Monheim, Bavaria
Encyclopedia
Monheim is a municipality in the Donau-Ries
district, in Bavaria
, Germany. It is situated 15 km northeast of Donauwörth
, and 27 km east of Nördlingen
. It lies in the Regierungsbezirk
Schwaben.
. From 870, a Benedictian convent
existed within the small town. In 893, the Abbess
of the convent, Mother Liubila, transferred it to the Bishop of Eichstätt
, Erchanbald, and it was then that Monheim was first mentioned in an official document. It became an important place of pilgrimage
due to the relics of Saint Walpurga
, a former Abbess of the convent in Eichstätt
. Unlike virtually all of Schwaben, which belongs to the Diocese of Augsburg, Monheim is still part of the Diocese of Eichstätt today.
The village of Monheim came into possession of the Graf von Oettingen
, now the House of Oettingen-Wallerstein, around the year 1325. Monheim was awarded its town rights shortly after and the oldest seal
of the town dates from 1340. The seal from 1340 already shows the moon
which is still part of the towns crest today. The name Monheim however does not derive from moon. Until 1821, the crests colors were red and silver, the colors of the House of Oettingen. Only after 1821 were the current blue and gold adopted.
The town was fortified, laying on the intersection of the important trade route from Augsburg
to Nürnberg, which is nowadays the Bundesstraße 2, and the road from Nördlingen
to Neuburg an der Donau
. Some of this wall still remains today, including both gates.
The town remained a possession of Oettingen until the end of the Landshut
war of succession in 1505. Monheim was then handed to the duchy Palatinate-Neuburg
(German: Pfalz-Neuburg), who it remained with until 1808. The duke Heinrich introduced the Reformation
to his lands and Monheim in 1530 and the convent in town was dissolved. Monheim lost its relics and with it much of its religious importance for the region. The convent building was taken down in 1574 but the large Saint Walpurga church, the current building dating from 1509, and some of the convents romanesque
courtyard, dating from the 12th century, remained. The courtyard was fully restored in 1977.
Martin Luther
spent a night in Monheim, traveling back from an interrogation in 1518. A large plaque of this notable event remains at the location he stayed.
In 1614, the Elector
Wilhelm reintroduced Catholicism
in Palatinate-Neuburg, including Monheim, but the convent was not restored. The Swedish army under the King of Sweden, Gustav Adolf
ransacked Monheim in 1632 during the Thirty Years' War
, an event the town took long to recover from.
From 1523 onwards, Monheim also became the seat of the county court
(German:Landgerichtssitz) for the surrounding region and in 1650 a small palace (German:Schloß) was built for the dukes administrator.
The year 1697 saw the first arrival of Jews
in Monheim. In 1741, they had to leave the town again, under pressure from the authorities. The current town hall
was built by a rich Jewish merchant, the Court Jew
Abraham Elias Model between 1714 and 1720. Model was the chief creditor for the Graf von Wallerstein at that time. The upper floor of his house originally was thought to have served served as the Synagogue
for the small Jewish community, a fact since disproven, and in 1978 and 1994 the original ceiling
s, displaying motives from the Old Testament
, or Tanakh
, were fully restored. The fact that they were covered by a layer of gipsum, which had to be removed, saved them from almost certain destruction by the Nazis. The rooms now serve as the meeting hall for the town council.
The end of the War of Bavarian Succession
in 1779 saw the reunification of Bavaria with Palatinate-Neuburg and Neuburg lost its status as a capital. Monheim was now Bavarian again.
Like most of Bavaria, the age of industrialisation
bypassed Monheim and it remained predominantly agricultural. The two world wars saw great personal loses but no real destruction for the town.
During the Nazi era, Monheim saw its mayor, Josef Hofmann, replaced with local party leader Albert Königsdorfer. Some of the members of the local council were temporarily taken in "protective custody". Resistance to the Nazis was passive, at best. When the figurine of Saint Walpurga on the fountain of the market square was replaced by a more war-like motive in October 1937, the catholic parish priest, Anton Geitner, an anti-Nazi, refused the Nazi salute and found himself heavily criticised.
