Nierstein
Encyclopedia
Nierstein is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Mainz-Bingen
district in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
.
and Worms
. In Nierstein the Flügelsbach empties into the Rhine.
, Dienheim
, Nackenheim
and Oppenheim
.
deposits (Rotliegend
times) crop out in which 290,000,000-year-old animal tracks can be made out.
Above Nierstein lies a hillside vineyard described as a “Red Slope”, made as it is a part of the Rotliegend
, which stretches from northern Nackenheim to western Schwabsburg.
settlement bearing the name Bauconica Nova. In 742, Nierstein had its first documentary mention. The occasion was the donation of a vineyard to the Lorsch Abbey
by Frankish
King Carloman. The Glöck that was herein mentioned is said to be the oldest vineyard complex known by name in Germany. In 1451, vineyards owned by the Counts of Katzenelnbogen
in der Walpe were mentioned.
In the middle ages the village Sundheim (or "Suntheym") was located south (Old High German sunt = "south") of Nierstein. Today this place lies inside the old centre of Nierstein near to a brook called "Flügelsbach". The street name "Hinter Sundheim" (about: "Behind Sundheim") still remembers of this village.
The name Schwabsburg was transferred from the castle of the same name at the settlement that already existed there then. The castle was held by the Staufer emperors, whose home was in Swabia
. In the Middle Ages
, the villages of Dexheim, Schwabsburg and Nierstein formed a municipality administered by the Nierstein knightly court. The municipality had Imperial immediacy.
After 1400 this place came under Electoral Palatinate lordship and thereby lost its Imperial freedom.
, Côte-d'Or
, France
since 1 September 1963 Freyburg
, Burgenlandkreis
, Saxony-Anhalt
might be described thus: Or an eagle displayed sable armed, langued and beaked gules, each side of his neck a mullet of six of the last.
The municipality’s earliest known seal dates from 1272 and shows very much what the current arms show, namely the Imperial Eagle. The two mullets (star shapes) serve to differentiate these arms from others, the Imperial Eagle being a reasonably common charge
; however, on some later seals, the mullets are dropped. Otherwise, the arms have not undergone many changes since the 13th century.
of insect
s, amphibian
s and reptile
s from the Permian
period, as well as fossils from throughout the world. Since some of the specimens are unique, this institution, which is well worth seeing, is eagerly frequented by international specialists.
Church, surrounded by a defensive wall, borders, and on whose lands once stood the Frankish administrative centre, the Carolingian royal palace and the Ottonian
royal court. Baroque
noble estates define the streetscape and recall a mediaeval
epoch in Nierstein’s local history when some two dozen noble families lived here as Imperially immediate fiefholders who shaped events by holding the office of Vogt
, Schultheiß
or Burgmann
en, as Schöffen (roughly “lay jurists”) at the knightly court or the ecclesiastical court. The estates were and still are mostly linked together and with the royal court through a branching underground system of defence works. To be stressed from among these are the former noble houses of the Barons of Knebel or Hundt von Saulheim (oldest timber-frame
house) as well as those of the families Knebel von Katzenelnbogen and Waldbott von Bassenheim
, the Metternich’sche Hof (oldest estate complex), the Haxthäuser Hof (a Baroque manor belonging to the family Haxthausen), the gateway arch and wing of the Schloss von der Leyen
and the Dalberg
-Herding’sche Schloss (in the house chapel there are wall and ceiling paintings by Jakob Götzenberger in Nazarene style
worth seeing).
Above the municipality, the watchtower is the highest viewpoint in the vineyards. It was built using stones from the old Königsstuhl between Nierstein and Lörzweiler, where in 1024 the conclave of princes elected Conrad II
as the first Salian
to sit on the German throne. Saint Kilian
’s Catholic Church, which can be seen far afield, perched upon a hill rising up at the Rhine valley, defines Nierstein’s skyline, although this is also marred somewhat by a former malthouse’s tall buildings. Plans are, however, afoot to have the old malthouse torn down and the lands redeveloped, thereby also opening the old Dalberg-Herdingsche Schloss on the malthouse’s grounds – or at least the residence’s house chapel, which is worth seeing – back up to visitors.
