal state
States of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...
of Hesse.
In 1630 and again in 1659, great witch trials
Witch-hunt
A witch-hunt is a search for witches or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic, mass hysteria and lynching, but in historical instances also legally sanctioned and involving official witchcraft trials...
took place. Thirteen women and one man were found guilty and five women were put to death; one also died in custody. The others were released, often after having been torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
d.
In 1810, Baron Hugo von Schütz zu Holzhausen, himself born deaf
Hearing impairment
-Definition:Deafness is the inability for the ear to interpret certain or all frequencies of sound.-Environmental Situations:Deafness can be caused by environmental situations such as noise, trauma, or other ear defections...
, was first teaching deaf students in rooms at the Amthof, making him a pioneer in this field in Germany. In the years that followed, a scholastic institution grew out of these classes and in 1820 the “Ducal Nassau Deaf-Mute Institute”. Until 1875 it was housed in a side building of the Guttenberger Hof in the Old Town. As of 1894, however, the school had its own building which was built on a plot of land on Frankfurter Straße donated by the town of Camberg. Under the name Freiherr-von-Schütz-Schule, it is still found there today.
In 1861, Moritz Lieber founded a hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
, the Lieber'sches Hospital, on Gisbert-Lieber-Straße. It was dissolved in 1959. Today, the Freiherr-von-Schütz-Schule uses the building.
During the Second World War, and especially in 1944, many Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
units were in the town. In 1942 alone, eight Jewish inhabitants were deported and murdered.
Land ownership in 1788
This table shows how much land was held by each class in 1788 (data shown as percentages)| Centre | Townsmen | Nobles | Church |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bad Camberg | 70.2 | 26.2 | 3.6 |
| Erbach | 80.2 | 18.8 | 1.0 |
| Würges | 65.2 | 34.8 | - |
| Oberselters | 72.4 | 24.3 | 3.3 |
| Schwickershausen | 83.9 | 16.1 | - |
| Dombach | 96.5 | 3.5 | - |
Health resort
Camberg has been a Kneipp resort since 1927. In 1937 it was granted the title Anerkanntes Heilbad (“Recognized Healing Bath”). Since 1977, Camberg has been a Staatlich Anerkanntes Kneippheilbad (“State-recognized Kneipp Healing Bath”). In 1981, on the occasion of the town’s 700-year jubilee of the granting of town rights, Camberg was awarded the official designation Bad (“Bath”, meaning a health resort). Ever since then, the town has been known as Bad Camberg. In 1973, the Hohenfeld Clinics were completed.Amalgamations
In the 1970s there was administrative reform throughout Germany, which also had its consequences in the Bad Camberg area. On 13 August 1970, the “Municipal Working Community of the Goldener Grund” came into force. Its goal was to unite the communities of the Goldener Grund through a voluntary merger. Ten communities, today’s six constituent communities along with the Selters constituent communities of Niederselters, Eisenbach and Haintchen as well as Hasselbach, now belonging to WeilrodWeilrod
Weilrod is a municipality made up of several villages in the northwest Hochtaunuskreis lying in the Weil Valley in Hesse, Germany.-Location:Weilrod lies north of the crest of the Taunus, from 210 to 600 m above sea level...
, signed this. On 11 December 1969, the Hessian interior minister announced that suggestions for municipal rearrangements were to be worked out for all communities in the state. This envisaged Camberg, Würges, Erbach, Schwickershausen and Dombach being merged into the Town of Camberg, whereas Oberselters, along with Niederselters, Eisenbach and Haintchen, would form the Community of Selters. The Dombach community representatives were of the opinion, however, that they should keep their village’s autonomy until such time as the state chose to force an amalgamation. Also, the Würges community representatives feared that building projects in their village would be shelved and that Camberg would become the town’s cultural hub.
In January 1971, the district of Limburg once again suggested the small solution. All the current constituent communities but Oberselters were to form the new Town of Camberg. Also brought into question, however, was whether Oberselters, Hasselbach, Walsdorf
Idstein
Idstein is a town of about 25,000 inhabitants in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. Because of its well preserved historical Altstadt it is part of the Deutsche Fachwerkstraße , connecting towns with fine timber-frame buildings and...
and Steinfischbach
Waldems
Waldems is a community in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. The community’s administrative seat is Waldems-Esch.-Location:...
might be amalgamated with the Town of Camberg. The Oberselters community representatives favoured amalgamation, if it had to happen, with Camberg, whereas Hasselbach inclined towards Weilrod
Weilrod
Weilrod is a municipality made up of several villages in the northwest Hochtaunuskreis lying in the Weil Valley in Hesse, Germany.-Location:Weilrod lies north of the crest of the Taunus, from 210 to 600 m above sea level...
