Bodenheim - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Bodenheim is a state-recognized tourism municipality

Municipalities of Germany

Municipalities are the lowest level of territorial division in Germany. This may be the fourth level of territorial division in Germany, apart from those states which include Regierungsbezirke , where municipalities then become the fifth level.-Overview:With more than 3,400,000 inhabitants, the...

(Fremdenverkehrsgemeinde) in the Mainz-Bingen

Mainz-Bingen

Mainz-Bingen is a district in the east of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are Rheingau-Taunus, the district-free cities Wiesbaden and Mainz, the districts Groß-Gerau, Alzey-Worms, Bad Kreuznach, Rhein-Hunsrück.-History:During the French occupation under Napoleon the district...

district in Rhineland-Palatinate

Rhineland-Palatinate

Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....

, 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...

Location

The municipality lies roughly 12 km south of downtown Mainz

Mainz

Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...

on the edge of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region. The municipality is strongly characterized by winegrowing. The many wineries and Straußwirtschaften
Strausse
A Strausse or Strausswirtschaft is a type of wine tavern in winegrowing areas of German-speaking countries that is only open during certain times of the year. Typically it is a pub run by winegrowers and winemakers themselves, in which they sell their own wine directly to the public...

invite visitors to come and enjoy the wine. Since 1972, Bodenheim has been the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Bodenheim

Bodenheim (Verbandsgemeinde)

Bodenheim is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Mainz-Bingen in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Bodenheim....

, a kind of collective municipality.

History

In 754, Bodenheim had its first documentary mention, and it marked its 1,250-year jubilee in 2004.

On 29 June 1988, two US

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

F-16C

F-16 Fighting Falcon

The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a multirole jet fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force . Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft. Over 4,400 aircraft have been built since...

combat aircraft collided near the municipality and fell over an uninhabited area. One of the pilots managed to save himself with his ejection seat, while the other, Captain Mike Crandall, was killed.

Population development

1750: roughly 1,200
1955: 4,214
1970: 4,494
31 December 2006: 7,060
30 June 2008: 7,092

Municipal council

The runoff election

Two-round system

The two-round system is a voting system used to elect a single winner where the voter casts a single vote for their chosen candidate...

on Sunday 27 June 2004 yielded the following results:

Eligible voters: 5,386
Ballots cast: 3,166
Valid votes: 3,143
Alfons Achatz (CDU) 1,637 votes
Thomas Becker-Theilig (SPD
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

) 1,506 votes

The Municipal Mayor (Ortsbürgermeister) is represented by two deputies:

First Deputy: Otfried Nehren, FWG
Second Deputy: Ingrid Kerz, CDU

The municipal election held on 13 June 2004 yielded the following results:

Eligible voters: 5,381
Ballots cast: 3,685
Valid votes: 3,641
SPD: 1,310 (8 seats)
CDU: 1,670 (10 seats)
FWG: 661 (4 seats)

Current political issues facing the Municipality of Bodenheim are the building of a road on the outskirts to relieve the historic community core of through traffic, the rising cost of building a community centre, the creation of a new sport facility outside the built-up core and the strained budget situation.

Coat of arms

The municipality’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...

might be described thus: Azure on a base sable an ass repassant argent, his head over a manger Or, to sinister thereof a vase with double handles of the same issuant from which a palm frond embowed to dexter vert.

According to legend, the Provost

Provost (religion)

A provost is a senior official in a number of Christian churches.-Historical Development:The word praepositus was originally applied to any ecclesiastical ruler or dignitary...

of Saint Alban’s Abbey in Mainz

St. Alban's Abbey, Mainz

St. Alban's Abbey, Mainz originated as a Benedictine abbey, founded in 787 or 796 by Archbishop Richulf in honour of Saint Alban of Mainz, located to the south of Mainz on the hill later called the Albansberg. It was turned into a collegiate foundation in 1442...