Sironabad: In 1802 remnants of a roughly 2,000-year-old Celtic-Roman
spring sanctuary of goddess Sirona
on the municipality’s southern edge near the railway crossing at the former quarry. The Belgian
salesman Martin van der Velden leased the lands, had the four spring
s (two freshwater, two mineral water, of which one had a mineral content comparable to the recognized healing spring on the south slope of the Taunus
near Weilbach) housed under a roof in a building shielded against flooding that served as a taproom, and he sold the water in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands
and even the United Kingdom
.
In the digs, besides the Roman spring complex, a votive altar was unearthed. This had been endowed by a Roman officer’s daughter, Julia Frontina, as thanks to the Celtic goddess Sirona
and god Grannus
(corresponding to the Roman god Apollo
) for being healed.
Furthermore, a stone basin was also found with coins that had become sheathed in plaster over the ages. These, however, showed no sign of wear and had apparently been cast into the spring by healed guests. The mintages came from various emperors’ reigns: Domitian
(86), Nerva
(98), Trajan
(100 and 112), Hadrian
(118 and 119), Antoninus Pius
(145), Gordian III
(239-244), Postumus
(267) and Marcia Otacilia Severa
, Emperor Philip the Arab
’s wife. It can therefore be inferred that the Romans were using the springs at least from AD 86 on into the 3rd century.
Near Nierstein on the other side of the Rhine, not far from the Kornsand-Geinsheim linking road, at 49°52′11"N 8°23′1"E, is a transmission facility for SWR’s
VHF broadcasts consisting of a 138 m-tall guyed steel-lattice mast with a triangular cross-section. This mast was originally part of the Bodenseesender
directional antenna at Meßkirch-Rohrdorf, which was dismantled in the 1970s and reassembled in Nierstein in 1981.
) with more than 1,000 members. Worthy of mention is the dance troupe “Magic Fire” (so-called even in German
), which in 2005 won not only the title of Rhineland-Palatinate champion but also German champion and European champion in the category Exhibition Dance Character Youth. Likewise successful is the club’s first team in the team handball department, who in the 2006/2007 season took the district league championship and thereby advanced to the Verbandsliga
.
The community of Nierstein-Schwabsburg offers those interested the opportunity of pursuing hobbies together in a great many clubs.
Particularly worth mentioning here are 1. FC Schwabsburg 1958 e.V. (association football) – which has put the stress on youth work – Turnverein 1903 Schwabsburg (gymnastics) and Männergesangverein 1884 Schwabsburg (men’s singing). Even the Nierstein YMCA
is strongly represented in youth work and even offers its own sport and music work.
On every weekend of the season, but above all on festival weekends, tourist vineyard tours are conducted. As an extra for those on these tours, groups of up to 14 guests are driven by tractor to the vineyards on the “Red Slope”, while being given the opportunity on the way to sample the slope’s wine as part of the Weck, Worscht un Woi (“buns, sausage and wine” in Rhine Franconian
dialect). It should be noted that according to the traffic regulations (Straßenverkehrsordnung § 21 Abs. 2), these outings are, strictly speaking, forbidden by law as the vehicles involved are not supposed to carry anyone but those employed in agriculture or forestry, and the maximum number is supposed to be 8, not 14. Nevertheless, and the several accidents that have happened in other regions notwithstanding, these tours are tolerated.
The exact dates are listed here.
), Worschtsupp (“sausage soup”) and Rieslingsupp, Spundekäs and Handkäs mit Musik (two kinds of cheese) are the best known representatives of the regional cooking. Moreover, various wineries offer a comprehensive selection of regional dishes in their Strausswirtschaften
.
(1 490 ha), Rhenish Hesse’s biggest winegrowing centre, and Rhineland-Palatinate’s sixth biggest. The municipality is also the local winegrowing region’s namesake.