. Walsdorf’s and Steinfischbach’s people had voted for Idstein and Waldems respectively so that the planned merger at the time agreed with the current town limits. The communities of Camberg, Erbach, Schwickershausen and Oberselters backed this merger, whereas Dombach first wanted to “wait and see”, and Würges wanted no voluntary amalgamation. The Bundesland of Hesse named 31 December 1971 as the latest possible deadline for voluntary amalgamation.
On 9 November 1971 came the signing of a boundary-changing agreement among today’s five Camberg constituent communities other than Würges along with Eisenbach and Haintchen to found the new Town of Camberg. This agreement, however, was not recognized by the Hesse government, which demanded that Eisenbach, Haintchen and Oberselters be amalgamated with the community of Niederselters and suggested uniting Camberg with Erbach, Schwickershausen and Dombach. The communities complained before the Hessian Administrative Court (Hessischer Verwaltungsgerichtshof) to get it to uphold the merger of Oberselters, Eisenbach and Haintchen at 1 January 1972 anyway. The government was obliged to allow the amalgamation, but it wanted to revise the plan. There was, however, no actual hearing before the Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgerichtshof) in Kassel and the appellate proceedings were suspended in May 1975.
On 1 July 1974, Camberg, Würges, Erbach, Schwickershausen and Dombach were forcibly merged. The community of Oberselters joined.
Overlords
From its first documentary mention in 1000, Camberg belonged to the County of Diez, which passed to the County of Nassau-Dillenburg in 1388. In 1420, the Lords of EppsteinLords of Eppstein
The Lords of Eppstein were a family of German nobility in the Middle Ages. From the 12th century they ruled extensive territories in the Rhine Main area from their castle in Eppstein, northwest of Frankfurt, Germany.-History:...
inherited half the town, while the other half was kept by Dillenburg. Eight years later, the Lords of Eppstein acquired a further fourth of Camberg. This was bought in 1453 by the Counts of Katzenelnbogen
County of Katzenelnbogen
The County of Katzenelnbogen was an immediate state of the Holy Roman Empire. It existed between 1095 and 1479, when it was inherited by the Landgraves of Hesse.The estate comprised two separate territories...
, who a year later also bought a further eighth from Dillenburg, although they sold this back to Dillenburg only a year later. In 1470, Katzenelnbogen passed to Hesse-Marburg and in 1508 Eppstein to the Counts of Königstein. When the Counts of Königstein died out in 1535, the Electorate of Trier occupied Camberg and acquired half the town. In 1557, the Treaty of Frankfurt added the Hessian fourth to Nassau-Dillenburg. From 1607 to 1628, one fourth, which had been Dillenburg domain before this and also was afterwards, belonged to Nassau-Hadamar. In 1652, the Dillenburg half went to Nassau-Diez, and in 1743 to the House of Orange-Nassau.
In 1802, Nassau-Weilburg
House of Nassau
The House of Nassau is a diversified aristocratic dynasty in Europe. It is named after the lordship associated with Nassau Castle, located in present-day Nassau, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The lords of Nassau were originally titled Count of Nassau, then elevated to the princely class as...
took over the Electorate of Trier half. In 1806 arose, out of Orange-Nassau, Nassau-Usingen and Nassau-Weilburg, the Duchy of Nassau, thereby ending the town’s manifold overlordships. In 1816, the Amt of Camberg was made part of the Amt of Idstein. In 1866 Nassau passed to Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
, in which it belonged to the province of Hesse-Nassau, the Regierungsbezirk
Regierungsbezirk
In Germany, a Government District, in German: Regierungsbezirk – is a subdivision of certain federal states .They are above the Kreise, Landkreise, and kreisfreie Städte...
of Wiesbaden and the district of Untertaunuskreis. In 1886 Camberg became part of the new Limburg district. In 1945, the town was assigned to the United States Occupation Zone and thereby to Hesse. The town belonged then to the Regierungsbezirk of Wiesbaden until this was abolished in 1968, whereupon Camberg became part of the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt. In 1981, it became part of the Regierungsbezirk of Gießen. Camberg became part of Limburg-Weilburg district in 1974.
