![Büdesheim Luftbild 096](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/B%C3%BCdesheim_Luftbild_096.jpg)
Bingen am Rhein () is a town in the
Mainz-Bingen
Mainz-Bingen is a district (''Kreis'') in the east of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from north clockwise) Rheingau-Taunus, the district-free cities Wiesbaden and Mainz, the districts Groß-Gerau, Alzey-Worms, Bad Kreuzna ...
district in
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
, Germany.
The settlement's original name was Bingium, a
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
word that may have meant "hole in the rock", a description of the
shoal
In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. It ...
behind the ''Mäuseturm'', known as the ''Binger Loch''. Bingen was the starting point for the ''Via Ausonia'', a
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
military road that linked the town with
Trier
Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...
. Bingen is well known for, among other things, the story about the
Mouse Tower
The Mouse Tower (Mäuseturm) is a stone tower on a small island in the Rhine, outside Bingen am Rhein, Germany.
History
The Romans were the first to build a structure on this site. It later became part of Franconia, and it fell and had to be re ...
, in which the Bishop of
Hatto I of Mainz was allegedly eaten by mice. Saint
Hildegard von Bingen
Hildegard of Bingen (german: Hildegard von Bingen; la, Hildegardis Bingensis; 17 September 1179), also known as Saint Hildegard and the Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess and polymath active as a writer, composer, philosopher ...
, an important
polymath
A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...
,
abbess
An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey.
Description
In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic ...
,
mystic and
musician
A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...
, one of the most influential
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
composers
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Classical music, Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
E ...
and one of the earliest Western composers whose music is widely preserved and performed, was born 40 km away from Bingen, in Bermersheim vor der Höhe. Bingen am Rhein was also the birthplace of the celebrated poet
Stefan George
Stefan Anton George (; 12 July 18684 December 1933) was a German symbolist poet and a translator of Dante Alighieri, William Shakespeare, Hesiod, and Charles Baudelaire. He is also known for his role as leader of the highly influential literar ...
, along with many other influential figures.
Geography
Location
Bingen is situated just southeast of the
Rhine knee
The Rhine knee or Rhine's knee (german: Rheinknie) is the name of several distinctive bends in the course of the river Rhine.
Basel
In Basel, the Rhine changes its westerly direction of flow in an angle of 90 degrees to a northerly direction, alo ...
by the
Bingen Forest
The Bingen Forest (german: Binger Wald) is part of the Hunsrück, a low mountain range in the Central Uplands of Germany. It is up to and is located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Location
The landscape of the Bingen Forest lies on ...
(''Binger Wald'' – actually a low mountain range), which rises west of the town. Rising to the north on the other side of the Rhine is the
Rheingau
The Rheingau (; ) is a region on the northern side of the Rhine between the German towns of Wiesbaden and Lorch near Frankfurt, reaching from the Western Taunus to the Rhine. It is situated in the German state of Hesse and is part of the Rheing ...
range, the
Taunus
The Taunus is a mountain range in Hesse, Germany, located north of Frankfurt. The tallest peak in the range is ''Großer Feldberg'' at 878 m; other notable peaks are ''Kleiner Feldberg'' (825 m) and ''Altkönig'' (798 m).
The Taunus range spans ...
's southwesternmost outcrop. In Bingen the river Nahe empties into the
Rhine Gorge
The Rhine Gorge is a popular name for the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, a 65 km section of the Rhine between Koblenz and Rüdesheim in the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse in Germany. It was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage S ...
. Bingen forms the southern limit of the
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
Rhine Gorge
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
. The Rochusberg (mountain) is nearly completely surrounded by the town site.
Constituent communities
Population development
(each time at 31 December)
History
Antiquity
Even before the
Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
came, people lived here, because the location favoured transport, being at the confluence of the Nahe and Rhine Rivers, and the Rhine's entry into the gorge. The first settlement seems to have been a
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
(
Gaulish
Gaulish was an ancient Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium ...
) settlement by the name of ''Binge'' – meaning "rift". In the early first century AD, Roman troops were stationed in Bingen on the Rhine Valley Road, and rendered the local name as Bingium in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
. There the Romans erected a wooden bridge across the Nahe and constructed a
bridgehead
In military strategy, a bridgehead (or bridge-head) is the strategically important area of ground around the end of a bridge or other place of possible crossing over a body of water which at time of conflict is sought to be defended or taken over ...
castrum
In the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a po ...