Liberation came to Monheim on 24 April 1945, with only limited amounts of fighting taking place. A number of houses in town were shelled and the white flag was raised in town by Matthias Schmied, mayor of Monheim from 1945 to 1947, who was quickley followed in his example by other citizens. In appreciation of the fact, that the town survived the war with such little damage, the local town council degreed that a church service was to be held annually on the 24 April. Monheim experienced a short occupation of four days before the US soldiers left the town again.
The post-World War II years saw a growth in small industries in town. The county court was relocated from Monheim in 1957. The reorganisation of communities in Bavaria and Germany between 1972 and 1978 meant that Monheim came in charge of the previously independent surrounding villages, enlarging the town in size and population.
is Anton Ferber.
As of 2008, the town council (German:Stadtrat) consists of 16 elected members from the following parties:
company being one of the main employers, having relocated from Dresden
to Monheim after the second world war.
Agriculture
is still an important factor with about half of the surrounding land used for it.
The nearest train line is nowadays in Fünfstetten
, the Augsburg–Nürnberg line. From there, a 5.6 km long side track used to run to Monheim, built in 1905–06, but passenger service was suspended in 1960 and goods services in the 1990s. During the 1980s, a historic train used to operate on the line on selected summer weekends. Footage of this train was used in the 1983 German movie Der Glockenkrieg.
The train line has now been completely removed and only the railway station is still in place, now home to the local pigeon
breeders club.
, being one of the centres of the sport in Germany. Its team competes at the highest national level of the sport, often attracting foreign athletes, especially from Brasil. In April 2008, the town hosted a four-nations under-18's tournament with Germany, France, the UK and Switzerland participating.
Warching, one of the neighboring villages, is home to a motocross
track and club, the MV Warching, formed in 1973. The club has a strong sidecarcross
tradition, having had many of its members race at world championship
level. Through Hubert Rebele and Alois Wenninger, the club archived four runners-up spots in this competition in the 1980s and 90's. The track was also the venue for the 1985 German sidecarcross Grand Prix, the only time it was held in Warching.
in what was once the Tethys Ocean
. Fossil crocodiles, such as Geosaurus
, Cricosaurus
, Rhacheosaurus
and Steneosaurus
are all known from quarries near Monheim, while Archaeopteryx
was found in the region around Solnhofen
. The Gailach, the little river who runs through Monheim, disappears in the ground to travel underneath the surface shortly after passing Warching and resurfaces in Mühlheim, approximately 4 km further on. The reason for this is the limestone
in the region, which makes sinkholes a very common site. A marked trail, the Karstlehrpfad Monheimer Alb with signs in German explaining the origins of the landscape and the geology.
, referred to in German as Schwäbisch, with Monheim being at the most northeastern point of its extension. Traveling north, the villages beyond Monheim speak Franconia
n dialects while to the east, Bavarian
is spoken.
Donau-Ries
Donau-Ries is a district in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Ansbach, Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen, Eichstätt, Neuburg-Schrobenhausen, Aichach-Friedberg, Augsburg and Dillingen, and by the state of Baden-Württemberg .-History:From Palaeolithic times on the Nördlinger Ries was a very...
district, 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. It is situated 15 km northeast of Donauwörth
Donauwörth
Donauwörth is a city in the German State of Bavaria , in the region of Swabia . It is said to have been founded by two fisherman where the Danube and Wörnitz rivers meet...
, and 27 km east of Nördlingen
Nördlingen
Nördlingen is a town in the Donau-Ries district, in Bavaria, Germany, with a population of 20,000. It is located in the middle of a complex meteorite crater, called the Nördlinger Ries. The town was also the place of two battles during the Thirty Years' War...
. It lies 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...
Schwaben.
History
The origins of Monheim date back into the 7th century, when a village was formed at the crossing of the Gailach, a small river running into the AltmühlAltmühl
The Altmühl is a river in Bavaria, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Danube and is approximately 230 km in length.The source of the Altmühl is located close to the city of Ansbach. From here the river runs southeastwards as a narrow brook to enter the Altmühlsee north of Gunzenhausen...
