Sulz am Neckar is a town in the
district of Rottweil, in
Baden-Württemberg,
Germany. It is situated on the river
Neckar
The Neckar () is a river in Germany, mainly flowing through the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, with a short section through Hesse. The Neckar is a major right tributary of the Rhine. Rising in the Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis near Schwenn ...
, 22 km north of
Rottweil
Rottweil (; Alemannic: ''Rautweil'') is a town in southwest Germany in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Rottweil was a free imperial city for nearly 600 years.
Located between the Black Forest and the Swabian Alps, Rottweil has nearly 25,000 in ...
, and 19 km southeast of
Freudenstadt.
Sulz am Neckar came in the possession of the Hohengeroldseck in AD 1242.
At Sulz a powerline for
traction current crosses the Neckar Valley in a large span, which is mounted on two 61-metre-tall
electricity pylons.
Geography
Geographical Location
The city is situated between
Black Forest and
Swabian Jura
The Swabian Jura (german: Schwäbische Alb , more rarely ), sometimes also named Swabian Alps in English, is a mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending from southwest to northeast and in width. It is named after the region of ...
as well as between
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 ...
and
Lake Constance
Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three Body of water, bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, ca ...
at the
Neckar
The Neckar () is a river in Germany, mainly flowing through the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, with a short section through Hesse. The Neckar is a major right tributary of the Rhine. Rising in the Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis near Schwenn ...
at an altitude of 410 to 675 m. Sulz has with a size of 87,60 km² the largest municipal area in the
Rottweil (district).
Urban structure
The city of Sulz is divided into the core city of Sulz with its two districts Sulz-Kastell and Sulz-Schillerhöhe as well as the nine districts Bergfelden, Dürrenmettstetten, Fischingen, Glatt, Holzhausen, Hopfau, Mühlheim, Renfrizhausen, Sigmarswangen
History
Early history
The first traces of settlement date back to the
Celts period, evidenced by a series of
burial mounds and a square enclosure.
A
Roman military camps Fort Sulz was built around the year 74 AD on a hill south of the present-day town centre. Today, the Sulz-Kastell district with an industrial area is located there.
The first documented mention dates back to the year 790 as "villa publica Sulza". The town owes its name to its
salt springs
A brine spring or salt spring is a Brine, saltwater Spring (hydrology), spring.
Brine springs are not necessarily associated with halite deposits in the immediate vicinity. They may occur at valley bottoms made of clay and gravel which became sogg ...
, which have shaped the town's history for centuries. The first owners of the
saltworks were the Counts of Sulz in the 11th century. Probably from 1250 onwards, the
Lords of Geroldseck
Hohengeroldseck was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. It was founded by the House of Geroldseck, a German noble family which arrived in the Ortenau region of Duchy of Swabia, Swabia reputedly in 948, though the first mention of the family is docum ...
ruled over the town and the salt works, while the Counts of Sulz were pushed back to marginal possessions; the process has not yet been fully explained. The domain of the counts of Sulz also included
Loßburg
Loßburg is a municipality in the district of Freudenstadt in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. Geography
Kinzig
The source of the Kinzig is located on the Gemarkung of Loßburg. Municipal Structure
The town of Loßburg consis ...
and the valleys behind
Schenkenzell.
The Lords of Geroldseck were also the builders of the Burg Albeck southwest of the city. In 1284 King
Rudolf of
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
gave Sulz
town privileges. Between 1301 and 1473 the town was the seat of the line of the Geroldseckers, who resided here, but despite some inheritances they experienced a steady economic decline in the 15th century and finally had to sell it to
Württemberg under massive pressure in 1473.
The
Lordship of the Geroldseckers after the expulsion of Duke
Ulrich of Württemberg by the
Swabian League in 1519 was only an interlude which ended in 1534 with the return of the duke. All that remained for the Geroldseckers was the title "von Geroldseck und Sulz". The city burned down almost completely within the city walls twice (1581 and 1794). It took two years to rebuild it; in the meantime it was plundered again and again by French soldiers.
The district Mühlheim was already mentioned in 772 as ''Muliheim'' in the
Lorsch Codex.
