Bürgstadt
Encyclopedia
Bürgstadt is a market community in the Miltenberg district
in the Regierungsbezirk
of Lower Franconia
(Unterfranken) in Bavaria
, Germany
and the seat of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft (Administrative Community) of Erftal.
lying to the southwest. It lies at the northeast edge of the Odenwald
on the boundary with Baden-Württemberg
.
In early historical times, the Bürgstadter Berg (mountain) was the site of a fortified settlement (today forest) that was protected by a ringwall. Until the 18th century, Bürgstadt was a tithe count’s seat, but had already lost much of its importance by the late Middle Ages
to neighbouring Miltenberg
, which had a more strategically favourable location and was protected by a castle. Also, the Roman
castrum
Miltenberg-Ost lay partly within Bürgstadt’s municipal area.
(as at municipal election held on 2 March 2008)
might be described thus: On a base vert gules a castle embattled argent with two round side towers likewise embattled and with door and windows open, in chief between the towers a wheel spoked of six of the last.
Bürgstadt passed into Electoral Mainz
’s hands quite early on, presumably by the 8th century, and remained a Mainz holding and the seat of a tithe court until the Old Empire
came to an end in 1803. Despite the market community’s importance, neither an old seal nor anything else like a coat of arms is known. The first evidence of such a thing came with the Mayor’s Medallion from about 1820 with the composition as it is known today. The wheel – the Wheel of Mainz
– and the tincture
s argent and gules (silver and red) refer to the former ownership by the Electoral state of Mainz. The castle is a canting
charge
for the community’s name (Burg – without the umlaut mark
– means “castle” in German
; Stadt means “town”, although it has never officially been one).
The arms have been borne since the 19th century.
quarry
ing and processing. Documented here as well are tobacco
growing, early and local history and the life and times of the composer Johann Michael Breunig (1699–1755), who was born here. Since 2002, a Roman department has been showing the local early history. The history of ethnic Germans driven out of their lands
after the Second World War has a special room dedicated to it. Special exhibitions on current themes in local and club history and on everyday village life before 1960 are presented, changing twice yearly, with the help of the museum’s inventory.
built about 950, with its mural Bible paintings presented in 40 medallions, the old parish church (built about 1300), the historic Town Hall (built about 1590) and the ruins of the Centgrafenkapelle (“Tithe Counts’ Chapel”) from the 17th century. In May 2000, the Mittelmühle, which had been converted into a civic centre, was opened to the public.
(locally, Fasching) parade is staged with the Altweibermühle (“Old Women’s Mill”; its first documentary mention goes back to 1860) as the highlight. Every year on the first weekend in July, the local football club stages its tournament for the Centgrafen-Cup (“Tithe Counts’ Cup”), its name coming from the community’s history. On the second weekend in July, the street and farm festival is held, at which many local clubs take part.
and Pinot noir précoce are grown in the vineyards there in bunter
soil, out of which very good red wine is made. The community’s best known winegrower is Paul Fürst, who in 2003 became the year’s best winegrower, according to the Gault Millau
wine guide. Almost all the community’s winegrowing businesses take it in fortnightly turns to offer up their own wine with various kinds of bread in Häckerwirtschaften
.
Since 1990, Bürgstadt has lain on the Fränkischer Rotwein Wanderweg (“Franconian Red Wine Hiking Trail”).
with a big waterslide and sporting grounds, tennis courts, a tennis hall with squash courts and further sporting grounds. Both ways along the Main valley run expanded cycle paths. Moreover there are many hiking paths at the Main, at the Erf, through the vineyards and in the woods.
Miltenberg (district)
Miltenberg is an administrative district in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by the city of Aschaffenburg, the districts of Aschaffenburg and Main-Spessart, and the states of Baden-Württemberg and Hesse .-History:During the Middle Ages there was continuous...
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 Lower Franconia
Lower Franconia
Lower Franconia is one of the three administrative regions of Franconia in Bavaria , Germany ....
(Unterfranken) in Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, 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...