Religion
Evangelical Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
Church (Martinskirche) has been in Camberg since 1890.
Population development
| Year | Population | Foreigners | in % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 1993 | 13,483 | 1,070 | 7.9 |
| Dec 1994 | 13,576 | 1,122 | 8.3 |
| Dec 1995 | 13,701 | 1,222 | 8.9 |
| Dec 1996 | 13,781 | 1,235 | 9.0 |
| Dec 1997 | 13,884 | 1,264 | 9.1 |
| Dec 1998 | 13,835 | 1,105 | 8.0 |
| Dec 1999 | 13,983 | 1,082 | 7.7 |
| Dec 2000 | 13,982 | 1,050 | 7.5 |
| Dec 2001 | 13,885 | 1,017 | 7.3 |
| Dec 2002 | 13,916 | 1,017 | 7.3 |
| Mar 2004 | 14,103 | 991 | 7.0 |
| Dec 2004 | 14,282 | ||
| Mar 2005 | 14,324 | 985 | 6.9 |
| Dec 2005 | 14,391 | 1,013 | 7.0 |
Population development by centre
| Centre | 1910 | 1970 | 1974 | 1987 | 1998 | 2004 | 2005 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bad Camberg (main town) | 2,575 | 4,956 | 5,247 | 5,586 | 6,515 | 6,800 | 6,903 |
| Erbach | 1,114 | 2,111 | 2,257 | 2,468 | 2,869 | 2,805 | 2,804 |
| Würges | 926 | 2,101 | 2,185 | 2,147 | 2,453 | 2,530 | 2,545 |
| Oberselters | 587 | 1,017 | 1,002 | 1,221 | 1,178 | 1,173 | |
| Schwickershausen | 332 | 465 | 492 | 536 | 553 | 585 | 585 |
| Dombach | 238 | 225 | 259 | 307 | 366 | 385 | 382 |
| whole town | 5,772 | 11,457 | 12,045 | 13,977 | 14,281 | 14,391 |
Mayors
| Mayor | Time in office | Party |
|---|---|---|
| Ernst Enzmann | 1974–1989 | CDU Christian Democratic Union (Germany) The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum... |
| Gerhard Reitz | 1989–2004 | SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
| Wolfgang Erk | 2005- | SPD |
2004/2005 election
Percentage results:| Candidate | Party | 13 June 2004 | 27 June 2004 | 20 February 2005 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wolfgang Erk | SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
49.1 | 50.4 | 63.11 |
| Harald Theuerkauf | CDU Christian Democratic Union (Germany) The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum... |
48.6 | 49.6 | 36.89 |
| Wolfgang Schiling | none | 2.3 | - | - |
Third round
These are the results by centre:
| Centre | Eligible voters | Valid votes | W. Erk | H. Theuerkauf |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bad Camberg | 5,089 | 2,597 | 1,686 | 911 |
| Erbach | 2,093 | 1,146 | 783 | 363 |
| Würges | 1,952 | 926 | 552 | 374 |
| Oberselters | 887 | 463 | 273 | 190 |
| Schwickershausen | 458 | 244 | 174 | 70 |
| Dombach | 307 | 179 | 119 | 60 |
| Postal vote Postal voting Postal voting describes the method of voting in an election whereby ballot papers are distributed or returned by post to electors, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling station or electronically via an electronic voting system.... |
769 | 731 | 380 | 351 |
| whole town | 11,555 | 6,286 | 3,967 | 2,319 |
Town council
The municipal election on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:| Parties and voter communities | % 2006 |
Seats 2006 |
% 2001 |
Seats 2001 |
|
| CDU | Christian Democratic Union of Germany | 47.1 | 17 | 47.9 | 18 |
| SPD | Social Democratic Party of Germany Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
42.8 | 16 | 40.3 | 15 |
| GRÜNE | Bündnis 90/Die Grünen | 7.0 | 3 | 8.4 | 3 |
| FDP | Free Democratic Party Free Democratic Party (Germany) The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government... |
3.0 | 1 | 3.4 | 1 |
| Total | 100.0 | 37 | 100.0 | 37 | |
| Voter turnout in % | 48.2 | 54.5 | |||
The next municipal election will be held in 2011.
