Holzkirchen is a
market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...
in
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. With a population of over 16,000 (2008) it is the largest town in the
Miesbach district
Miesbach () is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the districts of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen, Munich and Rosenheim, and by the Austrian state of Tyrol.
History
In medieval times most of t ...
.
Holzkirchen is located on the Alpenvorland in the county of Miesbach.
History
Holzkirchen was established as a Markt in the 13th century.
Holzkirchen was the location of one of the main transmitting stations for
Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...
. Transmissions started in 1951 and provided the people of Eastern Europe with news from Western Europe. The transmitters had a strength of up to 250 Kilowatts.
There were claims that the high-powered transmissions caused illnesses locally . There were also claims that it was so strong that locals could hear the radio programmes through their faucets . Subsequent to the relocation of RFE studios from Munich to Prague, the medium wave transmitter was shut down in 2001, following which the short wave transmissions continued on reduced power. The final transmissions were made in 2005, after which the transmission equipment was packed up to be sent to the Philippines and the masts were scrapped.
Nowadays Holzkirchen is well known as a location for pharmaceutical research and production. The European center of
Sandoz
Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and
Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research).name="novartis.com">https://www.novartis.com/research-development/research-loca ...
and
HEXAL are located in the industrial zone.
Public transport
Trains
The traffic hub Holzkirchen has with the railway line
Munich–Holzkirchen and the railway line
Munich East–Deisenhofen a good connection to Munich (including an S-Bahn connection (S3), which departs every 20 minutes). The
Railway Line Holzkirchen–Lenggries (German) and the connection towards Schliersee are operated once an hour by the
Bayerischen Oberlandbahn (BOB) and give direct connections to Tegernsee, Lenggries und Bayrischzell. On the railway line called
Mangfallbahn to Rosenheim, services have been operated once an hour since December 2013 by the company called 'Meridian', which is a subsidiary of
Transdev Germany
Transdev Germany is the largest private operator of passenger buses and trains in Germany. It is a subsidiary of Transdev.
History
In 1997, Aktiengesellschaft für Industrie und Verkehrswesen was purchased by a CGEA Group (60%) EnBW (40%) cons ...
(before Meridian, the railway line was operated by the DB Regio AG) via Bad Aibling. Mondays to Fridays Meridian operates nine services, which connect Rosenheim and Munich Central Station via Holzkirchen.
Buses
The following routes of the Oberbayernbus and the MVV Buses stop at the station or at the
Zentraler Omnibus-Bahnhof (ZOB).
References
External links
*
*http://www.geschichtsspuren.de/artikel/fmelo-eloka-sigint/155-senderstation-radio-liberty-holzkirchen.html
Miesbach (district)
{{Miesbachdistrict-geo-stub