19th and 20th century
For a long time, Sulz in Württemberg was the only salt works in the state. When in 1803 the much more productive salt works on the
Kocher
The Kocher () is a -longincluding its source river Schwarzer Kocher right tributary of the Neckar in the north-eastern part of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The name "Kocher" originates from its Celtic name "cochan" and probably means winding, mea ...
became Württemberg, the town lost its economic status as a salt town, but remained the seat of the Oberamts Sulz, which in the early years of the
Kingdom of Württemberg gained considerably in size in the course of the new administrative division of Württemberg. In 1867, the expansion of the
Stuttgart-Hattingen railway line on the Horb to Talhausen section connected it to the network of the
Royal Württemberg State Railways.
In 1938, during the administrative reform during the NS in Württemberg, the district of Sulz, which had emerged from the upper office of Sulz in 1934, was dissolved and became part of the district of Horb.
Towards the end of the Second World War, a
subcamp of the
Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp was established in Sulz am Neckar. In 1944, Gestapo men interrogated and tortured Polish forced labourers suspected of being associated with a resistance organisation in the former district court prison. At least seven of the detainees died in the process.
After the Second World War the city fell into the
French occupation zone and thus in 1947 came to the newly founded state
Württemberg-Hohenzollern, which was absorbed into the state of Baden-Württemberg in 1952.
During the district reform Sulz became part of the district of Rottweil. With the dissolution of the district Südwürttemberg-Hohenzollern, which took place at the same time, Sulz became part of the
region of Freiburg.
From 1963 to 1993 there was a Bundeswehr depot in Sulz.
In remembrance of the former importance of salt extraction from
brine
Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of solutions used for br ...
, the swimming pool has been filled with brine since the construction of the new open-air pool and is thus the only brine open-air pool in the area.
Incorporations
In the course of the Gemeindegebietsreform in Baden-Württemberg the following municipalities were incorporated into Sulz am Neckar:
* January 1, 1972: Bergfelden, Hopfau and Mühlheim am Bach
* March 1, 1972: Fischingen
* January 1, 1974: Holzhausen, Renfrizhausen and Sigmarswangen
* January 1, 1975: Dürrenmettstetten and Glatt
Religions
Since the
Reformation Sulz has been
protestant. The Lutheran parish of Sulz has seven parishes, and the districts of Fischingen and Glatt also have their own Lutheran parish. All together belong to the evangelic deanery of Sulz. The town is also the seat of the Sulz church district of the
Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg. The office of the school dean responsible for the Protestant church district Sulz a. N. is located in Freudenstadt. The
Berneuchen Movement within the Protestant Church has its centre in the former
Kirchberg convent.
The
Roman Catholic Church first disappeared from Sulz during the Reformation upheavals of the 16th century. With the renewed influx of Catholics after the Second World War, however, a Catholic city parish was founded. The church St. Johannes Evangelist was built in 1950 according to the plans of the architect Hans Lütkemeier. The Catholic parish belongs to the deanery Rottweil.
In addition, the Volksmission entschiedener Christen, the ''Freie
Baptisten Gemeinde Sulz'', a
New Apostolic Church
The New Apostolic Church (NAC) is a Christian denomination, Christian church that split from the Catholic Apostolic Church during an 1863 schism in Hamburg, Germany.
The church has existed since 1863 in Germany and since 1897 in the Ne ...
, a congregation representing
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...
and an
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
congregation exist.
Politics
City council
The municipal elections in Baden-Württemberg 2019 led to the result shown below, which resulted in the following distribution of the 22 (- 2) seats on the municipal council:
+/- : Difference to the municipal elections on 25 May 2014
Mayor
In November 2022 Jens Keuchner was elected mayor.
[
]
Town twinning
The city of Sulz maintains a town twinning with
* Montendre
Montendre () is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department in southwestern France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas reg ...
, Département Charente-Maritime (France)
* Altenberg (Saxony)
Economy and Infrastructure
Traffic
Sulz is located on the Stuttgart-Tuttlingen railway line and is Regional-Express- and Intercity-stop of the Line 87. There are hourly trains to 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 ...
and Rottweil
Rottweil (; Alemannic: ''Rautweil'') is a town in southwest Germany in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Rottweil was a free imperial city for nearly 600 years.
Located between the Black Forest and the Swabian Alps, Rottweil has nearly 25,000 in ...
, two hourly trains to Singen
Singen (Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Singe'') is an industrial city in the very south of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany and just north of the German-Swiss border.
Location
Singen is an industrial city situated in the very south ...
. Occasionally there are also direct connections to Konstanz and Villingen.