. A Roman
Mithraic
Mithraism, also known as the Mithraic mysteries or the Cult of Mithras, was a Roman mystery religion centered on the god Mithras. Although inspired by Iranian worship of the Zoroastrian divinity (''yazata'') Mithra, the Roman Mithras is linke ...
monument, which included a mutilated sculpture representing the nativity of Mithra from a rock, was discovered in Bingen; one of its inscriptions is dated 236.
Medieval period
The presbyter Aetherius of Bingen founded sometime between 335 and 360 a firmly Christian community. Bearing witness to this time is Aetherius's gravestone, which can still be seen in Saint Martin's Basilica. After the
fall
Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southe ...
of the
Limes
Limes may refer to:
* the plural form of lime (disambiguation)
* the Latin word for ''limit'' which refers to:
** Limes (Roman Empire)
(Latin, singular; plural: ) is a modern term used primarily for the Germanic border defence or delimiting ...
, the town became a
Frankish
Frankish may refer to:
* Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture
** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages
* Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany
* East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...
royal estate and passed in 983 by the Donation of Verona from
Otto II
Otto II (955 – 7 December 983), called the Red (''der Rote''), was Holy Roman Emperor from 973 until his death in 983. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto II was the youngest and sole surviving son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Italy. ...
to Archbishop
Willigis
Willigis ( la, Willigisus; german: Willigis, Willegis; 940 – 23 February 1011 AD) was Archbishop of Mainz from 975 until his death as well as archchancellor of the Holy Roman Empire.
Life
Willigus was born in the Duchy of Saxony, possibly at ...
of Mainz. Under
Otto III
Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu.
Otto III was crowned as King of ...
the ''Binger Kammerforst'' (forest) came into being. Under Willigis, some way up the river Nahe, the stone ''Drususbrücke'' (bridge) was built.
The inhabitants of Bingen strove time and again for independence, which led in 1165 through disputes between the Archbishop of Mainz and the Emperor to destruction. In the 13th century, Bingen was a member of the
Rhenish League Several leagues of cities (in German: ''Städtebünde'', singular ''Städtebund'')
became influential in the history of the Holy Roman Empire.
Military alliance and mutual assistance strengthened the position of imperial cities, especially during
t ...
of Towns. The building of
Klopp Castle (''Burg Klopp'') in the mid 13th century could well be seen as being tied in with this development. A last attempt was the town's unsuccessful participation in the
German Peasants' War
The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt (german: Deutscher Bauernkrieg) was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It failed because of intense oppositio ...
in 1525. From the Archbishop the Cathedral Chapter of Mainz acquired the town in two halves in 1424 and 1438. Until the late 18th century Bingen remained under its administration. Like many towns in the valley, Bingen suffered several town fires and wars.
Modern period
From 1792 to 1813, the town was, as part of the ''département'' of
Mont-Tonnerre
Mont-Tonnerre was a department of the First French Republic and later the First French Empire in present-day Germany. It was named after the highest point in the Palatinate, the ''Donnersberg'' ("Thunder Mountain", possibly referring to Donar, ...
(or Donnersberg – both names meaning "Thunder Mountain"), French after
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
ary troops had occupied the Rhine's left bank. In 1816, after the
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...
, the town passed to the
Grand Duchy of Hesse
The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine (german: link=no, Großherzogtum Hessen und bei Rhein) was a grand duchy in western Germany that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Grand Duchy originally formed from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1806 ...
-Darmstadt while today's outlying centre of Bingerbrück went to
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
's
Rhine Province
The Rhine Province (german: Rheinprovinz), also known as Rhenish Prussia () or synonymous with the Rhineland (), was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822 to 1946. It ...
, making Bingen a border town until 1871, when the
German Empire
The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
was founded.
On 7 June 1969, the formerly Prussian municipality of Bingerbrück was amalgamated. On 22 April 1972 came Dromersheim's and Sponsheim's amalgamation with Bingen. The epithet ''am Rhein'' has been borne since 1 July 1982.
For the State Garden Show in 2008 in Bingen, the Rhineside areas in the town underwent extensive modernization.
