Eberbach (Baden)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Eberbach (; South Franconian: ''Ewwerbach'') is a town in
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 ...
, in northern
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 ...
, located 33 km east of
Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
. It belongs to the
Rhein-Neckar-Kreis The Rhein-Neckar-Kreis is a district in the northwest of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The administrative headquarters are based in the city Heidelberg, which is a district-free city. As of 2019, the district is the most populous in Baden-Württe ...
. Its sister cities are
Ephrata Ephrata may refer to: Places * Ephrata, Suriname * Ephrata, Pennsylvania, U.S. *Ephrata, Washington, U.S. * Ephrata Township, Pennsylvania, U.S. Other uses *Ephrata Cloister, a religious community in Ephrata, Pennsylvania See also * * Efrata or E ...
,
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and
Thonon-les-Bains Thonon-les-Bains (; frp, Tonon), often simply referred to as Thonon, is a subprefecture of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. In 2018, the commune had a population of 35,241. Thonon-les-Bains is ...
,
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
.


Geography


Location

Eberbach lies at the foot of the
Katzenbuckel The Katzenbuckel (626 metres) is an extinct volcano and the highest elevation in the Odenwald region of southeast Germany. The mountain is located eastwards of Eberbach, near the village of Waldbrunn. At the top of the Katzenbuckel is an 18-m-h ...
, at 626 m the highest elevation in the
Odenwald The Odenwald () is a low mountain range in the German states of Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. Location The Odenwald is located between the Upper Rhine Plain with the Bergstraße and the ''Hessisches Ried'' (the northeastern section ...
, in the ''Naturpark Neckartal-Odenwald'', on the romantic ''Burgenstraße'' (Castle Road) along 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 ...
.


Boroughs

Eberbach includes the boroughs of Neckarwimmersbach, Brombach, Friedrichsdorf, Lindach, Rockenau, Badisch Igelsbach, Gaimühle, Unterdielbach, Badisch Schöllenbach and Pleutersbach. The border with
Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...
runs through the borough of Igelsbach. Therefore, only the northeast half, called ''Badisch Igelsbach'', of the borough belongs to Eberbach. The southwest half, called ''Hessisch Igelsbach'', belongs to the Hessian municipality of
Hirschhorn Hirschhorn is derived from German composite word "Hirsch" (deer) and "Horn" (horn), part of a deer's antlers. A variation is Hirshhorn. It may refer to: * Hirschhorn (Neckar), a town in Hesse, Germany * Hirschhorn, Rhineland-Palatinate, a municipal ...
. The same is true for the borough Schöllenbach. The larger part of Schöllenbach belongs to the municipality of
Hesseneck Hesseneck is a village and a former municipality in the Odenwaldkreis (district) in Hesse, Germany. With only just over 600 inhabitants, Hesseneck was Hesse’s smallest self-governing community. Since January 2018, it is part of the new town Ober ...
.


History

Eberbach is a former
Imperial Free City In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...
, founded soon after 1227—when the
castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
was first mentioned—by German King Henry VII of the House of
Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynasty ...
. After his pledge to the
Counts Palatine A count palatine (Latin ''comes palatinus''), also count of the palace or palsgrave (from German ''Pfalzgraf''), was originally an official attached to a royal or imperial palace or household and later a nobleman of a rank above that of an ord ...
in 1330, the old Free City belonged to the
Electorate of the Palatinate The Electoral Palatinate (german: Kurpfalz) or the Palatinate (), officially the Electorate of the Palatinate (), was a state that was part of the Holy Roman Empire. The electorate had its origins under the rulership of the Counts Palatine of ...
. In 1803, it passed to the
Principality of Leiningen The Principality of Leiningen (german: Fürstentum Leiningen) was a short-lived principality ruled by the Prince of Leiningen. History The principality emerged in 1803 in the course of secularization and was created when the princely branch of ...
, and since 1806 it has belonged to
Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden is ...
. Until 1924, it was the seat of the authority office (''Bezirksamt''). In 1977 the town celebrated its 750-year jubilee.