See also:
9, which here is banned for use by long-distance trucks. Bundesstraße 420 also begins here. Nierstein lies on the Mainz–Ludwigshafen railway line, and has a centrally located railway station.
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...
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
Verbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde is an administrative unit in the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt.-Rhineland-Palatinate:...
, a kind of collective municipality – 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
Nierstein lies in Rhenish Hesse on the Rhine between MainzMainz
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...
and Worms
Worms, Germany
Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...
. In Nierstein the Flügelsbach empties into the Rhine.
Neighbouring municipalities
Nierstein’s neighbours are DexheimDexheim
Dexheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :Dexheim lies between Mainz and Worms, in Rhenish Hesse...
, Dienheim
Dienheim
Dienheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :Dienheim lies between Mainz and Worms, in Rhenish Hesse...
, Nackenheim
Nackenheim
Nackenheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – and a winegrowing centre in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...
and 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 :...
.
Geology
Around Nierstein PermianPermian
The PermianThe term "Permian" was introduced into geology in 1841 by Sir Sir R. I. Murchison, president of the Geological Society of London, who identified typical strata in extensive Russian explorations undertaken with Edouard de Verneuil; Murchison asserted in 1841 that he named his "Permian...
deposits (Rotliegend
Rotliegend
The Rotliegend or Rotliegendes is a lithostratigraphic unit of Cisuralian age that is found in the subsurface of large areas in western and central Europe. The Rotliegend mainly consists of sandstone layers...
times) crop out in which 290,000,000-year-old animal tracks can be made out.
Above Nierstein lies a hillside vineyard described as a “Red Slope”, made as it is a part of the Rotliegend
Rotliegend
The Rotliegend or Rotliegendes is a lithostratigraphic unit of Cisuralian age that is found in the subsurface of large areas in western and central Europe. The Rotliegend mainly consists of sandstone layers...
, which stretches from northern Nackenheim to western Schwabsburg.
History
Two thousand years ago on Nierstein’s current site stood a RomanAncient 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....
settlement bearing the name Bauconica Nova. In 742, Nierstein had its first documentary mention. The occasion was the donation of a vineyard to the Lorsch Abbey
Lorsch Abbey
The Abbey of Lorsch is a former Imperial Abbey in Lorsch, Germany, about 10 km east of Worms, one of the most renowned monasteries of the Carolingian Empire. Even in its ruined state, its remains are among the most important pre-Romanesque–Carolingian style buildings in Germany...
by Frankish
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
King Carloman. The Glöck that was herein mentioned is said to be the oldest vineyard complex known by name in Germany. In 1451, vineyards owned 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...
in der Walpe were mentioned.
Amalgamations
- Sundheim (16th Century)
In the middle ages the village Sundheim (or "Suntheym") was located south (Old High German sunt = "south") of Nierstein. Today this place lies inside the old centre of Nierstein near to a brook called "Flügelsbach". The street name "Hinter Sundheim" (about: "Behind Sundheim") still remembers of this village.
- Schwabsburg (1 July 1970)
The name Schwabsburg was transferred from the castle of the same name at the settlement that already existed there then. The castle was held by the Staufer emperors, whose home was in Swabia
Swabia
Swabia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.-Geography:Like many cultural regions of Europe, Swabia's borders are not clearly defined...
. In the 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...
, the villages of Dexheim, Schwabsburg and Nierstein formed a municipality administered by the Nierstein knightly court. The municipality had Imperial immediacy.
After 1400 this place came under Electoral Palatinate lordship and thereby lost its Imperial freedom.
Politics
The mayor is Thomas Günther (CDU). The council’s seats are apportioned thus:- CDU - 11 seats
- SPDSocial Democratic Party of GermanyThe Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
- 6 seats - FDPFree 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...
- 2 seats - NEUFree VotersFree Voters is a German concept in which an association of persons participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party. Usually it is a locally organized group of voters in the form of a registered association . In most cases, Free Voters are active only at the...
