Rüdesheim am Rhein is a German

winemaking Winemaking or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over millennia. The science of wine and ...

town in the Rhine Gorge, and part of the UNESCO

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 ...

in this region. It lies in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis district in the ''

Regierungsbezirk A ' () means "governmental district" and is a type of administrative division in Germany. Four of sixteen ' ( states of Germany) are split into '. Beneath these are rural and urban districts. Saxony has ' (directorate districts) with more res ...

'' of

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest city in the state of Hesse ...

, Hessen. Known as Rüdesheim, it is officially Rüdesheim am Rhein, to distinguish it from

Rüdesheim an der Nahe Rüdesheim an der Nahe, or simply Rüdesheim, is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ' ...

. It is a major tourist attraction, especially for foreign visitors.

Geography

Location

Rüdesheim lies at the foot of the Niederwald on the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , source ...

's right bank in the Rheingau wine region. The town belongs to the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region and to the

Rhine Gorge. It has a picturesque Old Town, located in 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 Rhein ...

landscape celebrated in Rhine romanticism.

Territorial structure

Rüdesheim am Rhein as a municipality consists of five quarters: * Rüdesheim am Rhein (initial part and center) *

Eibingen Eibingen, now a part of Rüdesheim am Rhein, Hesse, Germany is the location of Eibingen Abbey, the Benedictine monastery founded by Hildegard of Bingen in 1165 (replacing an Augustine foundation of 1148). Eibingen preserves the treasure of relics ...

including Windeck, Eibingen Abbey and

Nothgottes Nothgottes (, "Need of God") is a Cistercian monastery and a pilgrimage destination above Eibingen, in Rüdesheim am Rhein, Hesse, Germany. Pilgrimages to the location date back to the 14th century, and have continued to the present day, especi ...

* Assmannshausen * Aulhausen including the former and * Presberg Assmannshausen, Aulhausen and Presberg have the status of an ''

Ortsbezirk A ''Stadtbezirk'' (also called ''Ortsbezirk'' in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate) is an administrative division in Germany, which is part of a larger city. It is translated as " borough". In Germany, ''Stadtbezirke'' usually only exist in a me ...

''. Central Rüdesheim and Eibingen form a combined fourth Ortsbezirk.

Neighbouring communities

Rüdesheim borders in the north and north-west on the town of Lorch, in the east on the town of

Geisenheim Geisenheim is a town in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt in Hessen, Germany, and is known as ''Weinstadt'' (“Wine Town”), ''Schulstadt'' (“School Town”), ''Domstadt'' (“Cathedral Town”) and ''Lindenst ...

. On the left bank of the

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 ...

, Rüdesheim faces the town of Bingen to the south, and the villages of Weiler und

Trechtingshausen Trechtingshausen (formerly also ''Trechtlingshausen'') is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The winegr ...

to the south-west. Rüdesheim is connected with the left Rhine bank by a ferry for pedestrians and one for cars.

History

The area was settled first by the

Celts 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 ...

, then after the turn of the

Christian Era The terms (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used to label or number years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The term is Medieval Latin and means 'in the year of the Lord', but is often presented using "our Lord" instead of "the Lord" ...

by Ubii and later by Mattiaci. In the first century, the Romans pushed forth to 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 spa ...

. In Bingen they built a

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 ...

, and on the other side, near what is now Rüdesheim, lay a bridgehead on the way to the

Limes Limes may refer to: * the plural form of lime (disambiguation) Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a ...

. The Romans were followed by the

Alamanni The Alemanni or Alamanni, were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the in 260, and later expanded into pre ...