Main sights

The historic old town, which is a
pedestrian precinct Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town reserved for pedestrian-only use and in whi ...
, with its four well maintained towers, many well kept
timber-frame Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...
houses and some town wall remnants, is a magnet for tourists. Likewise, the Eberbach castle ruins, which stand above the town on one of the mountains in the Odenwald range that surrounds the town, are worthy of sightseeing as part of the string of castles along the river Neckar. Eberbach also lies on the ''Burgenstraße'' (Castle Road), which leads from
Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...
all the way to
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
. The Ohrsberg is a peak in Eberbach. It shapes the town and is 229 m (751 ft) high.


Museums

Several museums can be found in Eberbach: *''Heimatmuseum der Stadt Eberbach'' — Museum of Local History for the Town of Eberbach *''Küfereimuseum'' —
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 ...
age museum *''Zinnfiguren-Kabinett'' — tin figures


Government


Municipal council

Eberbach town council has 22 members, who are elected every five years. The 2014 election was as follows:


Mayor

The mayor is directly elected for eight years.


Coat of arms

Description: (source: ''Archiv der Stadt Eberbach'', Dr. Rüdiger Lenz, Archive Head) Eberbach's
coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...
is heraldically described thus: Argent (white or silver) on lowered fess wavy azure a boar striding sable. This makes the coat of arms a
rebus A rebus () is a puzzle device that combines the use of illustrated pictures with individual letters to depict words or phrases. For example: the word "been" might be depicted by a rebus showing an illustrated bumblebee next to a plus sign (+) ...
of the town's name – a "
canting ' (IPA: , VOS Spelling: ''tjanting'', jv, ꦕꦤ꧀ꦛꦶꦁ, Tjanting) is a pen-like tool used to apply liquid hot wax ( jv, ) in the batik-making process in Indonesia, more precisely '' batik tulis'' (lit. "written batik"). Traditional ''T ...
" coat of arms – since it shows a
boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is no ...
(''Eber'' in
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
) and a wavy blue line representing a
brook A brook is a small river or natural stream of fresh water. It may also refer to: Computing *Brook, a programming language for GPU programming based on C *Brook+, an explicit data-parallel C compiler *BrookGPU, a framework for GPGPU programming ...
(''Bach'' in German). Eberbach's flag is blue and white (or blue and silver). As an Imperial City, Eberbach would have had leave originally to have its arms bear the Imperial
eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...
. The Imperial eagle was once to be found in the town wall at the upper gate. A photograph taken of it in 1909, along with the armorial stone itself, are today kept in the Town Museum, where they may be seen. The current coat of arms has been established to be from a seal impression dating back to 1387. The boar's appearance, however, in today's arms, adopted in 1976, is clearly unlike the original.


Cultural events

The following events are held yearly: *''Apfeltag'' (Apple Day) – mid-October *''Bärlauchtage'' (''Bear Garlic'' Days) - mid-March to mid-April celebrate
Ramsons ''Allium ursinum'', known as wild garlic, ramsons, cowleekes, cows's leek, cowleek, buckrams, broad-leaved garlic, wood garlic, bear leek, Eurasian wild garlic or bear's garlic, is a bulbous perennial flowering plant in the amaryllis family Amary ...
*''Frühlingsfest'' (Spring Festival) - mid-May *''Kuckucksmarkt'' (Cuckoo Market): Eberbach's Cuckoo Market is a folk festival on the last weekend of August. The name traces itself back to an old traditional story. According to the tale, an Eberbacher (from the main town north of the Neckar) in an inn in Neckarwimmersbach (on the south bank) was served a cuckoo, rather than the pigeon that he had ordered. This he then proceeded to consume. The Cuckoo Market is held in Neckarwimmersbach at the "In der Au" sports grounds and in several streets (Schwanheimer Straße, Beckstraße, Neckarbrücke). It was once held on the Neckar's north bank between Pulverturm and Grüner Baum, which is nowadays where the aforesaid Spring Festival is held.