(Wählergruppe Nierstein Engagiert und Unabhängig) - 2 seats - FWGFree VotersFree Voters is a German concept in which an association of persons participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party. Usually it is a locally organized group of voters in the form of a registered association . In most cases, Free Voters are active only at the...
(Freie Wähler Gemeinschaft) - 2 seats - WGKFree VotersFree Voters is a German concept in which an association of persons participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party. Usually it is a locally organized group of voters in the form of a registered association . In most cases, Free Voters are active only at the...
(Wählergruppe Kempener) - 1 seat
Town partnerships
Gevrey-ChambertinGevrey-Chambertin
Gevrey-Chambertin is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department of France in the Bourgogne region in eastern France.It lies 15 km South of Dijon. This touristic, winemaking village is situated on the Route des Grands Crus in the Côte de Nuits...
, 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...
since 1 September 1963 Freyburg
Freyburg, Germany
Freyburg is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the river Unstrut, 9 km northwest of Hanseatic Naumburg, 63 km from Leipzig and 231 km from Berlin...
, Burgenlandkreis
Burgenlandkreis
The Burgenlandkreis was a district in the south of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Neighboring districts are Merseburg-Querfurt, Weißenfels, Leipziger Land, Aschersleben-Staßfurt, Altenburger Land, Greiz, district-free Gera, Saale-Holzland, Weimarer Land, Sömmerda and the Kyffhäuserkreis.- History :The...
, Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt is a landlocked state of Germany. Its capital is Magdeburg and it is surrounded by the German states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony, and Thuringia.Saxony-Anhalt covers an area of...
Coat of arms
The municipality’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: Or an eagle displayed sable armed, langued and beaked gules, each side of his neck a mullet of six of the last.
The municipality’s earliest known seal dates from 1272 and shows very much what the current arms show, namely the Imperial Eagle. The two mullets (star shapes) serve to differentiate these arms from others, the Imperial Eagle being a reasonably common 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...
; however, on some later seals, the mullets are dropped. Otherwise, the arms have not undergone many changes since the 13th century.
Museums
The amateur palaeontologists Arnulf Stapf (father) and Harald Stapf (son) show in the Paläontologisches Museum Nierstein, which they themselves built up, rare footprintsTrace fossil
Trace fossils, also called ichnofossils , are geological records of biological activity. Trace fossils may be impressions made on the substrate by an organism: for example, burrows, borings , urolites , footprints and feeding marks, and root cavities...
of insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s, amphibian
Amphibian
Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...
s and reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
s from the Permian
Permian
The PermianThe term "Permian" was introduced into geology in 1841 by Sir Sir R. I. Murchison, president of the Geological Society of London, who identified typical strata in extensive Russian explorations undertaken with Edouard de Verneuil; Murchison asserted in 1841 that he named his "Permian...
period, as well as fossils from throughout the world. Since some of the specimens are unique, this institution, which is well worth seeing, is eagerly frequented by international specialists.
Buildings
Municipal core and noble estates: The once Free Imperial Village’s old downtown core is made up of the triad of marketplace, manorial estate and temple estate that Saint Martin’s EvangelicalEvangelical 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, surrounded by a defensive wall, borders, and on whose lands once stood the Frankish administrative centre, the Carolingian royal palace and the Ottonian
Ottonian Renaissance
The Ottonian Renaissance was a limited "renaissance" of economy and art in central and southern Europe that accompanied the reigns of the first three emperors of the Saxon Dynasty, all named Otto: Otto I , Otto II , and Otto III , and which in large part depended upon their patronage.One of three ...
royal court. Baroque
Baroque architecture
Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
noble estates define the streetscape and recall a mediaeval
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...
epoch in Nierstein’s local history when some two dozen noble families lived here as Imperially immediate fiefholders who shaped events by holding the office of Vogt
Vogt
A Vogt ; plural Vögte; Dutch voogd; Danish foged; ; ultimately from Latin [ad]vocatus) in the Holy Roman Empire was the German title of a reeve or advocate, an overlord exerting guardianship or military protection as well as secular justice...