Jewish history
Benjamin of Tudela
Benjamin of Tudela ( he, בִּנְיָמִין מִטּוּדֶלָה, ; ar, بنيامين التطيلي ''Binyamin al-Tutayli''; Tudela, Kingdom of Navarre, 1130 Castile, 1173) was a medieval Jewish traveler who visited Europe, Asia, an ...
mentioned a Jewish community in Bingen in the mid-12th century. Christian inhabitants attacked the small Jewish quarter on
Rosh Hashanah
Rosh HaShanah ( he, רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה, , literally "head of the year") is the Jewish New Year. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , lit. "day of shouting/blasting") It is the first of the Jewish High Holy Days (, , " ...
in 1198 or 1199, and the Jews were driven from the city. Jews again lived in Bingen as moneylenders in the middle of the 13th century under the jurisdiction of the
archbishop of Mainz
The Elector of Mainz was one of the seven Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. As both the Archbishop of Mainz and the ruling prince of the Electorate of Mainz, the Elector of Mainz held a powerful position during the Middle Ages. The Archb ...
. In 1343,
French Jews
The history of the Jews in France deals with Jews and Jewish communities in France since at least the Early Middle Ages. France was a centre of Jewish learning in the Middle Ages, but Persecution of Jews, persecution increased over time, includ ...
settled in Bingen. In 1405, the archbishop declared a moratorium on one-fifth of the debts owed to Jews by Christians, and subsequently the archbishops repeatedly extorted large sums. Noted rabbis who taught in the small community included Seligmann Oppenheim, who convened the Council of Bingen (1455–56) in an unsuccessful attempt to establish his authority over the whole of
Rhineland
The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section.
Term
Historically, the Rhinelands ...
Jewry. After the proposal was opposed by Moses Minz, the matter was referred to Isaac Isserlein, who rejected the project. The Jews were again expelled from Bingen in 1507, and did not return until the second half of the 16th century. The Jewish population was 465 in 1933, and 222 in 1939 due to flight and emigration. The 169 Jews who remained in Bingen in 1942 were deported, and only four ultimately returned. The synagogue was demolished in 1945, and the community was not reestablished after World War II.
Politics
Town council
The council is made up of 36 members. The mayor since 2012 has been the
CDU politician
Thomas Feser. Seats are apportioned thus:
Coat of arms
The town's
arms
Arms or ARMS may refer to:
*Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body
Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to:
People
* Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader
Coat of arms or weapons
*Armaments or weapons
**Fi ...
show
Saint Martin cutting off a piece of his cloak for a poor man and, in a small
inescutcheon
In heraldry, an escutcheon () is a shield that forms the main or focal element in an achievement of arms. The word can be used in two related senses. In the first sense, an escutcheon is the shield upon which a coat of arms is displayed. In the s ...
in dexter chief, the
Wheel of Mainz
The 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 (Kurmainz), in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It consists of a silver wheel with six spokes on a red bac ...
.
Main sights
*
Mouse Tower
The Mouse Tower (Mäuseturm) is a stone tower on a small island in the Rhine, outside Bingen am Rhein, Germany.
History
The Romans were the first to build a structure on this site. It later became part of Franconia, and it fell and had to be re ...
* Former monastery church, the
Basilica of St. Martin, from the 15th century with
Romanesque crypt
A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics.
Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...
* Klopp Castle (''Burg Klopp'')
*
''Rochuskapelle''
* ''Drususbrücke'' (bridge) with Romanesque
bridge chapel
A bridge chapel is a small place of Christian worship, built either on, or immediately adjacent to, a road bridge; they were commonly established during pre-Reformation medieval era in Europe.
Although sometimes built on land at the very start o ...
* Old Rhine Crane
* ''Haferkasten'' (“Oat Shed”, from after 1689) with Stefan-George-Museum
* Puricellipalais, an
Empire style
The Empire style (, ''style Empire'') is an early-nineteenth-century design movement in architecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts, representing the second phase of Neoclassicism. It flourished between 1800 and 1815 durin ...
building from 1780
* Old Graveyard from the 19th century with Napoleon monument
* Historical Museum on the theme “Hildegard of Bingen”
*
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
''
villa rustica
Villa rustica () was the term used by the ancient Romans to denote a farmhouse or villa set in the countryside and with an agricultural section, which applies to the vast majority of Roman villas. In some cases they were at the centre of a large ...
'' in the Bingen Forest
* Rhine
Floodplain
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...
Special Protection Area
A Special Protection Area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and cert ...
* Bingerbrück Reiter
Signal Box
In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...
technological cultural monument
* A new concept was introduced with the ''Route der Industriekultur Rhein-Main'' (“Rhine-Main Industrial Culture Route”), along which industrial building works on the 160 km between
Miltenberg
Miltenberg () is a town in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named district and has a population of over 9,000.
Geography
Location
The old town lies on the Main ...
and Bingen are linked together into an adventure route about the Industrial Age in southern Germany. Already 700 buildings are scientifically catalogued.
