Mudau
Encyclopedia
Mudau is a municipality in the Neckar-Odenwald district, Baden-Württemberg
, Germany
. it has 5,099 inhabitants.
mountains between the Neckar
and Main rivers, 75 km southeast of Frankfurt am Main and 40 km northeast of Heidelberg
. The area is heavily forested, resting on colored sandstone
plateaus at 285 to 576 meters elevation, sloping downward to the Bauland region. Many streams
originate in the area around Mudau, owing to its location on the Neckar-Main watershed
; some have cut canyons as much as 200 meters deep into the sandstone. Streams considered significant are the Gabelbach, Mudbach, and Steinbächlein which flow into the Main, and the Reisenbach, Trienzbach, and Elz which flow into the Neckar.
Mudau is an officially recognized resort
in the Naturpark-Neckartal-Odenwald.
The wavy band in the coat of arms
represents the Mudbach, while the wheels refer to the arms of Mainz
.
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...
, 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...
. it has 5,099 inhabitants.
Geography
Mudau lies in the southeastern OdenwaldOdenwald
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...
mountains between the Neckar
Neckar
The Neckar is a long river, mainly flowing through the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, but also a short section through Hesse, in Germany. The Neckar is a major right tributary of the River Rhine...
and Main rivers, 75 km southeast of Frankfurt am Main and 40 km northeast of Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
. The area is heavily forested, resting on colored sandstone
Sandstone
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,...
plateaus at 285 to 576 meters elevation, sloping downward to the Bauland region. Many streams
STREAMS
In computer networking, STREAMS is the native framework in Unix System V for implementing character devices.STREAMS was designed as a modular architecture for implementing full-duplex I/O between kernel or user space processes and device drivers. Its most frequent uses have been in developing...
originate in the area around Mudau, owing to its location on the Neckar-Main watershed
Water divide
A drainage divide, water divide, divide or watershed is the line separating neighbouring drainage basins...
; some have cut canyons as much as 200 meters deep into the sandstone. Streams considered significant are the Gabelbach, Mudbach, and Steinbächlein which flow into the Main, and the Reisenbach, Trienzbach, and Elz which flow into the Neckar.
Mudau is an officially recognized resort
Resort
A resort is a place used for relaxation or recreation, attracting visitors for holidays or vacations. Resorts are places, towns or sometimes commercial establishment operated by a single company....
in the Naturpark-Neckartal-Odenwald.
History
- 2nd/3rd century: During the period of RomanRoman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
control (approximately 98–260 AD) the area that is now Mudau lay within the province of Germania SuperiorGermania SuperiorGermania Superior , so called for the reason that it lay upstream of Germania Inferior, was a province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany...
. Remnants of the Neckar-Odenwald-LimesLimesA limes was a border defense or delimiting system of Ancient Rome. It marked the boundaries of the Roman Empire.The Latin noun limes had a number of different meanings: a path or balk delimiting fields, a boundary line or marker, any road or path, any channel, such as a stream channel, or any...
are visible today near Schlossau and Scheidental. - 11th/12th century: In the high Middle Ages the BenedictineBenedictineBenedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
monastery of Amorbach AbbeyAmorbach AbbeyAmorbach Abbey was a Benedictine monastery located at Amorbach in the district of Miltenberg in Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany.- History :...
started new settlements in the forest area south of Amorbach. The municipalities have their origin here. - 12th/13th century: Mudau's lands were placed under the supervision of the noblemen of Duern and were assigned to the nearby Castle Wildenberg (also known as Castle Wildenburg) in OdenwaldOdenwaldThe 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...
. - 1271: By purchase in the year 1271 the rule rights came to the Archbishop of Mainz. Mudau was the principal seat of the 'Mudauer Zent'.
- 1426: Mudau was separated from the old parish of Hollerbach and became the church center, with 13 chapelries.