, Schultheiß
Schultheiß
In medieval Germany, the Schultheiß was the head of a municipality , a Vogt or an executive official of the ruler.As official it was...
or 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....
en, as Schöffen (roughly “lay jurists”) at the knightly court or the ecclesiastical court. The estates were and still are mostly linked together and with the royal court through a branching underground system of defence works. To be stressed from among these are the former noble houses of the Barons of Knebel or Hundt von Saulheim (oldest 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...
house) as well as those of the families Knebel von Katzenelnbogen and Waldbott von Bassenheim
Heinrich Walpot von Bassenheim
Heinrich Walpot von Bassenheim , also known as Henry Walpot, was the first Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, serving from 1198 to 1200. As little is known about him, information regarding the Grand Master is mostly based on historians' theories.Walpot hailed from a rich family from Mainz. He...
, the Metternich’sche Hof (oldest estate complex), the Haxthäuser Hof (a Baroque manor belonging to the family Haxthausen), the gateway arch and wing of the Schloss von der Leyen
Leyen
The House of Leyen is an ancient German family of high nobility, the origin of which can be traced to the middle of the 12th century, which had estates at the Moselle River. Originally the family was named by its castle in Gondorf . Since the 14th century it has called itself von der Leyen...
and the Dalberg
Dalberg
Dalberg is the name of an ancient and distinguished German noble family, derived from the hamlet and castle of Dalberg or Dalburg near Kreuznach in Rhineland-Palatinate...
-Herding’sche Schloss (in the house chapel there are wall and ceiling paintings by Jakob Götzenberger in Nazarene style
Nazarene movement
The name Nazarene was adopted by a group of early 19th century German Romantic painters who aimed to revive honesty and spirituality in Christian art...
worth seeing).
Above the municipality, the watchtower is the highest viewpoint in the vineyards. It was built using stones from the old Königsstuhl between Nierstein and Lörzweiler, where in 1024 the conclave of princes elected Conrad II
Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor
Conrad II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1027 until his death.The son of a mid-level nobleman in Franconia, Count Henry of Speyer and Adelaide of Alsace, he inherited the titles of count of Speyer and of Worms as an infant when Henry died at age twenty...
as the first Salian
Salian dynasty
The Salian dynasty was a dynasty in the High Middle Ages of four German Kings , also known as the Frankish dynasty after the family's origin and role as dukes of Franconia...
to sit on the German throne. Saint Kilian
Saint Kilian
Saint Kilian, also spelled Killian , was an Irish missionary bishop and the apostle of Franconia , where he began his labours towards the end of the 7th century.-Background:...
’s Catholic Church, which can be seen far afield, perched upon a hill rising up at the Rhine valley, defines Nierstein’s skyline, although this is also marred somewhat by a former malthouse’s tall buildings. Plans are, however, afoot to have the old malthouse torn down and the lands redeveloped, thereby also opening the old Dalberg-Herdingsche Schloss on the malthouse’s grounds – or at least the residence’s house chapel, which is worth seeing – back up to visitors.
Sironabad: In 1802 remnants of a roughly 2,000-year-old Celtic-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....
spring sanctuary of goddess Sirona
Sirona
In Celtic mythology, Sirona was a goddess worshipped predominantly in East Central Gaul and along the Danubian limes. A healing deity, she was associated with healing springs; her attributes were snakes and eggs. She was sometimes depicted with Apollo Grannus or Apollo Borvo...
on the municipality’s southern edge near the railway crossing at the former quarry. The Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
salesman Martin van der Velden leased the lands, had the four 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...
s (two freshwater, two mineral water, of which one had a mineral content comparable to the recognized healing spring on the south slope of the Taunus
Taunus
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...