, to which Bodenheim then belonged, demanded of the Emperor minting rights. The Emperor, though, mocked him, saying “He wants to mint coins, does he? An old ass shall he mint!” (in German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

: “Münzen will Er prägen? Einen alten Esel soll Er münzen!”). With great irony, however, the ass was later chosen as a charge

Charge (heraldry)

In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon . This may be a geometric design or a symbolic representation of a person, animal, plant, object or other device...

for the coat of arms.

Town partnerships

Seurre

Seurre is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France.This commune lies at the crossroad of routes to Dijon, Chalon-sur-Saône, Dôle, Beaune and Louhans.-Population:-See also:*Communes of the Côte-d'Or department-External links:*...

, Côte-d'Or

Côte-d'Or

Côte-d'Or is a department in the eastern part of France.- History :Côte-d'Or is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was formed from part of the former province of Burgundy.- Geography :...

, 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...

Grezzana

Grezzana is a comune in the Province of Verona in the Italian region Veneto, located about 100 km west of Venice and about 10 km northeast of Verona...

, Province of Verona

Province of Verona

The Province of Verona is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Verona.-Overview:The province has an area of 3,109 km², and a total population of 912,981...

, Veneto

Veneto

Veneto is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 5 million, ranking 5th in Italy.Veneto had been for more than a millennium an independent state, the Republic of Venice, until it was eventually annexed by Italy in 1866 after brief Austrian and French rule...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

Rudolstadt

Rudolstadt is a town in the German Bundesland of Thuringia, close to the Thuringian Forest to the southwest, and to Jena and Weimar to the north....

, Saalfeld-Rudolstadt

Saalfeld-Rudolstadt

Saalfeld-Rudolstadt is a Kreis in the south of Thuringia, Germany. Neighboring districts are the districts Weimarer Land, Saale-Holzland, Saale-Orla, the district Kronach in Bavaria, and the districts Sonneberg, Hildburghausen and Ilm-Kreis.-History:The district dates back to the Landratsamt...

, 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....

Buildings

Saint Alban’s Church

The Catholic parish church was built about 1830. It is a hall church with barrel vault

Barrel vault

A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault or a wagon vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve along a given distance. The curves are typically circular in shape, lending a semi-cylindrical appearance to the total design...

ing with a west tower, square quire

Quire (architecture)

Architecturally, the choir is the area of a church or cathedral, usually in the western part of the chancel between the nave and the sanctuary . The choir is occasionally located in the eastern part of the nave...

and apse

Apse

In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...

. The painting and stucco

Stucco

Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...

date from 1910.

Evangelical
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

The foundation stone for the Evangelical Church in Bodenheim was laid on 16 May 1887. Master builder Baron von Schmitt, who was also given the job of restoring Saint Catherine’s Church (Katharinenkirche) in Oppenheim

Oppenheim

Oppenheim is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The town is well known as a wine town, the site of the German Winegrowing Museum and particularly for the wines from the Oppenheimer Krötenbrunnen vineyards.- Location :...

, drew up plans for the church while master church builder Otto Schwarze took on the job of overseeing the building work. In the Gothic Revival

Gothic Revival architecture

The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...

style there arose a house of worship built out of quarried

Quarry

A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...

limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

blocks with a slate

Slate

Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...

d hip roof

Hip roof

A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...

and a decorative flèche

Flèche

A flèche is used in French architecture to refer to a spire and in English to refer to a lead-covered timber spire, or spirelet. These are placed on the ridges of church or cathedral roofs and are usually relatively small...

. Inside the building are found, among other things, three stained-glass

Stained glass

The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...

windows in the quire showing Christ’s birth, Crucifixion and Resurrection, and the artistically carved pulpit

Pulpit

Pulpit is a speakers' stand in a church. In many Christian churches, there are two speakers' stands at the front of the church. Typically, the one on the left is called the pulpit...

, which is borne by the Four Evangelists

Four Evangelists

In Christian tradition the Four Evangelists are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the authors attributed with the creation of the four Gospel accounts in the New Testament that bear the following titles:*Gospel according to Matthew*Gospel according to Mark...