, and during the

Migration Period The Migration Period was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories by various tribes, and the establishment of the post-Roma ...

the

Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools ...

migrated into the region. Archaeological finds of glass from this time suggest that there was already winegrowing in Rüdesheim. The town's origin as a Frankish '' Haufendorf'' (roughly: "clump village") can still be seen on today's town maps. Rüdesheim was first mentioned in a document in 1074. Its livelihood came mainly from winegrowing and shipping, particularly timber rafting. On 1 January 1818, Rüdesheim received

town rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

. After

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 e ...

annexed the Duchy of Nassau in 1867 and divided the area into

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

(''Kreise''), Rüdesheim became a district seat in the newly founded Rheingaukreis. It held this status 110 years until 1977, when in the course of municipal reform in Hesse the districts of the Rheingaukreis and the Untertaunuskreis were merged into the new Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis, and Rüdesheim had to yield the district seat to

Bad Schwalbach Bad Schwalbach (called Langenschwalbach until 1927) is the district seat of Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. Geography Geographic location Bad Schwalbach is a spa town some 20 km northwest of Wiesbaden. It lies at 289 to 465&nb ...

. In 1877, the first foundation stone was laid for the Niederwalddenkmal, a patriotic monument above the vineyards which would be finished in 1883. It attracted many tourists who could reach it on a cog railway. Today, a

gondola lift A gondola lift is a means of cable transport and type of aerial lift which is supported and propelled by cables from above. It consists of a loop of steel wire rope that is strung between two stations, sometimes over intermediate ...

brings visitors up to the monument. Tourism has more and more replaced shipping as a source of income. In 1939, under the secrecy that held sway at the time, the formerly self-governing community of

was forcibly amalgamated with the town by the National Socialists, against the community inhabitants' will. In 1977, within the framework of municipal reform, Assmannshausen, Aulhausen and Presberg were incorporated into Rüdesheim as ''

e''.

Politics

Town council

The municipal election for the town council (German: ''Stadtverordnetenversammlung'') was held on 6 March 2016 and yielded the following results, compared to previous elections:

Town partnerships

* Meursault, Côte-d'Or, France * Juliénas, Rhône, France (twinned with quarter Assmannshausen) *

Oingt Oingt () is a former commune in the Rhône department of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. On 1 January 2017, Le Bois-d'Oingt, Oingt and Saint-Laurent-d'Oingt merged becoming one commune of Val d'Oingt.Mezőkövesd,

Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén ( hu, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén megye, ; sk, Boršodsko-abovsko-zemplínska) is an administrative county ( comitatus or ''megye)'' in north-eastern Hungary (commonly called "Northern Hungary"), on the border with Slovakia ( K ...

, Hungary *

Swanage Swanage () is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck and one of its two towns, approximately south of Poole and east of Dorchester. In the 2011 census the civi ...

, Dorset, England, UK

Culture and sightseeing

Museums

* ''Siegfrieds Mechanisches Musikkabinett'', a museum for mechanical musical instruments. On an exhibition area of over 400 m², the museum provides information about the history of self-playing music and its instruments. * ''Mittelalterliches Foltermuseum'' ("Mediaeval torture museum"), with many instruments of torture * Asbach Distillery,

brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with ...

museum illustrating the history of Asbach Uralt production * ''Rheingauer Weinmuseum Brömserburg'', about the area's 1000-year winegrowing history, located in castle Brömserburg.

Notable sites

Brömserburg, Rüdesheim, West view 20140928 1

* Niederwalddenkmal, a patriotic monument finished in 1883 * , a park from the 18th century * is a lane in the heart of Rüdesheim's Old Town. Live band entertainment,

brass instrument A brass instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips. Brass instruments are also called labrosones or labrophones, from Latin a ...

s and dance music all day and all night during the summer in the many wine taverns and open-air garden taverns along the 144-metre-long narrow cobblestone pedestrian street. Built in the 15th century, boat owners used the Drosselgasse to move items from the river to homes in the town. * St. Jakobus, the parish church from the 15th century, rebuilt after World War II * Burg Ehrenfels, a ruined castle in the vineyards * Brömserburg, the oldest castle in the Rhine Gorge World Heritage Site. It was built in the 10th century on the site of 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 lett ...

fortification A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere ...