near Weilbach) housed under a roof in a building shielded against flooding that served as a taproom, and he sold the water in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and even the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
In the digs, besides the Roman spring complex, a votive altar was unearthed. This had been endowed by a Roman officer’s daughter, Julia Frontina, as thanks to the Celtic goddess Sirona
Sirona
In Celtic mythology, Sirona was a goddess worshipped predominantly in East Central Gaul and along the Danubian limes. A healing deity, she was associated with healing springs; her attributes were snakes and eggs. She was sometimes depicted with Apollo Grannus or Apollo Borvo...
and god Grannus
Grannus
In the Celtic polytheism of classical antiquity, Grannus was a deity associated with spas, healing thermal and mineral springs, and the sun. He was regularly identified with Apollo as Apollo Grannus...
(corresponding to the Roman god Apollo
Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
) for being healed.
Furthermore, a stone basin was also found with coins that had become sheathed in plaster over the ages. These, however, showed no sign of wear and had apparently been cast into the spring by healed guests. The mintages came from various emperors’ reigns: Domitian
Domitian
Domitian was Roman Emperor from 81 to 96. Domitian was the third and last emperor of the Flavian dynasty.Domitian's youth and early career were largely spent in the shadow of his brother Titus, who gained military renown during the First Jewish-Roman War...
(86), Nerva
Nerva
Nerva , was Roman Emperor from 96 to 98. Nerva became Emperor at the age of sixty-five, after a lifetime of imperial service under Nero and the rulers of the Flavian dynasty. Under Nero, he was a member of the imperial entourage and played a vital part in exposing the Pisonian conspiracy of 65...
(98), Trajan
Trajan
Trajan , was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, in Spain Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in Spain, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against...
(100 and 112), Hadrian
Hadrian
Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...
(118 and 119), Antoninus Pius
Antoninus Pius
Antoninus Pius , also known as Antoninus, was Roman Emperor from 138 to 161. He was a member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty and the Aurelii. He did not possess the sobriquet "Pius" until after his accession to the throne...
(145), Gordian III
Gordian III
Gordian III , was Roman Emperor from 238 to 244. Gordian was the son of Antonia Gordiana and an unnamed Roman Senator who died before 238. Antonia Gordiana was the daughter of Emperor Gordian I and younger sister of Emperor Gordian II. Very little is known on his early life before his acclamation...
(239-244), Postumus
Postumus
Marcus Cassianius Latinius Postumus was a Roman emperor of Batavian origin. He usurped power from Gallienus in 260 and formed the so-called Gallic Empire...
(267) and Marcia Otacilia Severa
Marcia Otacilia Severa
Marcia Otacilia Severa or Otacilia Severa was the Empress of Rome and wife of Emperor Marcus Julius Philippus or Philip the Arab who reigned over the Roman Empire from 244 to 249....
, Emperor Philip the Arab
Philip the Arab
Philip the Arab , also known as Philip or Philippus Arabs, was Roman Emperor from 244 to 249. He came from Syria, and rose to become a major figure in the Roman Empire. He achieved power after the death of Gordian III, quickly negotiating peace with the Sassanid Empire...
’s wife. It can therefore be inferred that the Romans were using the springs at least from AD 86 on into the 3rd century.
Near Nierstein on the other side of the Rhine, not far from the Kornsand-Geinsheim linking road, at 49°52′11"N 8°23′1"E, is a transmission facility for SWR’s
Südwestrundfunk
The Südwestrundfunk is a public broadcasting company for the southwest of Germany, specifically the states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. The company has main offices in three cities: Stuttgart, Baden-Baden and Mainz, with the director's office being in Stuttgart. It is an...
VHF broadcasts consisting of a 138 m-tall guyed steel-lattice mast with a triangular cross-section. This mast was originally part of the Bodenseesender
Bodenseesender
thumb|250px|The facility of Bodenseesender in September 2005. Two of the three mentioned 137 metre tall masts were already demolished. The remaining 137 metre mast can be seen right in the picture...
directional antenna at Meßkirch-Rohrdorf, which was dismantled in the 1970s and reassembled in Nierstein in 1981.
