Waldsassen ( Northern Bavarian: ''Woidsassen'') is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in the district of

Tirschenreuth Tirschenreuth ( Northern Bavarian: ''Dirschnrad'', ''Diascharad'') is the capital city of the district of Tirschenreuth. It is located in the northeast of Bavaria, very close to the Czech-Bavarian border. Geography Tirschenreuth is located in th ...

in the

Upper Palatinate The Upper Palatinate (german: Oberpfalz, , ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany, and is located in the east of Bavaria. Geography The Upper Palatinate is a landscape with low mountains and numerous ponds and lakes ...

region of

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 ...

Geography

Waldsassen is the northernmost municipality of the Upper Palatinate region. In the northeast, it borders the town of

Cheb Cheb (; german: Eger) is a town in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 30,000 inhabitants. It lies on the river Ohře. Before the 1945 expulsion of the German-speaking population, the town was the centre of the German-s ...

(''Eger'') in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. The historic

tripoint A tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints as of 2020. Nearly half are situated in rivers, l ...

of ducal Altbayern, the

Franconia Franconia (german: Franken, ; Franconian dialect: ''Franggn'' ; bar, Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian languages, Franconian dialect (German: ''Fränkisch''). The three Regierungsbezirk, administrative ...

n lands of Bayreuth, and the Bohemian

Egerland The Egerland ( cs, Chebsko; german: Egerland; Egerland German dialect: ''Eghalånd'') is a historical region in the far north west of Bohemia in what is today the Czech Republic, at the border with Germany. It is named after the German name ''Eg ...

lies near the village of Pechtnersreuth. Basilika Waldsassen

The town is famous for the Waldsassen Basilica and

Waldsassen Abbey Waldsassen Abbey (German: ''Abtei Waldsassen'') is a Cistercian nunnery, formerly a Cistercian monastery, located on the River Wondreb at Waldsassen near Tirschenreuth, Oberpfalz, in Bavaria, Germany, close to the border with the Czech Republic. ...

, both built in a Baroque style. The latter contains the much visited Abbey library, whose wood carvings were completed by Karl Stilp in 1726. Four km north of the town, on Glasberg hill, is the Chapel of the Trinity (Dreifaltigkeitskirche Kappl), built in 1689, and a popular pilgrimage destination because of its quirky architecture.

History

The Cistercian Waldsassen Abbey was founded on 1 October 1133 by the Bavarian noble Margrave

Diepold III of Vohburg Diepold III, Margrave of Vohburg (c. 1079 – 1146), also known as Diepold von Vohburg and Diepold III von Giengen, was a Bavarian noble in the 12th century. He had two wives. His daughter with Adelaide of Poland (daughter of Władysław I Herman a ...

. An

Imperial abbey Princely abbeys (german: Fürstabtei, ''Fürststift'') and Imperial abbeys (german: Reichsabtei, ''Reichskloster'', ''Reichsstift'', ''Reichsgotthaus'') were religious establishments within the Holy Roman Empire which enjoyed the status of impe ...

from 1214 onwards, it fell to

Palatinate-Mosbach-Neumarkt Palatinate-Mosbach-Neumarkt was a state of the Holy Roman Empire based around Mosbach and Eberbach in the north of modern Baden-Württemberg, and Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate of Bavaria, Germany. Palatinate-Mosbach-Neumarkt was created in ...

branch of the House of Wittelsbach under the rule of Count Palatine

Otto II Otto II (955 – 7 December 983), called the Red (''der Rote''), was Holy Roman Emperor from 973 until his death in 983. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto II was the youngest and sole surviving son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Ita ...

in 1465. The Palatinate rulers had the monastery dissolved in the course of the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and ...

in 1571, whereafter the premises were used as tenements. Not until the 17th century new building arose in the vicinity, while after the Counter-Reformation, the abbey from 1661 onwards was resettled with Cistercian monks descending from

Fürstenfeld Abbey Fürstenfeld Abbey (german: Kloster Fürstenfeld, ) is a former Cistercian monastery in Fürstenfeldbruck (formerly known simply as Bruck), Bavaria, Germany. It is situated about 25 km north-west of Munich. The abbey was one of the household ...

. However, Waldsassen again was

secularised In sociology, secularization (or secularisation) is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions. The ''secularization thesis'' expresses the ...

during the 1803

German Mediatisation German mediatisation (; german: deutsche Mediatisierung) was the major territorial restructuring that took place between 1802 and 1814 in Germany and the surrounding region by means of the mass mediatisation and secularisation of a large number ...

. Part of 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 ...

from 1806, the local economy, mainly

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises main ...

and

glassblowing Glassblowing is a glassforming technique that involves inflating molten glass into a bubble (or parison) with the aid of a blowpipe (or blow tube). A person who blows glass is called a ''glassblower'', ''glassmith'', or ''gaffer''. A '' lampworke ...

industries, was boosted by the opening of the Wiesau–Cheb railway line in 1865. Prince Regent Luitpold vested Waldsassen with city rights in 1896. The monastery again became a priory of Cistercian nuns in 1863 and again achieved the status of an independent abbey in 1925. The monastery church received the papal title of '' basilica minor'' in 1969.

Politics

Seats in the town's assembly (''Stadtrat'') as of 2014 local elections: *

Christian Social Union in Bavaria The Christian Social Union in Bavaria (German: , CSU) is a Christian-democratic and conservative political party in Germany. Having a regionalist identity, the CSU operates only in Bavaria while its larger counterpart, the Christian Democratic ...

(CSU): 10 * Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD): 7 *

Free Voters Free Voters (german: Freie Wähler, FW or FWG) in Germany may belong to an association of people which participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party. Usually it involves a locally organized group of voters ...

(FWG): 3

Twin towns

Waldsassen is twinned with: *

Marcoussis Marcoussis () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Marcoussis is the location of the CNR (National Centre of Rugby) where the French national rugby union team prepare for internationa ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, since 1970 * Pencoed,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, since 1982

Notable people

Robert Köbler Robert Hans Friedrich Köbler (21 February 1912 – 7 September 1970) was a German organist, pianist, composer and professor at the University of Leipzig. Köbler was born in Waldsassen. He studied church music in Leipzig from 1931 to 1934, organ ...

(1912–1970), pianist, organist and composer *

Matthias Hamann Matthias Hamann (born 10 February 1968, in Waldsassen) is a German football manager and former player. He is the brother of Dietmar Hamann. Hamann made 59 appearances in the Bundesliga during his playing career. Hamann worked as a scout as par ...

(born 1968), football player and manager *

Dietmar Hamann Dietmar Johann Wolfgang "Didi" Hamann (; born 27 August 1973) is a German professional football coach, former player and media personality. Throughout his career, he has played for Bayern Munich, Newcastle United, Liverpool and Manchester City ...

(born 1973), footballer

Sources

External links

Waldsassen Basilica: images

Waldsassen town official website

Waldsassen parish website
{{Authority control Tirschenreuth (district)