Coat of arms
The town’s armsCoat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
show the Obertorturm (“Upper Gate Tower”), Camberg’s eastern town gate tower
Gate tower
A gate tower is a tower built over or next to a major gateway.Usually it is part of a medieval fortification. This may be a town or city wall, a fortress or a castle. The gate tower may be built as a twin tower on either side of an entranceway. Even in the design of modern building complexes, gate...
, with its gate. On the tower are two golden lions on a red field. The roof is blue. The golden lions on the red field stem from the arms borne by the County of Diez, to which Bad Camberg belonged. The background in the arms is red.
Town partnerships
Bad Camberg maintains partnership arrangements with the following places: Chambray-lès-ToursChambray-lès-Tours
Chambray-lès-Tours is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.-See also:*Communes of the Indre-et-Loire department...
, Indre-et-Loire
Indre-et-Loire
Indre-et-Loire is a department in west-central France named after the Indre and the Loire rivers.-History:Indre-et-Loire is one of the original 83 départements created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Bad Sulza
Bad Sulza
*anthonys wiilyBad Sulza is a town in the Weimarer Land district, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated on the river Ilm, 15 km southwest of Naumburg, and 18 km north of Jena....
, Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
On 9 January 1991 the town friendship agreement between Bad Sulza and Bad Camberg was ceremonially signed.
Buildings
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
was built east of the town on a mountain in 1725 and can be seen from far away.
In the Old Town quite a number of timber-frame
Timber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
houses are still to be found, some very elaborately decorated. The houses were mostly built between the 15th and 18th century. Many houses are grouped around the marketplace
Marketplace
A marketplace is the space, actual, virtual or metaphorical, in which a market operates. The term is also used in a trademark law context to denote the actual consumer environment, ie. the 'real world' in which products and services are provided and consumed.-Marketplaces and street markets:A...
, which was a trading station on the High Road (Hohe Straße) from Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
to Frankfurt.
The town’s most popular sightseeing spot is the row of timber-frame houses that together make up the Amthof, the seat of the long defunct Amt. It stretches over a frontage of 155 m, making it one of Hesse’s biggest timber-frame structures. The representative building was built in 1605 on a former building’s foundations. In the years that followed, up until 1669, it was further expanded and the three formerly separate buildings were melded into one great structure.
The Amthof was seat and home to the Oberamtmänner (high Amt officials) of the Amt of Camberg in the Electorate of Trier. Once the Amt was dissolved in 1815, it lost its importance. In 1942 the town acquired the Amthof and had it thoroughly restored in 1989. Today it is the town administration’s seat.
Another important timber-frame building is the old Amt apothecary
Apothecary
Apothecary is a historical name for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses materia medica to physicians, surgeons and patients — a role now served by a pharmacist and some caregivers....
’s shop, whose foundations go back to 1330, and which was newly built in 1492 as a Burgmann
Burgmann
A Burgmann was a member of the low aristocracy in the Middle Ages who guarded and defended castles. They were hired by a lord of the castle to take on the burghut, the guarding and defense of a castle....
enhaus for the Hattsteins. From 1663 the house harboured an apothecary’s shop. Today’s Guttenberger Hof was first mentioned in 1336 as the family von Hattstein’s seat. It was overhauled and built into its current form in 1526. In 1767 ownership passed to the family von Guttenberg and in 1820 to common (that is to say, not noble) ownership. As of October 2007, the Guttenberger Hof is being restored.
Of the town’s old fortifications, only remnants are left. The Obertorturm (32 m tall, built about 1380) and the Untertorturm, the town’s two gate towers, are all that is left of the 13 towers that once girded the town.
Abutting the Amthof is the Obertorturm, likewise one of the town’s landmarks, which also appears in the town’s arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
. Right next to it stands the Hohenfeldkapelle (chapel). The chapel is decorated with many fixtures from various centuries, among them plaques with grave inscriptions from the von Metternich und Hohenfeld, von Schütz zu Holzhausen, von Bechtolsheim and von Spies-Büllesheim families, who were of importance in the town. Today, the Obertorturm and the Hohenfeldkapelle serve as the Town and Tower Museum.
The Untertorturm is known locally as the Schiefer Turm von Bad Camberg (“Leaning Tower of Bad Camberg”), a name that owes itself to a lean of 1.44 m over a height of 21 m. On its base once stood three gates in a row. Its old cupola was destroyed in 1945 as the Second World War neared its end.