Sulz can be reached via Bundesautobahn 81 ( Würzburg – Gottmadingen) and the Bundesstraße 14
{{Infobox road
, country = DEU
, type = B
, route = 14
, map = B014 Verlauf.svg
, map_notes =
, length_km = 464
, direction_a = West
, terminus_a =
, direction_b = East
, terminus_b =
, states = ...
( Stockach – Waidhaus). The city is 60 km away from 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 ...
and 100 km from Bodensee.
Sulz has an airfield for ultralight aviation. Furthermore there is the VHF omnidirectional range (VOR) Sulz (116.10 MHz).
Educational institutions
* Albeck-Gymnasium
* Lina-Hähnle-Realschule
* Primary and secondary school with Werkrealschule
* Elly-Heuss-Knapp school, commercial schools Sulz with commercial high school
* Adult education centre
Leisure and sports facilities
* Outdoor pool susolei (swimming pool filled with brine
Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of solutions used for br ...
(salt water)
Culture and sightseeing
Sulz is Located on two scenic routes, the Hohenzollernstraße and the Römerstraße. They lead fast the following sights:
* Stone Fountain Stock of the Market Square Fountain (1807) with decorated cast metal plates
* Epitaphs of the old cemetery laid out in 1542
* Bronze tomb of Anna von Hohengeroldseck born Gräfin von Lindow und Ruppin and her son Walter in the Sulzer Stadtkirche (1533)
Museums
* Gustav Bauernfeind-Museum in the building Untere Hauptstraße 5
* Cultural and museum centre in Glatt castle
* Römerkeller-Museum in the area of the former Roman Fort Sulz
* The studio of the art foundation Paul Kälberer in the district of Glatt contains an exhibition of paintings and graphics by Kälberer
Buildings
* The castle of today's Ruin Albeck was built at the end of the 13th century by Baron von Geroldseck and was destroyed and set on fire on 30 December 1688 by a French patrol corps.
* The Kirchberg convent is a former Dominican convent. Today it serves as a Protestant meeting and retreat house.
* The Bernsteinschule, former academy of arts in the former convent of the Franciscan friars in Bernstein.
* The 24 m high observation tower Mettstetten, built in 1998 is located not far west of the Sulzer district Dürrenmettstetten. Its viewing platform is located exactly at 700 m above sea level. Website of Dürrenmettstetten - Leisure
/ref>
People from Sulz am Neckar
* Friedrich August von Alberti (1795-1878), geologist
* Gustav Bauernfeind
Gustav Bauernfeind (; 4 September 1848, in Sulz am Neckar – 24 December 1904, in Jerusalem) was a German painter, illustrator and architect of partly Jewish origin. He is considered to be one of the most notable Orientalist painters of Germ ...
(1848–1904), painter
* Joseph Gottlieb Kölreuter (1733-1806), botanist, professor of natural history
* Brigitte Peterhans
Brigitte Peterhans (born Brigitte Schlaich) was a German American architect, (born 27 August 1928 in Sulz am Neckar, Germany – died 15 January 2021 in Stuttgart). Peterhans received her Diplom-Ingenieur in 1960 from the University of Stuttga ...
(b.1928-), architect
* Richard Schmid (1899–1986), lawyer and politician ( SPD Landesminister in Baden-Württemberg) and member of the German resistance German resistance can refer to:
* Freikorps, German nationalist paramilitary groups resisting German communist uprisings and the Weimar Republic government
* German resistance to Nazism
* Landsturm, German resistance groups fighting against France d ...
).
* Salomon Schweigger
Salomon Schweigger (also spelled Solomon Schweiger) (30 March 1551 – 21 June 1622) was a German Lutheran theologian, minister, anthropologist and orientalist of the 16th century. He provided a valuable insight during his travels in the Balka ...
(1551–1622 ), Lutheran theologian, anthropologist, orientalist and pilgrim
* Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich (1815–77), physician and pioneer psychiatrist.
Gallery
File:Sulz-Römischer Keller3801.JPG, ''Römerkeller''
File:Epitaph Magnus Friedrich Roos.jpg, Epitaph on Magnus Friedrich Roos
Magnus, meaning "Great" in Latin, was used as cognomen of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in the first century BC. The best-known use of the name during the Roman Empire is for the fourth-century Western Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus. The name gained wi ...
Glatt_Pfarrturm.jpg, Water castle and rectory in Glatt
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sulz Am Neckar
Towns in Baden-Württemberg
Rottweil (district)
Populated places on the Neckar basin
Populated riverside places in Germany
Württemberg