Culture
Bingen 2008 State Garden Show
Bingen was from 18 April to 19 October 2008 host for the Rhineland-Palatinate State Garden Show. The event was held along a 2.8 km stretch of the Rhine waterfront on 24 ha of exhibition area. With 1.3 million visitors, the expected number of 600,000 was greatly exceeded.
Regular events
* Bingen swingt – jazz festival
* Binger Open Air Festival – Alternative festival
*
Breakpoint
In software development, a breakpoint is an intentional stopping or pausing place in a program, put in place for debugging purposes. It is also sometimes simply referred to as a pause.
More generally, a breakpoint is a means of acquiring knowle ...
– worldwide, one of the
demoscene
The demoscene is an international computer art subculture focused on producing demos: self-contained, sometimes extremely small, computer programs that produce audiovisual presentations. The purpose of a demo is to show off programming, visual ...
's biggest events (no longer held)
* Nacht der Verführung – (literally "Night of Seduction") wine festival in the vines
* Rhein im Feuerzauber – great firework event
* Rochusfest (Saint Roch's Festival) – church festival with folk character, Bishopric of Mainz
pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...
* Winzerfest (winemakers' festival) – lasting 11 days, the longest wine festival on the Rhine
Economy and infrastructure
![Bingen Burg Klopp](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Bingen_Burg_Klopp.jpg)
The region is characterized economically by
winegrowing
Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...
, especially as in Bingen three winegrowing areas (
Rheinhessen
Rhenish Hesse or Rhine HesseDickinson, Robert E (1964). ''Germany: A regional and economic geography'' (2nd ed.). London: Methuen, p. 542. . (german: Rheinhessen) is a region and a former government district () in the German state of Rhineland- ...
,
Mittelrhein and
Nahe) meet. The town is also the winegrowing ''Bereich's'' (''Bereich Bingen'') namesake in German wine law.
Other industries that once did business in Bingen when there was a harbour have left the town over the years. The service industries here today are found ''Italic text''mainly in the industrial park (
Autobahn
The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. ...
interchange Bingen-Ost / Kempten / Industriegebiet) and in the Scharlachberg commercial park.
Tourism also plays an important role.
Resident businesses
* NSM-Löwen (slot machines)
*
Oerlikon Balzers Coating Germany GmbH
*
Sekthaus Carl Graeger
Transport
Rail
The main railway station, ''
Bingen (Rhein) Hauptbahnhof
Bingen (Rhein) Hauptbahnhof is a railway station in the German city of Bingen am Rhein on the West Rhine Railway. It is located in the borough of Bingerbrück. The station that serves central Bingen is called Bingen Stadt.
The station is served ...
'', lies in the outlying centre of Bingerbrück. It is served by
InterCity
InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...
trains as well as one
ICE
Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaq ...
line.
Bingen (Rhein) Stadt station lies 2 km farther east, right across from the historical harbour crane. This station is important only for local transport. There is also a stop in Bingen-Gaulsheim. The reason that two railway stations arose in Bingen is historical. The main railway station was originally a
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
n border station built by the
Rhenish Railway Company
The Rhenish Railway Company (German language, German: ''Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'', RhE) was along with the Cologne-Minden Railway Company (CME) and the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company (BME) one of the railway companies that in the m ...
on its
West Rhine Railway
The West Rhine railway (German: ''Linke Rheinstrecke'', literally 'left (bank of the) Rhine route') is a famously picturesque, double-track electrified railway line running for 185 km from Cologne via Bonn, Koblenz, and Bingen to Mainz. It i ...
, whilst the station in town belonged to the
Hessian Ludwig Railway
The Hessian Ludwig Railway (German: ''Hessische Ludwigsbahn'') or HLB with its network of 697 kilometres of railway was one of the largest privately owned railway companies in Germany.
Early history
The Hessian Ludwig Railway was a product of ...
.
The stops at Drususbrücke on the
Bingen Hbf-Bad Kreuznach line and Bingen-Kempten and Büdesheim-Dromersheim on the Bingen/Rhein Stadt–
Alzey
Alzey () is a ''Verband''-free town – one belonging to no ''Verbandsgemeinde'' – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the fifth-largest town in Rhenish Hesse, after Mainz, Worms, Germany, Worms, Ingelheim am Rhein ...
line are no longer served.
Road
Bingen lies next to
Autobahn
The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. ...
en
A 60 and
A 61, which are linked to the town by ''
Bundesstraße
''Bundesstraße'' (German for "federal highway"), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.
Germany
Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km.