, 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...
and the seat of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft (Administrative Community) of Erftal.
Location
Bürgstadt lies at the mouth of the river Erf where it empties into the Main and is seamlessly built together with the district seat of MiltenbergMiltenberg
Miltenberg is the seat of the like-named district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany.- Location :...
lying to the southwest. It lies at the northeast edge of the Odenwald
Odenwald
The Odenwald is a low mountain range in Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in Germany.- Location :The Odenwald lies between the Upper Rhine Rift Valley with the Bergstraße and the Hessisches Ried in the west, the Main and the Bauland in the east, the Hanau-Seligenstadt Basin – a subbasin of...
on the boundary with Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
.
History
In 1181, Bürgstadt had its first documentary mention.In early historical times, the Bürgstadter Berg (mountain) was the site of a fortified settlement (today forest) that was protected by a ringwall. Until the 18th century, Bürgstadt was a tithe count’s seat, but had already lost much of its importance by the late Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
to neighbouring Miltenberg
Miltenberg
Miltenberg is the seat of the like-named district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany.- Location :...
, which had a more strategically favourable location and was protected by a castle. Also, the Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
castrum
Castra
The Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. The word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian as well as in Latin. It may have descended from Indo-European to Italic...
Miltenberg-Ost lay partly within Bürgstadt’s municipal area.
Community council
The council is made up of 17 council members, counting the mayor.| 10 CSU Christian Social Union of Bavaria The Christian Social Union in Bavaria is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It operates only in the state of Bavaria, while its sister party, the Christian Democratic Union , operates in the other 15 states of Germany... |
3 SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
4 UWG | 17 Total |
(as at municipal election held on 2 March 2008)
Coat of arms
The community’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...
might be described thus: On a base vert gules a castle embattled argent with two round side towers likewise embattled and with door and windows open, in chief between the towers a wheel spoked of six of the last.
Bürgstadt passed into Electoral Mainz
Archbishopric of Mainz
The Archbishopric of Mainz or Electorate of Mainz was an influential ecclesiastic and secular prince-bishopric in the Holy Roman Empire between 780–82 and 1802. In the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, the Archbishop of Mainz was the primas Germaniae, the substitute of the Pope north of the Alps...
’s hands quite early on, presumably by the 8th century, and remained a Mainz holding and the seat of a tithe court until the Old Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
came to an end in 1803. Despite the market community’s importance, neither an old seal nor anything else like a coat of arms is known. The first evidence of such a thing came with the Mayor’s Medallion from about 1820 with the composition as it is known today. The wheel – the Wheel of Mainz
Wheel of Mainz
thumb|150px|version until 1992thumb|150px|version from 1992 - 2008thumb|150px|version from 2008The Wheel of Mainz or Mainzer Rad, in German, was the coat of arms of the Archbishopric of Mainz and thus also of the Electorate of Mainz , in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It consists of a silver wheel...
– and the tincture
Tincture (heraldry)
In heraldry, tinctures are the colours used to emblazon a coat of arms. These can be divided into several categories including light tinctures called metals, dark tinctures called colours, nonstandard colours called stains, furs, and "proper". A charge tinctured proper is coloured as it would be...
s argent and gules (silver and red) refer to the former ownership by the Electoral state of Mainz. The castle is a canting
Canting arms
Canting arms are heraldic bearings that represent the bearer's name in a visual pun or rebus. The term cant came into the English language from Anglo-Norman cant, meaning song or singing, from Latin cantāre, and English cognates include canticle, chant, accent, incantation and recant.Canting arms –...
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 community’s name (Burg – without the umlaut mark
Umlaut (diacritic)
The diaeresis and the umlaut are diacritics that consist of two dots placed over a letter, most commonly a vowel. When that letter is an i or a j, the diacritic replaces the tittle: ï....
– means “castle” 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....
; Stadt means “town”, although it has never officially been one).
The arms have been borne since the 19th century.