Clubs
Nierstein’s biggest club is Turnverein Nierstein 1901 e.V. (gymnasticsGymnastics
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...
) with more than 1,000 members. Worthy of mention is the dance troupe “Magic Fire” (so-called even 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....
), which in 2005 won not only the title of Rhineland-Palatinate champion but also German champion and European champion in the category Exhibition Dance Character Youth. Likewise successful is the club’s first team in the team handball department, who in the 2006/2007 season took the district league championship and thereby advanced to the Verbandsliga
Verbandsliga
The Verbandsliga is the 6th tier of football in Germany, played on a regional basis by Bundesland. In Saxony, Thuringia, Hamburg, Bremen and Bavaria the 6th tier is called Landesliga, which is the 7th tier in some of the other Bundesländer...
.
The community of Nierstein-Schwabsburg offers those interested the opportunity of pursuing hobbies together in a great many clubs.
Particularly worth mentioning here are 1. FC Schwabsburg 1958 e.V. (association football) – which has put the stress on youth work – Turnverein 1903 Schwabsburg (gymnastics) and Männergesangverein 1884 Schwabsburg (men’s singing). Even the Nierstein YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
is strongly represented in youth work and even offers its own sport and music work.
Regular events
Each year on the first weekend in August, the Winegrowers’ Festival (Winzerfest) is held. Until a few years ago it was well known beyond the region for an historical “wine village” built on the marketplace in the form of a big castle. In the late 1990s, however, the needed renovation to these buildings was dismissed on financial grounds and the festival’s appearance gradually came to resemble other wine festivals in the region with many single wine stands.On every weekend of the season, but above all on festival weekends, tourist vineyard tours are conducted. As an extra for those on these tours, groups of up to 14 guests are driven by tractor to the vineyards on the “Red Slope”, while being given the opportunity on the way to sample the slope’s wine as part of the Weck, Worscht un Woi (“buns, sausage and wine” in Rhine Franconian
Rhine Franconian
Rhine Franconian , or Rhenish Franconian, is a dialect family of West Central German. It comprises the German dialects spoken across the western regions of the states of Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Hesse in Germany...
dialect). It should be noted that according to the traffic regulations (Straßenverkehrsordnung § 21 Abs. 2), these outings are, strictly speaking, forbidden by law as the vehicles involved are not supposed to carry anyone but those employed in agriculture or forestry, and the maximum number is supposed to be 8, not 14. Nevertheless, and the several accidents that have happened in other regions notwithstanding, these tours are tolerated.
Yearly events in the wine season
- Early May: Maypole festival
- Mid May: wine festival and kermis (church consecration festival, locally known as the Kerb) in the outlying centre of Schwabsburg
- Mid June: wine presentation at the Roter Hang (“Red Slope”) vineyard
- Early July: International Cultural festival
- Early August: Historical Winegrowers’ Festival
- Early September: Nierstein Kerb and wine festival
- Mid September: open-house days at the wineries and wine cellars
The exact dates are listed here.
Culinary specialities
Wingertsknorze (rye rolls with caraway), Fleischworscht (“meat sausage” similar to bolognaBologna sausage
Bologna sausage is an American sausage derived from and definitely not similar to the Italian mortadella . It is commonly called boloney, baloney or, more formally, bologna...
), Worschtsupp (“sausage soup”) and Rieslingsupp, Spundekäs and Handkäs mit Musik (two kinds of cheese) are the best known representatives of the regional cooking. Moreover, various wineries offer a comprehensive selection of regional dishes in their 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...
.
Winegrowing
Nierstein is characterized to a considerable extent by winegrowing, and with 783 ha of vineyard, of which 75.6% is used for white wine varieties and 24.4% for red, Nierstein is, after WormsWorms, Germany
Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...
(1 490 ha), Rhenish Hesse’s biggest winegrowing centre, and Rhineland-Palatinate’s sixth biggest. The municipality is also the local winegrowing region’s namesake.
