Mistelgau is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the district of Bayreuth 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 ...

. The eponymous village is the seat of both the municipality as well as the municipality association Mistelgau.

Name

The name "Mistelgau" is a compound of "Mistel" (German for mistletoe) and "Gau" (here: shire), possibly referring to the abundance of mistletoes in a nearby oak forest, which was cut down in 1780. Today, mistletoes are not quite as common in the area as the name would suggest.

Geography

Location

The main village Mistelgau is located 10 km to the west of Bayreuth. It is the centre of the so-called Hummelgau, the north-northeastern boundary of

Franconian Switzerland Franconian Switzerland (german: Fränkische Schweiz) is an upland in Upper Franconia, Bavaria, Germany and a popular tourist retreat. Located between the River Pegnitz in the east and the south, the River Regnitz in the west and the River Main ...

and its transition into the Obermain foothills. The eastern part of the municipality is located on modestly hilly terrain used for agriculture, whereas the (south-)western parts are already part of the Franconian Switzerland with its steeper relief and wooded slopes. Roughly 5 km southwest of the main town, but still within the municipality, lies Neubürg, a table hill offering views of the surrounding area. To the east, the

Red Main The Red Main (german: Roter Main or ''Rotmain'') is a river in southern Germany. It is the southern, left headstream of the river Main. It rises in the hills of Franconian Switzerland, near Haag and flows generally northwest through the towns ...

valley opens up, granting views of the Fichtel Mountains in the distance.

Neighbouring municipalities

Beginning in the north and continuing clockwise, Mistelgau shares borders with the following municipalities:

Eckersdorf Eckersdorf is a municipality in the district of Bayreuth in Bavaria in Germany. Geography The municipality of Eckersdorf is located on the northern edge of an area called "Little Switzerland" (German: Fränkische Schweiz), close to the world ...

Mistelbach ''For the town in Germany, see Mistelbach, Bavaria.'' Mistelbach an der Zaya (; Mistelbach on the (River) Zaya; Central Bavarian: ''Mistlboch'') is a town in the northeast of Austria in Lower Austria, one of Austria's nine federal states. It is ...

, Hummeltal, Glashütten, Plankenfels,

Hollfeld Hollfeld is a town in the district of Bayreuth, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated 20 km west of Bayreuth, and 30 km east of Bamberg. Sport The towns association football club, ASV Hollfeld, experienced its greatest success in 2012 ...

, and Thurnau.

Fossil pit

The Mistelgau fossil pit is considered one of the hundred most beautiful

geotope A geotope is the geological component of the abiotic matrix present in an ecotope. Example geotopes might be an exposed outcrop of rocks, an erratic boulder, a grotto or ravine, a cave, an old stone wall marking a property boundary, and so forth. ...

s in Bavaria. Until 2005, the Mistelgau pit was used to mine clay for brick production. It gained supraregional fame because of its impressive fossils. A “

belemnite Belemnitida (or the belemnite) is an extinct order of squid-like cephalopods that existed from the Late Triassic to Late Cretaceous. Unlike squid, belemnites had an internal skeleton that made up the cone. The parts are, from the arms-most ...

battlefield” and remains of

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

s make it one of the most important fossil sites in Europe. Some of the finds are exhibited at the Urwelt Museum Oberfranken in Bayreuthin. The Bavarian State Office for the Environment has designated the pit as a valuable geotope (geotope number 472A016).

Subdivisions

The municipality consists of the following 42 districts: Äußerer Graben, Außerleithen, Bärnreuth, Böhnershof, Braunersberg, Culm (obere), Culm (untere), Engelmeß, Eschenmühle, Frankenhaag, Friedrichsruh, Geislareuth, Gollenbach, Göritzen, Gries, Hardt, Harloh, Hundshof, Kammer, Klingenmühle, Kreckenmühle, Laimen, Lenz, Mengersdorf, Mistelgau, Moosing, Obernsees, Ochsenholz, Pensenleithen, Plösen, Schnackenwöhr, Schobertsberg, Schobertsreuth, Schöchleins, Seitenbach, Sorg, Streit, Striegelhof, Tennig, Truppach, Wohnsgehaig.

History

The area of the current municipality was first populated during the Stone Age: on top of the Neubürg, a fortified settlement existed between the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

and the

La Tène period LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

. During the

Frankish Empire Francia, also called the Kingdom of the Franks ( la, Regnum Francorum), Frankish Kingdom, Frankland or Frankish Empire ( la, Imperium Francorum), was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks du ...

, around the year 700, peasants (''Hummelbauern'') from the Moselle and

Middle Rhine Between Bingen and Bonn, Germany, the river Rhine flows as the Middle Rhine (german: Mittelrhein) through the Rhine Gorge, a formation created by erosion, which happened at about the same rate as an uplift in the region, leaving the river a ...

regions settled in the area. Also,

tumuli A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built ...

from the times of the

Carolingian dynasty The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippin ...

have been found. Mistelgau proper is one of the older villages in the western part of Bayreuth district. Its first documentary mention was in 1379. From 1386 onwards, a noble family resided within the village. In 1422, the characteristic church St. Bartholomäus was first mentioned. Most historic sources were destroyed in the course of the Hussite (1433), German Peasants' (1525), Second Margrave (1552–55), Thirty Years' and

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (175 ...

s. In 1634, more than half of the population died of the

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pe ...

. In 1791, Mistelgau along with the remaining Principality of Bayreuth was ceded 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 ...

. During the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, a part of the municipality served as a staging area for French artillery in a battle against the Austrians (1806). After the

Treaties of Tilsit The Treaties of Tilsit were two agreements signed by French Emperor Napoleon in the town of Tilsit in July 1807 in the aftermath of his victory at Friedland. The first was signed on 7 July, between Napoleon and Russian Emperor Alexander, when ...

, Mistelgau was briefly under French control until the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German ...

purchased it alongside the remainder of the former Principality of Bayreuth. Since then, Mistelgau has been part of Bavaria. In 1904, a railroad line from Bayreuth to

(see main article: Bayreuth–Hollfeld railway) with a stop in the village of Mistelgau was opened. The village was electrified and a couple of manufacturing plants constructed. A public school was created in 1964. In 1972, several other formerly independent municipalities (Seitenbach, Engelmeß, Truppach, Mengersdorf, Frankenhaag, Plösen, Gollenbach, Wohnsgehaig) were incorporated into Mistelgau. The railroad connection to Bayreuth and Hollfeld was discontinued in 1974. In the time since then, the tracks have been dismantled and the former railroad route has been converted into a road (in the direction of Obernsees) and a bike path (in the direction of Bayreuth, linking Mistelgau to Hummeltal). In 1978, the hitherto independent Obernsees was incorporated into the municipality. In 1980, the Catholic church St. Peter and Paul was opened. The thermal bath Therme Obernsees was inaugurated in 1998. In 2003, the permanent exhibit ''NaturKunstRaum Neubürg'' on top of the hill Neubürg was opened.

References,

Bayreuth (district) {{Bayreuthdistrict-geo-stub