Museums
The museum in the former Bürgstadt Mittelmühle (“Middle Mill”) divides itself along the main thematic lines of winegrowing in Bürgstadt and sandstoneSandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
quarry
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...
ing and processing. Documented here as well are tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
growing, early and local history and the life and times of the composer Johann Michael Breunig (1699–1755), who was born here. Since 2002, a Roman department has been showing the local early history. The history of ethnic Germans driven out of their lands
Heimatvertriebene
Heimatvertriebene are those around 12 million ethnic Germans who fled or were expelled after World War II from parts of Germany annexed by Poland and Russia, and from other countries, who found refuge in both West and East Germany, and Austria...
after the Second World War has a special room dedicated to it. Special exhibitions on current themes in local and club history and on everyday village life before 1960 are presented, changing twice yearly, with the help of the museum’s inventory.
Buildings
Worth seeing are the Martinskapelle, a chapelChapel
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,...
built about 950, with its mural Bible paintings presented in 40 medallions, the old parish church (built about 1300), the historic Town Hall (built about 1590) and the ruins of the Centgrafenkapelle (“Tithe Counts’ Chapel”) from the 17th century. In May 2000, the Mittelmühle, which had been converted into a civic centre, was opened to the public.
Regular events
About Ascension Day each year, the Winemakers’ Festival is held. Every five years (most recently on 30 January 2005), a CarnivalCarnival
Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...
(locally, Fasching) parade is staged with the Altweibermühle (“Old Women’s Mill”; its first documentary mention goes back to 1860) as the highlight. Every year on the first weekend in July, the local football club stages its tournament for the Centgrafen-Cup (“Tithe Counts’ Cup”), its name coming from the community’s history. On the second weekend in July, the street and farm festival is held, at which many local clubs take part.
Culinary specialities
On the Bürgstadter Centgrafenberg (“Tithe Counts’ Mountain”), there is winegrowing for red wine, which for Bürgstadt holds great importance. Mainly Pinot noirPinot Noir
Pinot noir is a black wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes...
and Pinot noir précoce are grown in the vineyards there in bunter
Bunter (geology)
Bunter beds are sandstone deposits containing rounded pebbles, such as can notably be found in Warwickshire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, Devon and Dorset in England...
soil, out of which very good red wine is made. The community’s best known winegrower is Paul Fürst, who in 2003 became the year’s best winegrower, according to the Gault Millau
Gault Millau
Gault et Millau is one of the most influential French restaurant guides founded by two restaurant critics, Henri Gault and Christian Millau in 1965. Gault Millau is most famous for its rating system, on a scale of 1 to 20. Restaurants below 10 points are almost never listed...
wine guide. Almost all the community’s winegrowing businesses take it in fortnightly turns to offer up their own wine with various kinds of bread in Häckerwirtschaften
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...
.
Since 1990, Bürgstadt has lain on the Fränkischer Rotwein Wanderweg (“Franconian Red Wine Hiking Trail”).
Economy and infrastructure
Winegrowing plays an important rôle in Bürgstadt. With just under 60 ha of vineyards, the community is one of the biggest winegrowing communities on the Lower Main. In 1612, red wine from Bürgstadt had its first historical mention.Sport and leisure
Bürgstadt has at its disposal a heated swimming poolSwimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
with a big waterslide and sporting grounds, tennis courts, a tennis hall with squash courts and further sporting grounds. Both ways along the Main valley run expanded cycle paths. Moreover there are many hiking paths at the Main, at the Erf, through the vineyards and in the woods.
Famous people
- Ernst Heinrichsohn, mayor from 1978 to 1980, sentenced in 1980 in Cologne to six years in prison for having taken part in persecuting Jews in occupied France during the Second World War (see: Vel' d'Hiv Roundup)
Sons and daughters of the town
- Johann Michael Breunig (Baroque composer)
- Maria Bachmann (actress, screenplay writer, producer)
Further reading
- Wolfgang Meister: Die Martinskapelle in Bürgstadt. Zeugnis von Kunstsinn und Glaubenseifer einer Landgemeinde um 1600, Bürgstadt 2004 (ISBN 3-00-015104-4)