Rottenburg am Neckar (; until 10 July 1964 only ''Rottenburg'';
Swabian
Swabian or Schwabian, or ''variation'', may refer to:
* the German region of Swabia (German: "''Schwaben''")
* Swabian German, a dialect spoken in Baden-Württemberg in south-west Germany and adjoining areas (German:"''Schwäbisch''")
* Danube S ...
: ''Raodaburg'') is a medium-sized town in the administrative district (''Landkreis'') of
Tübingen in
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
, Germany. It lies about 50 kilometres (31 miles) southwest of the provincial capital
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the Sw ...
and about 12 km (7 mi) southwest of the district town Tübingen. Rottenburg is the second-largest town of the district after Tübingen and makes up a secondary centre for the surrounding community. Since 1 May 1972, Rottenburg am Neckar has been a district town (''Große Kreisstadt''). Rottenburg agreed to an administrative collective with the municipalities of
Hirrlingen,
Neustetten
Neustetten is a municipality in the district of Tübingen in Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of German ...
and
Starzach.
Rottenburg is the seat of a Roman Catholic bishop, being the official centre of the diocese of
Rottenburg-Stuttgart. Moreover, it has a college of church music and
a university of applied sciences (German ''Fachhochschule''), specialising in
forestry
Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...
.
Geography
Rottenburg is divided into a town core and seventeen (suburban) districts.
Suburban districts of Rottenburg:
Bad Niedernau,
Baisingen,
Bieringen,
Dettingen,
Eckenweiler,
Ergenzingen,
Frommenhausen
Frommenhausen is a suburban district of Rottenburg am Neckar in the administrative district of Tübingen in Baden-Württemberg ( Germany).
Geography
Frommenhausen is located 9 km (5.59 mi) southwestern from Rottenburg am Neckar on t ...
,
Hailfingen,
Hemmendorf,
Kiebingen,
Obernau,
Oberndorf,
Schwalldorf
Schwalldorf () is a suburban district of Rottenburg am Neckar in the administrative district of Tübingen in Baden-Württemberg (Germany).
Geography
Schwalldorf is located 7 km (4.35 mi) southwestern from Rottenburg am Neckar on th ...
,
Seebronn
Seebronn is a suburban district of Rottenburg am Neckar in the administrative district of Tübingen in Baden-Württemberg ( Germany).
Geography
Seebronn is located 7 km (4.4 mi) northwestern from Rottenburg am Neckar.
Extent
The ...
,
Weiler,
Wendelsheim and
Wurmlingen
Wurmlingen is a municipality in the district of Tuttlingen in Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Ge ...
.
History
Rottenburg was founded as a Roman town, ''Sumelocenna'', probably around the year AD98, and was one of the most important Roman towns in the southwest of Germany. It had a line of walls built to defend it from the attacks of the
Alamanni, who nevertheless destroyed it in 259-260.
The name ''Rottenburg'' is thought to derive from a Germanic root that is also present in the English word "rotten", in an older meaning of "destroyed". According to this hypothesis, the town would have received its name when, in the early Middle Ages, Alemannic people founded their settlement in the vicinity of the ruins of Roman Sumelocenna. An alternative etymology of Rottenburg as "red borough" is also considered possible, however.
In the Middle Ages, the town was first governed by the
counts of Hohenberg, who, however, were forced to sell it to the
Habsburg dynasty in 1381. Rottenburg remained a part of
Further Austria until 1805, when it was assigned to
Württemberg
Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart.
Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...
in the
Peace of Pressburg.
Rottenburg became the seat of a Catholic bishop as late as 1821–1828, when, after the
secularisation and 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 Fre ...
, a reorganisation of Catholic life in southwest Germany had become necessary.
It was then decided not to choose the more important nearby places of Stuttgart or Tübingen as a diocesan town, as these were firmly
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
.
Rottenburg is known among
Anabaptists as the place of death for
Michael Sattler
Michael Sattler (1490 – 20 May 1527) was a monk who left the Roman Catholic Church during the Protestant Reformation to become one of the early leaders of the Anabaptist movement. He was particularly influential for his role in developing ...
, a former monk who was involved in missionary activities in the Rottenburg and
Horb am Neckar region. Sattler was burned at the stake on "Gallows Hill" on 20 May 1527.
Main sights
''Dom St. Martin'' has been the town's cathedral since 1821. Its tower, dating from 1486, is its most prominent feature.
Spanning various architectural periods, the ''Stiftskirche St. Moriz'' incorporates a
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
core with elements from an earlier church and a later Baroque hall church. The Gothic feel is what persists, from 14th- and 15th-century frescoes on the pillars to the 15th-century painting of the
Four Evangelists on the ceiling in the choir. In the north aisle stands an ornamented column depicting various princes, donated in 1470 by Archduchess Mechthild, the wife of
Ludwig I and mother of
Eberhard I. A copy also stands in the town's
Marktplatz.
There are two museums in town, the ''Sülchgau Museum'', specialising in pre- and early history and Roman influences on the area, and the diocesan museum, focusing on ecclesiastical art, painting and sculpture.