German ''Bundesstraßen'' ...
'' 9.
Water
![Binger Loch](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Binger_Loch.JPG)
Only private transport is still of importance today. The cargo harbour has been abandoned. The former winter harbour is now a
marina
A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats.
A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...
.
There are landing stages of the tourist lines Köln-Düsseldorfer, Bingen-Rüdesheimer Fahrgastschifffahrt and Rösslerlinie. A passenger ferry and a car ferry link Bingen with
Rüdesheim.
Until the late 1970s Bingen was a piloting station.
Education
*
University of Applied Sciences Bingen
The Bingen Technical University of Applied Sciences (German: ''Technische Hochschule Bingen'') is a university located in Bingen am Rhein, Germany. It was founded in 1897. The University of Applied Sciences Bingen consists of two faculties: the f ...
* Stefan-George-
Gymnasium
* Hildegardisschule, Bishopric of Mainz Catholic private school
* Rochus-
Realschule
''Realschule'' () is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), ...
* Rupertus
Hauptschule
A ''Hauptschule'' (, "general school") is a secondary school in Germany, starting after four years of elementary schooling (''Grundschule''), which offers Lower Secondary Education (Level 2) according to the International Standard Classification ...
* Berufsbildende Schule Bingen (
vocational school
A vocational school is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational education or technical skills required to complete the tasks ...
)
* Bingen town library
*
Folk high school
Folk high schools (also ''Adult Education Center'', Danish: ''Folkehøjskole;'' Dutch: ''Volkshogeschool;'' Finnish: ''kansanopisto'' and ''työväenopisto'' or ''kansalaisopisto;'' German: ''Volkshochschule'' and (a few) ''Heimvolkshochschule;'' ...
Notable people
Born before 1900
*
Hildegard of Bingen
Hildegard of Bingen (german: Hildegard von Bingen; la, Hildegardis Bingensis; 17 September 1179), also known as Saint Hildegard and the Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess and polymath active as a writer, composer, philosopher ...
(1098–1179),
abbess
An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey.
Description
In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic ...
and author, mystic, writer, composer, musician, and medic. After her the Bingen girls' school (
Gymnasium and
vocational school
A vocational school is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational education or technical skills required to complete the tasks ...
), the Hildegardisschule (“Higa”), is named. On 7 October 2012, Pope Benedict XVI named her a Doctor of the Church.
*
Bertha of Bingen
Saint Bertha of Bingen (German: ''Heilige Berta'', died ca. 757) was the mother of Rupert of Bingen. Her biography was written, and subsequently her cult popularized, by Hildegard of Bingen, who lived in the same region, about four hundred year ...
(c. 600's)
* (1754–1825), writer
*
Philipp Foltz
Philipp von Foltz (11 May 1805 – 5 August 1877) was a German history painter.
Biography
He was born in Bingen am Rhein. His father, Ludwig, a painter of some note, gave him his first art lessons. In 1825, he went to Munich, where he was a ...
(1805–1877), painter
* (1828–1912), Mayor of Bingen and Member of the ''Landstände'' of the
Grand Duchy of Hesse
The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine (german: link=no, Großherzogtum Hessen und bei Rhein) was a grand duchy in western Germany that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Grand Duchy originally formed from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1806 ...
*
Heinrich Brück
Heinrich Brück (25 October 1831, Bingen – 4 November 1903) was a German Catholic church historian, and Bishop of Mainz.
Life
He followed for some time the cooper's trade. After a course of studies under of a distinguished ecclesiastic, Dr. ...
(1831–1903), Bishop of Mainz
* Johann Baptist Hilsdorf (1835–1918), photographer and father of Theodor and Jacob
* (1843–1905), Catholic priest, writer and Rhenish Hessian local historian
*
Alice Bensheimer
Alice Bensheimer (born Alice Coblenz: 6 May 1864 – 20 March 1935) was a German Feminist movement, women's rights activist and longstanding secretary to the Bund Deutscher Frauenvereine, Federation of German Women's Associations (''"Bund Deutsche ...
(1864–1935), politician and feminist
*
Theodor Hilsdorf
Theodor Hilsdorf (18 June 1868, Bingen am Rhein, Bingen – 1944, Munich) was a German photographer who held an official position at the Kingdom of Bavaria, Royal Bavarian Court.
Life and work
His father, Johann Baptist Hilsdorf, was also a p ...