. From the 10th to the 13th century it was owned by 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 ...

. The old fortress was converted into a residence in the 12th century. It then passed into the control of the Knights of Rüdesheim. A branch of these knights was the Brömser. It was retaken by Archbishop Werner II von Eppenstein in 1281. The castle withstood a number of attacks. In 1640, during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...

, the top of the tower was destroyed by French troops under the command of Henri II d'Orléans, duc de Longueville. The Archbishopric sold it in 1803 and it has had several owners since then. The town of Rüdesheim bought the castle in 1941. The site includes a modern-day wine museum. * Boosenburg, a castle from the 12th century with a preserved

bergfried ''Bergfried'' (plural: ''bergfriede''; English: ''belfry''; French: ''tour-beffroi''; Spanish: ''torre del homenaje'') is a tall tower that is typically found in castles of the Middle Ages in German-speaking countries and in countries under Germ ...

and a Gothic revival villa which serves as a concert venue * Eibingen Abbey, founded by Hildegard of Bingen, above Eibingen * Remains of the ''Hindenburgbrücke'', a bridge destroyed in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Hiking trails

The

Rheinsteig The Rheinsteig is a hiking trail following a mainly elevated path along the east bank of the Rhine River in Germany. Its route stretches from Bonn to Wiesbaden, running parallel to the Rheinhöhenweg Trail and Rheinburgenweg Trail. Descript ...

from

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

leads through Rüdesheim's municipal area by both the Eibingen Abbey and the Niederwalddenkmal. Another trail is the Riesling-Route. It leads along the Rhine and through Rüdesheim's

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyard ...

s on the way to Wiesbaden.

Tradition

A well known tradition is the ''Weinkönigin'' ("Wine Queen") with her princesses. Each year in the summertime, the Rüdesheim wine festival is held, whose highlights include the Wine Queen's and the princesses' coronation. They represent the town of Rüdesheim and its wine in other communities and

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, ra ...

areas. In the deeds held by the Counts of Katzenelnbogen, vineyards are already found in the Rüdesheim area in 1399: ''auf dem Berge'' ("on the mountain"), ''bei dem Morgen Marschalls'' ("near Marshal's acre") and ''unterhalb Eibingen am Fluß'' ("beneath Eibingen at the river"). Rüdesheim lies in the north-west corner of the

German wine German wine is primarily produced in the west of Germany, along the river Rhine and its tributaries, with the oldest plantations going back to the Roman era. Approximately 60 percent of German wine is produced in the state of Rhineland-Pala ...

-producing region

Riesling Riesling (, ; ) is a white grape variety that originated in the Rhine region. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and sparkling wh ...

grapes are the main type grown in this area, producing mainly high-quality white wines.

Regular events

* Magic-Bike-Rüdesheim (as a rule on Corpus Christi weekend) * ''Tal total'' yearly on the last Saturday in June. On this day, ''

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'' ...

'' 42 between Rüdesheim and

Koblenz Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman military post by Drusus around 8 B.C. Its nam ...

on the Rhine's right bank and ''Bundesstraße'' 9 on the left between Bingen and Koblenz are closed to motorized traffic and left free for cyclists and skaters. * Rheingau Musik Festival, usually a summer concert in the Eibingen Abbey and/or in the church St. Jakobus *

Rhein in Flammen Rhein in Flammen (English: "Rhine in Flames") is the name of five different firework displays along the river Rhine in Germany. The displays take place annually, at various locations along the river. On the five different dates, brightly illuminat ...

(fireworks festival) on the first Saturday in July * World Heritage celebration at the Niederwalddenkmal (since 2003 usually in late July on a Friday and Saturday) * ''Weinfest'' (wine festival third weekend in August) * Gallustag ( Saint Galls day), festival to honour the grape harvest, medieval market and event * ''Tage des Federweißen'' (year's last wine festival) late October, early November * ''Weihnachtsmarkt der Nationen'' ("Christmas Market of the Nations") 120 stalls, open daily from late November until Christmas

Transport

Rüdesheim (Rhein) station Rüdesheim (Rhein) station is in the town of Rüdesheim am Rhein in the German state of Hesse on the East Rhine Railway (german: Rechte Rheinstrecke). It is on the western edge of the town, separated from the Rhine only by federal highway B 42. T ...

is on the East Rhine Railway and is served by trains running at least hourly during the day to Frankfurt and Koblenz.