In nearby
Weggental is the
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 ...
church of ''Wallfahrtskirche St. Maria'', rebuilt in 1682–1695 in
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...
style, but containing a medieval
pietà
The Pietà (; meaning " pity", "compassion") is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus after his body was removed from the cross. It is most often found in sculpture. The Pietà is a specific for ...
and a very fine rendition of the
Virgin swooning during the
Deposition of Christ
The Descent from the Cross ( el, Ἀποκαθήλωσις, ''Apokathelosis''), or Deposition of Christ, is the scene, as depicted in art, from the Gospels' accounts of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus taking Christ down from the cross after hi ...
from the cross.
A more modern landmark is the Eckenweiler Water Tower. Built of reinforced concrete in the 1970s, its unusual design, a cube supported by a rectangular column, is notable.
Twin towns – sister cities
Rottenburg am Neckar is
twinned with:
*
Ablis, France
*
Gols, Austria
*
Lion-sur-Mer, France
*
Saint-Claude, France
*
Yalova, Turkey
Notable people
*
Franz Anton Hoffmeister (1754–1812), composer and music publisher
*
Ottilie Wildermuth
Ottilie Wildermuth (; née Rooschüz; 22 February 1817 in Rottenburg am Neckar – 12 July 1877 in Tübingen) was a German writer, particularly notable for her children's books.
Life
Ottilie Rooschüz was the daughter of Gottlob Christi ...
(1817–1877), author
*
Eugen Bolz
Eugen Anton Bolz (15 December 1881 – 23 January 1945) was a German politician and a member of the resistance to the Nazi régime.
Life
Born in Rottenburg am Neckar, Bolz was his parents' twelfth child. His father Joseph Bolz was a salesman ...
(1881–1945), politician (
Zentrum)
*
Winfried Hermann (born 1952), politician (
Greens), since 2011 Minister for Transport in Baden-Württemberg
*
Knut Kircher (born 1969), football referee, lives here
Honorary citizens
The town of Rottenburg am Neckar and respectively the former municipalities, which have been incorporated, have awarded the honorary citizenship to the following persons:
;Rottenburg
* 1901: Hermann Friedrich Wittich, Regierungsrat
* 1904: Gustav Holzherr, independent gentleman
* 1909: Karl Bitzenauer, parish priest of the town
* 1924: Paul Wilhelm von Keppler, Bishop of Rottenburg
* 1930: Karl Landsee, merchant
* 1931: Alois Kremmler, Oberstudiendirektor (principal)
* 1931:
Eugen Bolz
Eugen Anton Bolz (15 December 1881 – 23 January 1945) was a German politician and a member of the resistance to the Nazi régime.
Life
Born in Rottenburg am Neckar, Bolz was his parents' twelfth child. His father Joseph Bolz was a salesman ...
(1881–1945 (executed in Berlin-Plötzensee), politician and member of the resistance
* 1947:
Joannes Baptista Sproll, Bishop of Rottenburg
* 1947: Max Kottmann,
vicar general
A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop ...
* 1949: Josef Schneider, Mayor of Rottenburg and Kanzleidirektor (retired)
* 1958: Franz Anton Buhl, schoolmaster and local historian
* 1961: Josef Eberle, poet and publisher
* 1967: Alfred Planck, entrepreneur
* 1968:
Carl Joseph Leiprecht, Bishop of Rottenburg
* 2003: Winfried Löffler, Lord Mayor of Rottenburg (retired)
* 2008:
Walter Kasper, Bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart and Cardinal of the Roman Curia
;Bad Niedernau
* 1891:
Kilian von Steiner
Kilian von Steiner (; 9 October 1833 – 25 September 1903) was a German banker and industrialist.
Life and career
Born in Laupheim as the eighth child of Jewish merchant Viktor Steiner and his wife Sophie, Kilian Steiner spent his youth in t ...
, banker
;Ergenzingen
* 1919: Hieronymus Baur, Mayor of Ergenzingen (retired)
* 1961: Alfons Leykauf, parish priest
* 1965: Maximilian Schier, schoolmaster
;Frommenhausen
* ?: Rudolf Franziskus de Paula Joseph Fidel Freiherr von Wagner, Warminister of Württemberg
* 1908: Ludwig Franz Freiherr von Wagner, Lieutenant General
;Kiebingen
* 1938: Karl Franz Ferdinand Viktor Osterwald, factory manager of the power station
;Obernau
* ?: Ignaz Kleiner, parish priest
* 1947: Otto Heine, parish priest
;Wurmlingen
* 1905: Sebastian Bauer, dean
* 1953: Franz Josef Fischer, auxiliary bishop
* 1968: Stefan Kruschina, parish priest
Gallery
Rottenburg am Neckar Bahnhof.jpg, Railway station in Rottenburg
Wasserturm Eckenweiler.JPG, Eckenweiler water tower
Rottenburg am Neckar - Marktbrunnen.jpg, Gothic fountain
Bischöfliches Palais in Rottenburg am Neckar 02.JPG, Episcopal Palace at the Eugen-Bolz-Square
References
External links
*
*
Various memorials in Rottenburg at the ''Sites of Memory'' page
{{Authority control
Tübingen (district)
Germania Superior
Populated places on the Neckar basin
Populated riverside places in Germany
Württemberg