Katholische Kirche St. Peter und Paul
St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s Catholic Church stands in the Old Town’s northwest. A “Saint Peter’s Church” (St. Peter Kirche) in Camberg had its first documentary mention in 1156. The oldest part of today’s church is the tower built in 1580. After the nave collapsed in the 18th century, a new church had to be built. It was built by the Dillenburg building inspector Johann Friedrich Sckell in the Zopfstil (a late RococoRococo
Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...
and early Classicism
Classicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...
development), and is therefore one of the few examples of this building style in the region. The Electorate of Trier Auxiliary Bishop Johannes Maria von Herbain consecrated this church on 15 July 1781 in honour of the Apostles Peter
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
and Paul.
Evangelische Martinskirche
Saint Martin’s Evangelical Church and the parish house were built under the Reverend Ernst in 1896-1897. The Wiesbaden government building adviser Eggert developed the plans. The architectArchitect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
L. Hofmann from Herborn
Herborn
Herborn is a historic town on the Dill in the Lahn-Dill district of Hesse in Germany. Before World War I, it was granted its own title as Nassauisches Rothenburg. The symbol or mascot of this town is a bear. Scenic attractions include its half-timbered houses; Herborn is located on the German...
took on the leadership of the building work under the royal government’s supervision.
Kurpark
The health resort park (Kurpark) in Bad Camberg was laid out as far back as the 18th century by the family Schütz von Holzhausen. The park lies right at the Upper Gate at the edge of the Old Town. Besides a Kneipp water treading pool, the stand of old trees and the water games, the park also offers a miniature golfMiniature golf
Miniature golf, or minigolf, is a miniature version of the sport of golf. While the international sports organization World Minigolf Sport Federation prefers to use the name "minigolf", the general public in different countries has also many other names for the game: miniature golf, mini-golf,...
course and several tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
courts. In 2002, a herb garden exhibit of about 800 m² was laid out in the health resort park.
Autumn market
In Bad Camberg the Camberger Kerb, a church consecration festival or kermis, has been being held each year since 1781 at the same time as the autumn market (Herbstmarkt). It is always held on the second weekend in October, although the actual church consecration festival is celebrated on 29 June (St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s). Since 2004, this has been held under a marquee on the Pfortenwiesen (the old sporting ground). The Kerb is staged by the Verein zur Förderung des Brauchtums Camberger Kerb e. V. and a yearly committee called the Kerbejahrgang.VW veteran rally
The Lottermann family’s VW-Veteranen-Treffen, known worldwide on the VolkswagenVolkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
scene, has been a tradition in Bad Camberg since 1979. Every four years, the oldest and rarest automobiles can be found here. The 8th rally was even held a second time, after the founder’s death, thanks to the family’s support, beginning 22 June 2007.
Businesses
In the outlying centre of Oberselters, the springwater business “Oberselters” is located. Here mineral water is bottled under various brand names such as Nassauer Land, Oberselters and Bad Camberger Taunusquelle.Furthermore, the firm HACA Leitern (ladders), known Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
-wide, has its headquarters in Bad Camberg.
Resort business
Internal medicine
Internal medicine is the medical specialty dealing with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of adult diseases. Physicians specializing in internal medicine are called internists. They are especially skilled in the management of patients who have undifferentiated or multi-system disease processes...
: 120 beds, orthopaedics: 87 beds) as a health clinic, a neurological
Neurology
Neurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease involving the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and all effector tissue,...
rehabilitation clinic (150 beds), several sanatoria
Sanatorium
A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...
, the Kur-und Gesundheitszentrum (municipal bathing department with gymnastics for the sick) and several Kneipp water treading pools. In 2005, Bad Camberg recorded 176,663 overnight stays by resort guests. The average stay lasted 8.6 days.
Transport
Bad Camberg lies on the A 3 (CologneCologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
–Frankfurt), which goes back to one of the world’s oldest trade roads, and on the Cologne-Frankfurt InterCityExpress line. Many inhabitants from the main town and the outlying centres commute to work in the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region.
Hohe Straße - Autobahn
Already in the Bronze AgeBronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
, which in Germany began about 1750 BC, the Hohe Straße (“High Road”) led through the Ems-Wörs drainage basin
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...