. From 870, a Benedictian convent
Convent
A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
existed within the small town. In 893, the Abbess
Abbess
An abbess is the female superior, or mother superior, of a community of nuns, often an abbey....
of the convent, Mother Liubila, transferred it to the Bishop of Eichstätt
Bishopric of Eichstätt
The Bishopric of Eichstätt was a small ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire. Centered on the town of Eichstätt, it was located in the present-day state of Bavaria, somewhat to the west of Regensburg, to the north of Neuburg an der Donau and Ingolstadt, to the south of Nuremberg, and...
, Erchanbald, and it was then that Monheim was first mentioned in an official document. It became an important place of 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...
due to the relics of Saint Walpurga
Saint Walpurga
Saint Walpurga or Walburga , also spelled Valderburg or Guibor, was an English missionary to the Frankish Empire. She was canonized on 1 May ca. 870 by Pope Adrian II...
, a former Abbess of the convent in Eichstätt
Eichstätt
Eichstätt is a town in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the District of Eichstätt. It is located along the Altmühl River, at , and had a population of 13,078 in 2002. It is home to the Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, the lone Catholic university in Germany. The...
. Unlike virtually all of Schwaben, which belongs to the Diocese of Augsburg, Monheim is still part of the Diocese of Eichstätt today.
The village of Monheim came into possession of the Graf von Oettingen
Oettingen in Bayern
Oettingen in Bayern is a town in the Donau-Ries district, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated northwest of Donauwörth, and northeast of Nördlingen.-Geography:...
, now the House of Oettingen-Wallerstein, around the year 1325. Monheim was awarded its town rights shortly after and the oldest seal
Seal (device)
A seal can be a figure impressed in wax, clay, or some other medium, or embossed on paper, with the purpose of authenticating a document ; but the term can also mean the device for making such impressions, being essentially a mould with the mirror image of the design carved in sunken- relief or...
of the town dates from 1340. The seal from 1340 already shows the moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
which is still part of the towns crest today. The name Monheim however does not derive from moon. Until 1821, the crests colors were red and silver, the colors of the House of Oettingen. Only after 1821 were the current blue and gold adopted.
The town was fortified, laying on the intersection of the important trade route from Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
to Nürnberg, which is nowadays the Bundesstraße 2, and the road from Nördlingen
Nördlingen
Nördlingen is a town in the Donau-Ries district, in Bavaria, Germany, with a population of 20,000. It is located in the middle of a complex meteorite crater, called the Nördlinger Ries. The town was also the place of two battles during the Thirty Years' War...
to Neuburg an der Donau
Neuburg an der Donau
Neuburg an der Donau, literally Neuburg on the Danube River, is a town which is the capital of the Neuburg-Schrobenhausen district in the state of Bavaria in Germany.-Divisions:The municipality has 16 divisions:-History:...
. Some of this wall still remains today, including both gates.
The town remained a possession of Oettingen until the end of the Landshut
Landshut
Landshut is a city in Bavaria in the south-east of Germany, belonging to both Eastern and Southern Bavaria. Situated on the banks of the River Isar, Landshut is the capital of Lower Bavaria, one of the seven administrative regions of the Free State of Bavaria. It is also the seat of the...
war of succession in 1505. Monheim was then handed to the duchy Palatinate-Neuburg
Palatinate-Neuburg
Palatinate-Neuburg is a former territory of the Holy Roman Empire, founded in 1505. Its capital was Neuburg an der Donau. Its area was about 2,750 km², with a population of some 100,000.-History:...
(German: Pfalz-Neuburg), who it remained with until 1808. The duke Heinrich introduced the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
to his lands and Monheim in 1530 and the convent in town was dissolved. Monheim lost its relics and with it much of its religious importance for the region. The convent building was taken down in 1574 but the large Saint Walpurga church, the current building dating from 1509, and some of the convents romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
courtyard, dating from the 12th century, remained. The courtyard was fully restored in 1977.
Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
spent a night in Monheim, traveling back from an interrogation in 1518. A large plaque of this notable event remains at the location he stayed.
In 1614, the Elector
Prince-elector
The Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Roman king or, from the middle of the 16th century onwards, directly the Holy Roman Emperor.The heir-apparent to a prince-elector was known as an...
Wilhelm reintroduced Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
in Palatinate-Neuburg, including Monheim, but the convent was not restored. The Swedish army under the King of Sweden, Gustav Adolf
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
Gustav II Adolf has been widely known in English by his Latinized name Gustavus Adolphus Magnus and variously in historical writings also as Gustavus, or Gustavus the Great, or Gustav Adolph the Great,...
ransacked Monheim in 1632 during 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....
, an event the town took long to recover from.
From 1523 onwards, Monheim also became the seat of the county court
County Court
A county court is a court based in or with a jurisdiction covering one or more counties, which are administrative divisions within a country, not to be confused with the medieval system of county courts held by the High Sheriff of each county.-England and Wales:County Court matters can be lodged...
(German:Landgerichtssitz) for the surrounding region and in 1650 a small palace (German:Schloß) was built for the dukes administrator.
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
in Monheim. In 1741, they had to leave the town again, under pressure from the authorities. The current town hall
Monheim Town Hall
The Monheim Town Hall is a historical building in Monheim, Bavaria, southern Germany, now owned by the city's council....
was built by a rich Jewish merchant, the Court Jew
Court Jew
Court Jew is a term, typically applied to the Early Modern period, for historical Jewish bankers who handled the finances of, or lent money to, European royalty and nobility....
Abraham Elias Model between 1714 and 1720. Model was the chief creditor for the Graf von Wallerstein at that time. The upper floor of his house originally was thought to have served served as the Synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
for the small Jewish community, a fact since disproven, and in 1978 and 1994 the original ceiling
Ceiling
A ceiling is an overhead interior surface that covers the upper limit of a room. It is generally not a structural element, but a finished surface concealing the underside of the floor or roof structure above....
s, displaying motives from the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
, or Tanakh
Tanakh
The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...
, were fully restored. The fact that they were covered by a layer of gipsum, which had to be removed, saved them from almost certain destruction by the Nazis. The rooms now serve as the meeting hall for the town council.
The end of the War of Bavarian Succession
War of Bavarian Succession
The War of the Bavarian Succession was fought between the Habsburg Monarchy and a Saxon–Prussian alliance to prevent the Habsburg acquisition of the Duchy of Bavaria. The war had no battles beyond a few minor skirmishes, but still resulted in significant casualties, as several thousand soldiers...
in 1779 saw the reunification of Bavaria with Palatinate-Neuburg and Neuburg lost its status as a capital. Monheim was now Bavarian again.
Like most of Bavaria, the age of industrialisation
Industrialisation
Industrialization is the process of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial one...
bypassed Monheim and it remained predominantly agricultural. The two world wars saw great personal loses but no real destruction for the town.
During the Nazi era, Monheim saw its mayor, Josef Hofmann, replaced with local party leader Albert Königsdorfer. Some of the members of the local council were temporarily taken in "protective custody". Resistance to the Nazis was passive, at best. When the figurine of Saint Walpurga on the fountain of the market square was replaced by a more war-like motive in October 1937, the catholic parish priest, Anton Geitner, an anti-Nazi, refused the Nazi salute and found himself heavily criticised.
Liberation came to Monheim on 24 April 1945, with only limited amounts of fighting taking place. A number of houses in town were shelled and the white flag was raised in town by Matthias Schmied, mayor of Monheim from 1945 to 1947, who was quickley followed in his example by other citizens. In appreciation of the fact, that the town survived the war with such little damage, the local town council degreed that a church service was to be held annually on the 24 April. Monheim experienced a short occupation of four days before the US soldiers left the town again.