Education

* Hildegardisschule ( Realschule and primary school spread between two buildings) * Nikolausschule (Assmannshausen primary school) * Grundschule Presberg (primary school)

Notable people

The town's medieval noble family called itself "von Rüdesheim". One of its members was Rudolf of Rüdesheim (1402–1482),

papal legate 300px, A woodcut showing Henry II of England greeting the pope's legate. A papal legate or apostolic legate (from the ancient Roman title '' legatus'') is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic ...

and since 1468 Prince-Bishop of Breslau.

Born in Rüdesheim

* Jacob Fidelis Ackermann (1765–1815), physician * Theodor Friedrich Ludwig Dilthey (6 February 1825 – 22 March 1892), businessman: He took over his father's wine wholesaling business, Dilthey-Sahl & Co. in Rüdesheim, in 1852 and undertook many business trips to England and Russia to further German wine and sekt exports. In 1867 he was cofounder and first president of the

chamber of commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ...

. He composed many poems in praise of wine. * Georg Geiling (1 June 1863 – 1947), master

cooper Cooper, Cooper's, Coopers and similar may refer to: * Cooper (profession), a maker of wooden casks and other staved vessels Arts and entertainment * Cooper (producers), alias of Dutch producers Klubbheads * Cooper (video game character), in ...

: Geiling studied after his apprenticeship as a cooper in

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded b ...

and

Épernay Épernay () is a commune in the Marne department of northern France, 130 km north-east of Paris on the mainline railway to Strasbourg. The town sits on the left bank of the Marne at the extremity of the Cubry valley which crosses it. Ép ...

and in 1890 founded the sekt cellar "Georges Geiling & Cie." in Reims. In 1894, he settled in

Bacharach Bacharach (, also known as ''Bacharach am Rhein'') is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Rhein-Nahe, whose seat is in Bingen am Rhein, although that town is not wi ...

, where in 1919 he built up his own sparkling wine factory. * Antonius Wallenstein (20 January 1890 – 28 December 1964 on the Abtsberg near Gengenbach in Baden), Catholic priest of a

religious order A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious pract ...

, spiritual writer. Works (selection): ''Das Problem der Willensfreiheit unter besonderer Hervorkehrung der methodischen Gesichtspunkte'', in: PhJ 36 (1923), 1–24 (excerpts from his dissertation); '' Katechismus der christlichen Vollkommenheit'', Freiburg 1930 (2nd ed. 1936); ''Kindheit und Jugend als Erziehungsaufgabe'', Freiburg 1951; ''Klarheit über Gott'', Leutesdorf 1959. * Hermann Asbach (18 March 1894 – unknown), businessman: one of Hugo Asbach's three sons and later owner of the firm Asbach ( Asbach Uralt,

). * (1913–1989), writer and publicist. * (born 1930), publicist and journalist. * (born 1965), composer and conductor as well as professor at the Cologne University of Music. * Jennifer Braun (born 1991), pop/rock singer, runner-up of '' Unser Star für Oslo'' 2010.

References

External links

*
Town’s official tourism website
*
12
Images of Rüdesheim in J.F. Dielmann, A. Fay, J. Becker (Zeichner): F.C. Vogels Panorama des Rheins, Bilder des rechten und linken Rheinufers, Lithographische Anstalt F.C. Vogel, Frankfurt 1833 {{DEFAULTSORT:Rudesheim Am Rhein World Heritage Sites in Germany Populated places on the Rhine Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis Middle Rhine Rheingau