. On 26 September 1888 came the church’s festive consecration. Today the Evangelical Church is open all week from 8:00 to 19:00 for devotions and sightseeing.

Kapelle Maria-Oberndorf

The Gothic Revival

Gothic Revival architecture

The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...

Marian pilgrimage

Pilgrimage

A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...

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,...

of Maria-Oberndorf arose in the years 1889-1891 according episcopal cathedral master builder Lukas’s plans. The first documentary mention of a church building on this same spot comes from 1217, although its beginnings are believed to be older. This first church building was destroyed in the Thirty Years' War

Thirty Years' War

The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....

. The pilgrimage festival is held yearly on the first Sunday after 2 July (Visitation) and is part of the Bishopric of Mainz pilgrimage calendar.

Historic Town Hall

Without a doubt, the municipality’s centrepiece is the Town Hall, which the knightly monastery had built in 1608 as a new courthouse (for the higher and village court). The two-floor building with a gabled roof and lovely indoor stucco work is typical of Franconian-Hessian 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...

construction of the Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

after 1555. The massively built ground floor was originally an open hall with a round-arch opening (remnants were brought to light in 1968). The in parts “disordered” timber-frame structure over the entrance suggests that there was once an outdoor stairway up to the first floor. All cornerposts, the odd slanted beam, various crossbeams and the whole oriel are covered in vine and grape carvings, mouldings and grotesque faces. On a windowpost facing the Rhine, the names of the Schultheiß (roughly “sheriff”) and the Schöffen (roughly “lay jurists”) in the year when the Town Hall was built can still be made out.

Sport

Ländlicher Reit- und Fahrverein Bodenheim e.V.

The riding club, founded in 1973, has in the last few years experienced a great upswing. By expanding the club’s own sport facilities (2 riding halls 20 × 60 m und 20 × 40 m, 1 big showjumping square, 2 dressage squares, 4 tennis courts with clubhouse) and staging local and regional events it managed to broaden their offerings markedly. The chief chairman is Mr. Günter Scholles.

TV 1848 Bodenheim

The gymnastic club was founded in 1848, and with more than 1,700 members is Bodenheim’s biggest club, and one of Rhenish Hesse’s biggest. Gymnastics

Gymnastics

Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...

, team handball

Team handball

Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...

, athletics, volleyball

Volleyball

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

and much more belong to the Bodenheim gymnastic club’s sport offerings

VfB 1909 Bodenheim

This sport club was founded in 1909 and after TV Bodenheim is the municipality’s biggest club. It is made up of two departments, for table tennis

Table tennis

Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...

and football.

Clubs

Gesangverein Concordia 1872 Bodenheim e.V.

The singing club was founded in 1872 as a men’s choir that took upon itself to foster the international repertoire. Since 2000 there has also been a mixed choir by the name of Free Voices (so called even in German

German language

) whose repertoire consists of modern pieces (pop and rock music).

Regular events

St. Albansfest, named after Saint Alban of Mainz
Alban of Mainz
Saint Alban of Mainz was a priest, missionary, and martyr.Rabanus Maurus wrote in his Martyrology about Alban, who was sent to Gallia as a missionary by Ambrose of Milan. In Mainz, Alban helped bishop Aureus of Mainz to regain his bishopric...

, takes place on the first weekend in June.
Kirchweihfest (church consecration festival, locally known as the Kerb) on the third weekend in September
Wine tasting on the Wine Lore Path – on the Sunday after the Kerb (fourth weekend in September)
Nikolausmarkt in the old community core - on the first weekend in Advent
Advent
Advent is a season observed in many Western Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. It is the beginning of the Western liturgical year and commences on Advent Sunday, called Levavi...