The post-World War II years saw a growth in small industries in town. The county court was relocated from Monheim in 1957. The reorganisation of communities in Bavaria and Germany between 1972 and 1978 meant that Monheim came in charge of the previously independent surrounding villages, enlarging the town in size and population.
Main sights
- The Stadtpfarrkirche, the catholic parish and convent church, dating from 1500
- The Kreuzgang, the former convent court yard, adjacent to the church, dating from the 12th century
- The RathausMonheim Town HallThe Monheim Town Hall is a historical building in Monheim, Bavaria, southern Germany, now owned by the city's council....
, the town hall, former Jewish residence, dating from 1714, open to the public - The two Stadttore, the southern and northern gates of the town, dating from the 14th century
Incorporated villages
- Rehau
- Flotzheim
- Weilheim
- Wittesheim
- Warching
- Kölburg
- Itzing
- Ried
Town council
The towns mayorMayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
is Anton Ferber.
As of 2008, the town council (German:Stadtrat) consists of 16 elected members from the following parties:
- Independent, PWG and MUM: 7
- Christian Social Union of BavariaChristian Social Union of BavariaThe 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...
, CSU: 6 - Social Democratic Party of GermanySocial Democratic Party of GermanyThe Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
, SPD: 3
Economy
The town largely depends on light industry, with the HamaHama Photo
With 18,000 products, the Hama GmbH & Co KG is one of the world’s leading accessory manufacturers specialising in a number of areas including photo, video, audio, multimedia and telecommunications. The company also acts as a distributor of various product ranges. Hama employs around 2500 people all...
company being one of the main employers, having relocated from Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
to Monheim after the second world war.
Agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
is still an important factor with about half of the surrounding land used for it.
Road and rail connections
Monheim lies on the Bundesstrasse 2, the Federal Road No. 2. The B2 used to go straight through town until a bypass was built in the early 1990s. The road from Neuburg to Nördlingen, which passes through the outskirts of Monheim, is not a Federal road.The nearest train line is nowadays in Fünfstetten
Fünfstetten
Fünfstetten is a municipality in the district of Donau-Ries in Bavaria in Germany....
, the Augsburg–Nürnberg line. From there, a 5.6 km long side track used to run to Monheim, built in 1905–06, but passenger service was suspended in 1960 and goods services in the 1990s. During the 1980s, a historic train used to operate on the line on selected summer weekends. Footage of this train was used in the 1983 German movie Der Glockenkrieg.
The train line has now been completely removed and only the railway station is still in place, now home to the local pigeon
Domestic Pigeon
The Domestic Pigeon was derived from the Rock Pigeon. The Rock Pigeon is the world's oldest domesticated bird. Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets mention the domestication of pigeons more than 5,000 years ago, as do Egyptian hieroglyphics.Research suggests that domestication of pigeons was as early as...
breeders club.
Sport
The local sports club, TSV Monheim, has a strong tradition in artistic gymnasticsArtistic gymnastics
Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics where gymnasts perform short routines on different apparatus, with less time for vaulting . The sport is governed by the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique , which designs the Code of Points and regulates all aspects of international elite...
, being one of the centres of the sport in Germany. Its team competes at the highest national level of the sport, often attracting foreign athletes, especially from Brasil. In April 2008, the town hosted a four-nations under-18's tournament with Germany, France, the UK and Switzerland participating.
Warching, one of the neighboring villages, is home to a motocross
Motocross
Motocross is a form of motorcycle sport or all-terrain vehicle racing held on enclosed off road circuits. It evolved from trials, and was called scrambles, and later motocross, combining the French moto with cross-country...
track and club, the MV Warching, formed in 1973. The club has a strong sidecarcross
Sidecarcross
Sidecar-cross racing, also known as sidecar motocross, is very similar to regular, solo motocross but with a different type of motorcycle chassis, and with a team of two people riding together instead of one, a driver and a passenger. While not confirmed most articles seem to show Sidecarcross...
tradition, having had many of its members race at world championship
Sidecarcross world championship
The Sidecar Motocross World Championship is an annual event, organised by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme , held since 1980. Previous to that, a European competition was held from 1971 onwards....
level. Through Hubert Rebele and Alois Wenninger, the club archived four runners-up spots in this competition in the 1980s and 90's. The track was also the venue for the 1985 German sidecarcross Grand Prix, the only time it was held in Warching.