(1868–1944), photographer
*
Stefan George
Stefan Anton George (; 12 July 18684 December 1933) was a German symbolist poet and a translator of Dante Alighieri, William Shakespeare, Hesiod, and Charles Baudelaire. He is also known for his role as leader of the highly influential literar ...
(1868–1933), poet
*
Carl Friedberg
Carl Rudolf Hermann Friedberg (September 18, 1872 in Bingen am Rhein, Bingen, German Empire, Germany – September 9, 1955 in Meran, Italy) was a German pianist and teacher of Jewish origin.
Biography
He was son of Eduard Friedberg (?–1937) a ...
(1872–1955), pianist and music pedagogue
*
Jacob Hilsdorf
Jacob Hilsdorf (10 June 1872, Bingen am Rhein, Bingen – 11 January 1916, Frankfurt am Main) was a German photographer.
Life and work
His father, Johann Baptist Hilsdorf, was also a photographer. He and his older brother, Theodor Hilsdorf, Th ...
(1872–1916), photographer
* (born 1882), Member of the ''Landtag'' (Zentrum)
*
Saladin Schmitt
Saladin Schmitt (18 September 1883 – 14 March 1951), real name Joseph Anton Schmitt, also active under the pseudonym Harald Hoffmann) was a German theatre director.
Life
Born in Bingen am Rhein, Schmitt came from a family of wine merchants a ...
(1883–1951), theatre researcher, producer and theatre manager
* (1891–1960), leading Jewish architect who designed synagogues, department stores, and the first skyscraper in
Mannheim
Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...
Born 1900 and later
* (1900–1983), geologist and paleontologist, professor at the Freie Universität Berlin
* (1908–1980), trade unionist and politician (CDU), Member of the
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...
* (1913–1984), ecclesiastical historian, librarian at the ''Martinus-Bibliothek''
* (born 1922), docent for pastoral liturgy at the Episcopal Seminary, diocesan president of church choirs in the Bishopric of Mainz
* (born 1940), politician, former Bundestag Armed Forces Commissioner
*
Mary Roos
Mary Roos (born Rosemarie Schwab on 9 January 1949) is a German singer and actress.
Biography 1949-1970
Schwab was born in Bingen. At the age of nine, she recorded her first song "Ja die Dicken sind ja so gemütlich" as ''Die kleine Rosemarie ...
(born 1949), singer and actress
* (born 1954), singer
*
Thomas Kling
Thomas Kling (June 5, 1957 – April 1, 2005) was a German poet.
Life
Thomas Kling was born in Bingen am Rhein, grew up in Hilden and went to school in Düsseldorf. He studied philology in Cologne, Düsseldorf and Vienna and lived in Finland for ...
(1957–2005), lyric poet
*
Peter Frey (born 1957), journalist
* (born 1964), singer and actor
*
Dajan Šimac (born 1982),
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...
*
Jan Schlaudraff (born 1983), footballer and first national player from Bingen
Twin towns – sister cities
Bingen am Rhein is
twinned with:
*
Hitchin
Hitchin () is a market town and unparished area in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 35,842.
History
Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce peopl ...
, England, United Kingdom (1958)
*
Nuits-Saint-Georges
Nuits-Saint-Georges () is a commune in the arrondissement of Beaune of the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France. It lies in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region.
Wine
Nuits-Saint-Georges is the main town of the Côte de Nuits wine-produci ...
, France (1960)
*
Venarey-les-Laumes, France (1967)
*
Prizren
)
, settlement_type = Municipality and city
, image_skyline = Prizren Collage.jpg
, imagesize = 290px
, image_caption = View of Prizren
, image_alt = View of Prizren
, image_flag ...
, Kosovo (1968)
*
Anamur
Anamur is a town and district in Mersin Province, Turkey, the westernmost district of that province, bordering on Antalya Province. Anamur contains Anatolia's southernmost point, It is a coastal resort known for its bananas and peanuts.
Etym ...
, Turkey (2011)
*
Kutná Hora
Kutná Hora (; medieval Czech: ''Hory Kutné''; german: Kuttenberg) is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 20,000 inhabitants. The centre of Kutná Hora, including the Sedlec Abbey and its ossuary, was designa ...
, Czech Republic (2011)
References
External links
Town's official webpage
Tourist Information on Bingen am RheinInformation on Bingen''Jewish Encyclopedia'': "Bingen"by Kaufmann Kohler & A. M. Friedenberg (1906).
Jewish History of Bingen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bingen Am Rhein
Populated places on the Rhine
Rhenish Hesse
Mainz-Bingen
Naheland
Holocaust locations in Germany
Middle Rhine