See also:
- Weingut St. AntonyWeingut St. AntonySt. Antony is a wine estate in the Rheinhessen wine-growing region in Germany, that has been making wine since the end of the First World War....
Tourism
The municipality’s second biggest field of economic endeavour is tourism, catering to hikers and cyclists as well as day visitors. The outlying centre of Nierstein-Schwabsburg currently counts 7 hotels and 24 guesthouses (pensions), many of which are housed in renovated wineries.Transport
Through Nierstein runs BundesstraßeBundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
9, which here is banned for use by long-distance trucks. Bundesstraße 420 also begins here. Nierstein lies on the Mainz–Ludwigshafen railway line, and has a centrally located railway station.
Famous people
- Johann Wilhelm Wernher (b. 1767; d. 1827 in Nierstein) was a government councillor, mayor, lawyer, privy councillor and court president, and a winegrower in Nierstein. He was well known as the judge at SchinderhannesSchinderhannesJohannes Bückler , nicknamed Schinderhannes, was a German outlaw who orchestrated one of the most fascinating crime sprees in German history. He was born at Miehlen, the son of Johann and Anna Maria Bückler. He began an apprenticeship to a tanner, but turned to petty theft. At 16 he was arrested...
’s trial. In 1804 he acquired the Rodensteiner/Haxthäuser Hof and made it into his family seat in Rhenish Hesse. Among Johann Wilhelm Wernher’s offspring, many were active in Rhenish-Hessian historical research, particularly in Nierstein and Oppenheim.
Sons and daughters of the town
- Philipp Wilhelm Wernher (b. 12. January 1802 in Nierstein; d. 6. October 1887 in Nierstein), Johann Wilhelm Wernher’s son, was a HessianGrand Duchy of HesseThe Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine , or, between 1806 and 1816, Grand Duchy of Hesse —as it was also known after 1816—was a member state of the German Confederation from 1806, when the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was elevated to a Grand Duchy, until 1918, when all the German...
liberal politician and winegrower, as well as Heinrich von GagernHeinrich von GagernHeinrich Wilhelm August Freiherr von Gagern was a statesman who argued for the unification of Germany.The third son of Hans Christoph Ernst, Baron von Gagern, a liberal statesman from Hesse, Heinrich von Gagern was born at Bayreuth, educated at the military academy at Munich, and, as an officer in...
’s comrade in arms, member of the Hesse-Darmstadt Estates, the Vorparlament (a body convened to prepare for the Frankfurt ParliamentFrankfurt ParliamentThe Frankfurt Assembly was the first freely elected parliament for all of Germany. Session was held from May 18, 1848 to May 31, 1849 in the Paulskirche at Frankfurt am Main...
), the Frankfurt Parliament and the Erfurt UnionErfurt UnionThe Erfurt Union was a short-lived union of German states under a federation, proposed by the Kingdom of Prussia at Erfurt, for which the Erfurt Union Parliament , lasting from March 20 to April 29, 1850, was opened...
Parliament, district councillor in the Oppenheim district and director of the Darmstädter Staatsschuldentilgungskasse (an institution for clearing state debt). He was also member of the Hessian First Chamber. - D. Theo Sorg, (b. 11. March 1929 in Nierstein), EvangelicalEvangelical Church in GermanyThe 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...
clergyman and from 1988 to 1994 Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in WürttembergEvangelical-Lutheran Church in WürttembergThe Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg is a Protestant church in the German former state of Württemberg, now the part of the state Baden-Württemberg. The seat of the church is in Stuttgart.It is a full member of the Evangelical Church in Germany , and is a Lutheran Church... - Ernst-Günter Brinkmann (b. 1943), Member of the Rhineland-Palatinate Landtag from 1987 to 2006
- Rhenish-Hessian Wine Queens:
- Heike Schmitt, 1977/1978 and also 30th German Wine Queen 1978/1979
- Lisa Bunn, 2008/2009