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 ...

Altmühl The Altmühl (, la, Alchmona, Alcmana, Almonus)
s.v. is a river in

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

. Kelheim has a population of around 16,750 (2020).

History

Kelheim is the site of a large

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

oppidum An ''oppidum'' (plural ''oppida'') is a large fortified Iron Age settlement or town. ''Oppida'' are primarily associated with the Celtic late La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread across Europe, stretchi ...

from the La Tène period, which has been tentatively identified with the

Celt The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...

ic city of

Alcimoennis Alcimoennis or ''Alkimoennis'' is the name widely attached to a Celtic ''Oppidum'', or hill fort above the modern town of Kelheim in Bavaria, Germany. The name comes from Ptolemy, who in his ''Geography'', only mentioned the name and described ...

mentioned by

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

in his ''

Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

''. The ramparts of the fort cross the promontory between the rivers

Altmühl The Altmühl (, la, Alchmona, Alcmana, Almonus)
s.v. is a river in

and

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

. There is an inner defensive line enclosing 60 ha near the confluence, then a long outer rampart enclosing an enormous area of 630 ha. A small promontory fort on the other bank of the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

has a series of short linear ramparts protecting a settlement in the bend of a

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex bank ...

. This is aligned with the end of the outer rampart on the far bank, dominating traffic on the river. Kelheim has given its name to the ''

pfostenschlitzmauer A ''Pfostenschlitzmauer'' (German for "post-slot wall") is the name for defensive walls protecting Iron Age hill forts and '' oppida'' in Central Europe, especially in Bavaria and the Czech Republic. They are characterized by vertical wooden pos ...

'' style of rampart construction characterized by vertical wooden posts set into the stone facing. Kelheim was first mentioned in the 9th century. At this time it was the seat of a count (

Graf (feminine: ) is a historical title of the German nobility, usually translated as "count". Considered to be intermediate among noble ranks, the title is often treated as equivalent to the British title of "earl" (whose female version is "coun ...

). According to tradition of

Braunau in Rohr Abbey Braunau in Rohr Abbey (Kloster Braunau in Rohr) is a Benedictine monastery, formerly Rohr Abbey, a monastery of the Augustinian Canons, in Rohr in Niederbayern in the district of Kelheim in Bavaria, Germany. Rohr Abbey: First foundation The monas ...

, Kelheim received borough rights in 1151. G. Schneider & Sohn has a large

weissbier Wheat beer is a top-fermented beer which is brewed with a large proportion of wheat relative to the amount of malted barley. The two main varieties are German ''Weizenbier'' and Belgian ''witbier''; other types include Lambic (made with wild ye ...

brewery in the city.

Culture and sights

Befreiungshalle Hall of Liberation Kelheim

*

Hall of Liberation The Befreiungshalle (''"Hall of Liberation"'', ) is a neoclassical monument on the Michelsberg hill above the town of Kelheim in Bavaria, Germany. It stands upstream of Regensburg on the river Danube at the confluence of the Danube and the Altm ...

on the Michelsberg (built by

Leo von Klenze Leo von Klenze (Franz Karl Leopold von Klenze; 29 February 1784, Buchladen (Bockelah / Bocla) near Schladen – 26 January 1864, Munich) was a German neoclassicist architect, painter and writer. Court architect of Bavarian King Ludwig I, Leo ...

) * Danube Gorge and

Weltenburg Abbey Weltenburg Abbey (Kloster Weltenburg) is a Benedictine monastery in Weltenburg near Kelheim on the Danube in Bavaria, Germany. Geography The abbey is situated on a peninsula in the Danube, in a section of the river valley called the Weltenbur ...

, Wipfelsfurt valley, and Klösterl (Trauntal monastery) * Kelheim is the home of the G. Schneider & Sohn brewing company.

Born in Kelheim

*

Otto I, Duke of Bavaria Otto I (1117 – 11 July 1183), called the Redhead (german: der Rotkopf), was Duke of Bavaria from 1180 until his death. He was also called Otto VI as Count Palatine of Bavaria from 1156 to 1180. He was the first Bavarian ruler from the House ...

(c. 1117-1183), Duke of Bavaria *

Louis I, Duke of Bavaria Louis I (german: Ludwig; 23 December 1173 – 15 September 1231), called the Kelheimer or of Kelheim, since he was born and died at Kelheim, was the Duke of Bavaria from 1183 and Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1214. He was a son of Otto I an ...

(1173-1231), Duke of Bavaria *

Otto II, Duke of Bavaria Otto II (7 April 1206 – 29 November 1253), called the Illustrious (german: der Erlauchte), was the Duke of Bavaria from 1231 and Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1214. He was the son of Louis I and Ludmilla of Bohemia and a member of the Witt ...

(1206-1253), Duke of Bavaria * Albert II, Duke of Bavaria (1368-1397), Governor in the Lower Bavaria part of the duchy of Bavaria *

Friedrich L. Bauer Friedrich Ludwig "Fritz" Bauer (10 June 1924 – 26 March 2015) was a German pioneer of computer science and professor at the Technical University of Munich. Life Bauer earned his Abitur in 1942 and served in the Wehrmacht during World War ...

(1924-2015), pioneer of computer science *

Fritz Fischer Fritz Fischer (5 March 1908 – 1 December 1999) was a German historian best known for his analysis of the causes of World War I. In the early 1960s Fischer advanced the controversial thesis at the time that responsibility for the outbreak of the ...

(* 1956), a former biathlete * Matthias Hanke (* 1965), cellist and arpeggione player *

Stephan Ebn Stephan Ebn (born 13 February 1978 in Kelheim, Lower Bavaria) is a German drummer and music producer. He studied jazz drums at the University of Music in Nuremberg from 1998 to 2003. Before and during this period, he had already worked on numerou ...

(* 1978), drummer and music producer *

Thomas Paulus Thomas Paulus (born 14 March 1982 in Kelheim, Lower Bavaria) is a German former footballer who last played for SSV Jahn Regensburg. He spent three seasons in the Bundesliga with 1. FC Nürnberg. He retired at the end of the 2016–17 season and ...

(* 1982), footballer *

Philipp Heerwagen Philipp Heerwagen (born 13 April 1983) is a German professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designa ...

(* 1983), football goalkeeper * Daniel Brodmeier (* 1987), sportsman * Tim Pollmann (* 1990), footballer

References

External links

*
Kelheim360.de
- Virtual 360° Panoramic Tour of old Town Kelheim Kelheim (district) Populated places on the Danube Towns in Bavaria {{Kelheimdistrict-geo-stub