Festivals
Like many towns in Bavaria which preserved their old town centre, Monheim hosts a historical Town Festival (German:Historisches Stadtfest). Its staged every second year, being held next in July 2009.Geology of the Monheim region
Monheim lies at the edge of the region of the Solnhofen limestoneSolnhofen limestone
The Solnhofen Plattenkalk is a Jurassic Konservat-Lagerstätte that preserves a rare assemblage of fossilized organisms, including highly detailed imprints of soft bodied organisms such as sea jellies...
in what was once the Tethys Ocean
Tethys Ocean
The Tethys Ocean was an ocean that existed between the continents of Gondwana and Laurasia during the Mesozoic era before the opening of the Indian Ocean.-Modern theory:...
. Fossil crocodiles, such as Geosaurus
Geosaurus
Geosaurus is an extinct genus of marine crocodyliform within the family Metriorhynchidae that lived during the Late Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. Geosaurus was a carnivore that spent much, if not all, its life out at sea...
, Cricosaurus
Cricosaurus
Cricosaurus is an extinct genus of marine crocodyliform belonging to the family Metriorhynchidae. The genus was established by Johann Andreas Wagner in 1858 for three skulls from the Tithonian of Germany...
, Rhacheosaurus
Rhacheosaurus
Rhacheosaurus is an extinct genus of marine crocodyliform belonging to the family Metriorhynchidae. The genus was established by von Meyer in 1831 for skeletal remains from the Tithonian of Germany.-History and classification:...
and Steneosaurus
Steneosaurus
Steneosaurus is an extinct genus of teleosaurid crocodyliform from the Early Jurassic to Early Cretaceous . Fossil specimens have been found in England, France, Germany, Switzerland and Morocco.-Species:...
are all known from quarries near Monheim, while Archaeopteryx
Archaeopteryx
Archaeopteryx , sometimes referred to by its German name Urvogel , is a genus of theropod dinosaur that is closely related to birds. The name derives from the Ancient Greek meaning "ancient", and , meaning "feather" or "wing"...
was found in the region around Solnhofen
Solnhofen
Solnhofen is a municipality in the district of Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen in the region of Franconia in the Land of Bavaria in Germany. It lies within the Altmühl valley....
. The Gailach, the little river who runs through Monheim, disappears in the ground to travel underneath the surface shortly after passing Warching and resurfaces in Mühlheim, approximately 4 km further on. The reason for this is the 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....
in the region, which makes sinkholes a very common site. A marked trail, the Karstlehrpfad Monheimer Alb with signs in German explaining the origins of the landscape and the geology.
Local Dialect
The local dialect of the region is Alemannic GermanAlemannic German
Alemannic is a group of dialects of the Upper German branch of the Germanic language family. It is spoken by approximately ten million people in six countries: Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, France and Italy...
, referred to in German as Schwäbisch, with Monheim being at the most northeastern point of its extension. Traveling north, the villages beyond Monheim speak Franconia
Franconia
Franconia is a region of Germany comprising the northern parts of the modern state of Bavaria, a small part of southern Thuringia, and a region in northeastern Baden-Württemberg called Tauberfranken...
n dialects while to the east, Bavarian
Austro-Bavarian
Bavarian , also Austro-Bavarian, is a major group of Upper German varieties spoken in the south east of the German language area.-History and origin:...
is spoken.
Further reading
Various authors: Monheim - Kleine Stadt mit grosser Vergangenheit, (English: Monheim - Little town with a big history), publisher: Stadt Monheim, published: 1990External links
- Official Monheim website
- MV Warching website
- TSV 1895 Monheim website
- Haus der Bayrischen Geschichte website (in German), Bavarian government website
- Die Junge Pfalz (in German), History of the Palatinate