, running from Constantinople
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
to Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
. The feeder road from the town to the High Road was the Limburger Weg (first mentioned in 1355 as Lympurger Weg), whose name was changed in 1959 to Taunusstraße and in 1979 to Lahnstraße to avoid confusion with Limburger Straße. By the 18th century, the High Road was no longer used.
In 1934, the town of Camberg joined the company for preparing the Frankfurt-Cologne Autobahn. This Reichsautobahn (now Bundesautobahn 3/Europastraße
International E-road network
The international E-road network is a numbering system for roads in Europe developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe . The network is numbered from E 1 up and its roads cross national borders...
35) was built between 1937 and 1939. In the Goldener Grund, its route roughly follows the old High Road’s.
Bad Camberg is linked to the Autobahn through the like-named interchange
Interchange (road)
In the field of road transport, an interchange is a road junction that typically uses grade separation, and one or more ramps, to permit traffic on at least one highway to pass through the junction without directly crossing any other traffic stream. It differs from a standard intersection, at which...
. This interchange was not in the original plans but was built later to let the communities in the Goldener Grund share in the transport and economic development. In 1954, the Bad Camberg-Ost service centre
Rest area
A rest area, travel plaza, rest stop, or service area is a public facility, located next to a large thoroughfare such as a highway, expressway, or freeway at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting on to secondary roads...
was opened on the Cologne-bound side of the Autobahn; a year later followed Bad Camberg-West on the Frankfurt-bound side.
Via Publica - Bundesstraße 8
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
.
In 1768, the Electorate of Trier began expanding highways into boulevardlike roads, and so it also was for the road from Limburg to the border between Würges and Walsdorf, which was finished in 1780. This work on the road, which ran by the Untertortum west of what was then town limits, was after two or three years, owing to the great volume of traffic, once again utterly destroyed. Given this, the town proposed to have the road run from Erbach to the Obertorturm, then through the town to the Untertortum and thence on to Würges. The proposal was, however, turned down. Owing to the Electorate of Trier Road-Building Ordinance of 1753, the citizens of the Amt of Camberg were obliged to perform compulsory labour on the road early in the year and in autumn. Wages and material costs for the bridgebuilding were borne by the Electoral Court Chamber (kurfürstliche Hofkammer), while the communities and the Amt were expected to lay on the materials. Only after the Revolution of 1848
Revolutions of 1848
The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It was the first Europe-wide collapse of traditional authority, but within a year reactionary...
was all compulsory labour abolished.
Out of this road developed the Imperial Long-Distance Road (Reichsfernstraße) 8 in the early 20th century, now Bundesstraße 8, which currently runs through Erbach, Bad Camberg and Würges and by Oberselters. For those first three places, a bypass road has been planned for more than thirty years.
Bus and railway
In 1876, the Eschhofen-Niederselters railway line was lengthened by roughly 5 km to Bad Camberg. Later, the line was expanded so that through trains can nowadays use the whole Limburg-Bad Camberg-Niedernhausen-Frankfurt/Wiesbaden line. To Frankfurt runs RMVRhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund
The Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund is an organised transport network in the German state of Hesse, centred around the city of Frankfurt am Main. Its head office is located in Hofheim im Taunus...
line 20 (Main-Lahn-Bahn), and to Wiesbaden runs line 21 (Ländchesbahn).
Since December 2004, a town bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
service has been running in Bad Camberg. There are two routes, LM-31 (railway station-inner town-Erbach) and LM-32 (railway station-inner town-Würges). Each takes a different route from the railway station to the inner town before running to Erbach or Würges.
Education
In Bad Camberg there are three primary schools, the Regenbogenschule (“Rainbow School”) in Erbach, the Atzelschule in Bad Camberg and the Würges Primary School (Grundschule Würges) in Würges. The Taunusschule Bad Camberg is a comprehensive schoolComprehensive school
A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...
at which a finishing certificate (Hauptschulabschluss), a lower secondary certificate (Mittlere Reife) or an Abitur
Abitur
Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...
can be earned. The Freiherr-vom-Schütz-Schule, which goes back to 1810 and now includes a boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
, served seven Hessian districts as a school for the deaf.
Kindergartens
In Bad Camberg there are six kindergartenKindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
s, three municipal and three sponsored by the Catholic Church.