- 1525: During the German Peasants' WarGerman Peasants' WarThe German Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt was a widespread popular revolt in the German-speaking areas of Central Europe, 1524–1526. At its height in the spring and summer of 1525, the conflict involved an estimated 300,000 peasants: contemporary estimates put the dead at 100,000...
the nearby Amorbach Abbey was plundered and Castle Wildenberg destroyed. Götz von BerlichingenGötz von BerlichingenGottfried "Götz" von Berlichingen and also known as Götz of the Iron Hand, was a German Imperial Knight and mercenary....
was the captain of the soldiers called 'Heller Haufen'. - 17th century: During the 17th century Mudau became an important market townMarket townMarket town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...
with several annual and cattle markets. - 1618 - 1648: During the Thirty Years' WarThirty Years' WarThe 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....
troops of allies and enemies both marched through the town and took quarter here. - 1803: During the Secularization Mudau became part of the PrincipalityPrincipalityA principality is a monarchical feudatory or sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a monarch with the title of prince or princess, or by a monarch with another title within the generic use of the term prince....
of LeiningenLeiningenLeiningen is the name of an old German family whose lands lay principally in Alsace, Lorraine and the Palatinate. The first count of Leiningen about whom anything certain is known was a certain Emich II , whose family became extinct in the male line when Count Frederick, a Minnesinger, died about...
. - 1806: Mudau becomes part of the Grand DuchyGrand duchyA grand duchy, sometimes referred to as a grand dukedom, is a territory whose head of state is a monarch, either a grand duke or grand duchess.Today Luxembourg is the only remaining grand duchy...
of BadenBadenBaden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
. - 1848: During the German Revolutions of 1848 (also known as the March Revolution), the principality's property at Marienhoehe bei BuchenBuchenBuchen is a town in Germany Neckar-Odenwald district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated in the Odenwald low mountain range, 23 km northeast of Mosbach.-Geography:...
and the revenue office in Ernsttal were burned. The city halls were stormed. - 1849: Two-thirds of the town was destroyed by a major fireFireFire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition....
. - 1967: Sender DonebachSender DonebachThe Sender Donebach is a 500-kilowatt longwave radio transmitter operating on 153 kHz and transmitting the program of German public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk...
begins transmitting. - 1974: Closure of the narrow-gauge railway from MosbachMosbachMosbach is the capital of the Neckar-Odenwald district in the north of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 58 km east of Heidelberg. Its geographical position is 49.21'N 9.9'E....
to Mudau - 1982: The transmission towers of the longwave transmitting station were extended to 363 meters, thus becoming the tallest built structures in Western Europe.
The wavy band in the coat of 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...
represents the Mudbach, while the wheels refer to the arms of 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...
.
Points of interest
- trail along the Neckar-Odenwald-Limes in Schlossau with numerous remnants. The Neckar-Odenwald-Limes led from Bad WimpfenBad WimpfenBad Wimpfen is an historic spa town in the district of Heilbronn in the Baden-Württemberg region of southern Germany. It lies north of the city of Heilbronn, on the river Neckar.-Geography:...
at the Neckar to the north across Neckarburken, Oberscheidental, Schlossau after Woerth at the Main river. - Roman fort at Scheidental
- chapel of Saint Veit and Saint Martin in Steinbach by 1494 with an altar of the school of Tilman RiemenschneiderTilman RiemenschneiderTilman Riemenschneider was a German sculptor and woodcarver active in Würzburg from 1483. He was one of the most prolific and versatile sculptors of the transition period between late Gothic and Renaissance, a master in stone and limewood.- Biography :Tilman Riemenschneider was born between 1459...
. - castle Waldleiningen (built 1828 in the Windsor style), used today as a sanatorium
- old city hall Mudau (1434)
- catholic parish church Mudau (tower by 1510)
- baroque column ‘Mariensaeule’ Mudau by 1736
- Neo-Gothic parish church Schlossau, built 1864
- gallows in Mudau
- Sender DonebachSender DonebachThe Sender Donebach is a 500-kilowatt longwave radio transmitter operating on 153 kHz and transmitting the program of German public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk...
: two 363-meter transmission towers, the second-tallest structures in Germany. - Reisenbach Telecommunication TowerReisenbach Telecommunication TowerReisenbach Telecommunication Tower is among the tallest structures in the Northern parts of Baden-Württemberg. Only the two masts of Donebach longwave transmitter are taller in the Mudau community...
: a 173 metre tall telecommunication tower built in 1972.
External links
- Mudau.de Mudau's official website (German only)