Economy and infrastructure

In Bodenheim the following businesses are or were resident:

Kuemmerling
Kuemmerling
Kuemmerling is the brandname of a type of Kräuterlikör from Germany, belonging to the group of Halbbitter .This 35% by volume alcohol is a type of bitters. It has been in production since 1963 in Bodenheim, near Mainz using a recipe from 1938. There are about a million bottles of the typical...

, bitters
Bitters
A bitters is an alcoholic beverage that is flavored with herbal essences and has a bitter or bittersweet flavor. There are numerous brands of bitters that were formerly marketed as patent medicines but are now considered to be digestifs, rather than medicines...
Hilge, pump factory
Herdt-Verlag für Bildungsmedien GmbH, publishing house for educational media

Winegrowing

In Bodenheim, there is winegrowing on 426 ha shared among vineyards owned by Kapelle, Kreuzberg, Silberberg, Hoch, Leidhecke, Westrum, Heitersbrünnchen, Ebersberg, Burgweg, Mönchspfad and Reichsritterstift. All together, there are currently (as of 2003) 79 active winegrowing operations with a working area greater than 3 000 m². The winegrowing lands are divided into 315 ha of white wine varieties and 112 ha of red wine varieties. Of white wine varieties, 72 ha are taken up by Silvaner

Silvaner

Sylvaner or Silvaner is a variety of white wine grape grown primarily in Alsace and Germany, where its official name is Grüner Silvaner. In Germany it is best known as a component of Liebfraumilch and production boomed in the 1970s to the detriment of quality, but it has long enjoyed a better...

vines and 71 ha by Müller-Thurgau

Müller-Thurgau

Müller-Thurgau is a variety of white grape which was created by Hermann Müller from the Swiss Canton of Thurgau in 1882. It is a crossing of Riesling with Madeleine Royale. It is used to make white wine in Germany, Austria, Northern Italy, Hungary, England, in Australia, Czech Republic, Slovakia,...

. Dornfelder

Dornfelder

Dornfelder is a dark-skinned variety of grape of German origin used for red wine. It was created by August Herold at the grape breeding institute in Weinsberg in the Württemberg region in 1955. Herold crossed the grape varieties Helfensteiner and Heroldrebe, the latter which bears his name, to...

, at 47 ha is currently the most strongly represented red wine variety.

VDP members

The Weingut Oberstleutnant Liebrecht'sche Gutsverwaltung (winery) goes back to the estate built by the nuns from Altmünster Abbey in 1754 between the parish estate and the municipality of Weed. The career officer Friedrich Wilhelm Liebrecht realigned the vineyards’ boundaries and is counted among the founders of the Verband Deutscher Naturwein Versteigerer, the forerunner of the Verband Deutscher Prädikats- und Qualitätsweingüter
Verband Deutscher Prädikats- und Qualitätsweingüter
Verband Deutscher Prädikats- und Qualitätsweingüter e.V. or the Association of German Prädikat Wine Estates, is an organisation where most of Germany's top wine producers are members. It is commonly known under its acronym VDP...

(VDP). The winery is nowadays led by a fourth-generation descendant, Mr. Fritz Nacke.

The Weingut Kühling Gillot was taken over in 2002 by the Geisenheim winegrowing engineer

Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute

The Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute was founded in 1872 and is located in Geisenheim, Rheingau, Germany. In 1876 professor Hermann Müller from Switzerland joined the institution, where he developed his namesake variety Müller-Thurgau , which became the most planted grape variety in Germany in...

Carolin Gillot. Carolin, now Spanier-Gillot, managed to built on her father’s years-long quality work and support. She is cofounder of the young winegrowers’ association “message in a bottle” and busies herself in the Rhenish Hesse regional association of the women’s wine network “Vinissima”.

Public institutions

The municipality of Bodenheim is also the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Bodenheim

Bodenheim (Verbandsgemeinde)

Bodenheim is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Mainz-Bingen in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Bodenheim....

Senior citizens’ meeting place

On the municipality’s behalf, the local workers’ welfare community club runs a meeting place for senior citizens.

Welfare centre

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.