Honorary citizens
- Caspar Hofmann (b. 29 October 1899 in Camberg, d. unknown), Catholic priest
- Gisbert Lieber (b. 1759, d. 1843), secret government adviser for the Count of Sternberg-Manderscheid
- Moritz Lieber (b. 1790 in Blankenheim, d. 29 December 1860), Gisbert Lieber’s son, hospital’s endower
- Ernst Lieber (b. 16 November 1838 in Camberg, d. 31 March 1902 in Camberg), Moritz Lieber’s son, Centre politician, Member of the Prussian LandtagLandtagA Landtag is a representative assembly or parliament in German-speaking countries with some legislative authority.- Name :...
and German ReichstagReichstag (German Empire)The Reichstag was the parliament of the North German Confederation , and of the German Reich ....
, Cofounder and for a time President of the German KatholikentagKatholikentagKatholikentag is a festival-like gathering in German-speaking countries organized by the Roman Catholic laity. Katholikentag festivals occur approximately every 2–4 years in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.-History:... - Johann Theodor Zöller (b. 1684, d. 1758), Catholic priest, later converted to CalvinistCalvinismCalvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
faith - Anton Becker, doctor
- Anna Elisabeth Koch-Burdi, painter Joseph Anton KochJoseph Anton KochJoseph Anton Koch was an Austrian painter of the German Romantic movement.-Biography:The Tyrolese painter was born in Elbigenalp. He started life tending cattle. Through the recommendation of Bishop Umgelder , he received academic training in the Karlsschule Stuttgart, a strict military academy...
’s mother - Heinrich Lauer (b. 26 October 1816 in Camberg, d. 12 June 1889 in Ober-WallufWallufWalluf is a community in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. With 5,581 residents in its 6.74 square kilometer area, it is the most densely populated community in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis.- Location :...
am Rhein) - Peter Cathrein (b. 8 June 1829, d. 17 August 1911), mayor
- Franz Alfred Muth (b. 1839 in HadamarHadamarHadamar is a small town in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany.Hadamar is known for its Clinic for Forensic Psychiatry/Centre for Social Psychiatry, lying at the edge of town, in whose outlying buildings is also found the Hadamar Memorial...
, d. 3 November 1890 in Dombach im Taunus), priest - Christian Meurer (b. 20 January 1856 in Camberg, d. 6 March 1935 in WürzburgWürzburgWürzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....
), expert in ecclesiastical and constitutional law - Johannes Pipberger (b. 1876 in Dehrn/LahnLahnThe Lahn River is a -long, right tributary of the Rhine River in Germany. Its course passes through the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia , Hesse , and Rhineland-Palatinate ....
, d. unknown), mayor 1905-1933 - Heinrich Held (b. 6 June. 1868 in Erbach, d. 4 August 1938 in Regensburg) BavariaBavariaBavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n politician and MinisterpräsidentMinister-PresidentA minister-president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments, in which a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government prevails, who presides over the council of ministers... - Friedrich Heil (b. 1877 in Dehrn/LahnLahnThe Lahn River is a -long, right tributary of the Rhine River in Germany. Its course passes through the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia , Hesse , and Rhineland-Palatinate ....
, d. 8 October 1954 in Camberg), occupied himself with Camberg history - Franz Lawaczeck (b. 3 July 1880 in Camberg, d. 20 January 1969 in PöckingPöckingPöcking is a municipality in the district of Starnberg in Bavaria in Germany. Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria, consort of Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria-Hungary, grew up here in the Possenhofen Castle as daughter of Duke Max in Bavaria and Princess Ludovika of Bavaria. Otto von Habsburg, Crown...
on the Starnberger See), mayor and inventor-engineer
Famous citizens
- Ernst Lieber (see above)
- Heinrich Held (see above)
- Karlheinz Weimar (b. 30 January 1950 in Kirberg) Hessian finance minister, currently lives in Erbach
- Markus Mörl (b. 27 August 1959 in Camberg) German pop singer
Further reading
- Ulrich Lange, Walter Lottermann, Peter K Schmidt: Camberg, 700 Jahre Stadtrechte. Beiträge zur Heimatkunde. Bad Camberg 1981. ISBN 978-3874600453
- Fügen, Randolf: Highlights in Mittelhessen. 1. Auflage. Wartenberg Verlag Gudersberg-Gleichen 2003 ISBN 3-8313-1044-0, S. 8