Economy and infrastructure


Transport

The S 1/2 lines of the
Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn The Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn ''(S-Bahn RheinNeckar)'' forms the backbone of the urban rail transport network of the Rhine Neckar Area, including the cities of Mannheim, Heidelberg and Ludwigshafen. The S-Bahn operates over 437 km of route in the ...
run half-hourly along the
Neckar Valley Railway The Neckar Valley Railway, or Neckar Valley Main Line (german: Neckartalbahn) is a railway line from Heidelberg via Eberbach and Mosbach to Bad Friedrichshall-Jagstfeld in southwestern Germany. Today it is administered by the Verkehrsverbund Rhei ...
towards
Mosbach Mosbach (; South Franconian: ''Mossbach'') is a town in the north of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the seat of the Neckar-Odenwald district and has a population of approximately 25,000 distributed in six boroughs: Mosbach Town, Lohrbach, N ...
and
Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
/
Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...
. Moreover, regional express trains shuttle along this same right of way two-hourly bound for Mannheim and
Heilbronn Heilbronn () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, surrounded by Heilbronn (district), Heilbronn District. With over 126,000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. From the late Mid ...
. Regional trains also run every two hours along the '' Odenwaldbahn'' to
Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...
and
Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
. Eberbach, unlike most towns of comparable size, maintains its own transport system, the ''Stadtwerke Eberbach'' (SWE). The fleet comprises all together 6
bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
es which weekdays serve the main routes (Ledigsberg and Eberbach/Nord) from 5:10 to 19:30 half-hourly, and lesser routes irregularly. Saturdays the buses run from 6:30 to 14:50. At the Spring Festival and the Cuckoo Market, special services are laid on. In the latter case, the service runs quite late into the evening to accommodate "marketgoers". The town transport serves the following routes: *801, 807:
Railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
– Ledigsberg *802, 802a, 809: Railway station – Eberbach/Nord *803: Railway station – Rockenau *804: Railway station – Igelsbach *805: Railway station – Holdergrund *806: Hirschhorn – Brombach; this line is run by the Heckmann firm on the SWE's behalf. Furthermore, the ''Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar'' (VRN) and ''Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund'' (RMV) transport systems serve various regional bus routes. Eberbach also lies on the well-used ''Bundesstraßen'' (Federal Highways) B37 and B45.


Established enterprises

Eberbach is headquarters to the world's biggest
gelatin Gelatin or gelatine (from la, gelatus meaning "stiff" or "frozen") is a translucent, colorless, flavorless food ingredient, commonly derived from collagen taken from animal body parts. It is brittle when dry and rubbery when moist. It may also ...
producer,
Gelita Gelita AG is a manufacturer of gelatin and collagen peptides for the food, health and nutrition, pharmaceutical industries and for several technical applications. It is headquartered in Eberbach (Baden), Eberbach, Germany. Founded in 1875, Gelit ...
, the
textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
machine factory Dilo, the rowboat building yard
Empacher Empacher (company name Bootswerft Empacher GmbH) is a manufacturer of boats. Today, they produce racing shells for the sport of rowing. History Originally building sailing yachts, Willy Empacher founded his boatyard with Wilhelm Karlisch duri ...
and the ticket vending and fare collecting machine manufacturer, Krauth Technology, whose products are sold worldwide. The headquarters of the Neckardraht Group (wire makers) is likewise also found in the town on the Neckar. A site of the contract pharmaceutical manufacturer
Catalent Pharma Solutions Catalent, Inc. (Catalent Pharma Solutions) is a multinational corporation headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey. It is a global provider of delivery technologies, development, drug manufacturing, biologics, gene therapies and consumer health p ...
(formerly known as R. P. Scherer) is also based in Eberbach.


Media

*The ''Eberbacher Zeitung'' is a daily
newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
built on groundwork laid out by the '' Südwest-Presse'', an
Ulm Ulm () is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Danube on the border with Bavaria. The city, which has an estimated population of more than 126,000 (2018), forms an urban district of its own (german: link=no, ...
newspaper. * The ''Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung'' maintains its own local editing in Eberbach and publishes a special Eberbach and area edition (''Eberbacher Nachrichten''). *The ''Eberbach-Channel'' (see link below) is an online information service for Eberbach and area.


Education

*Steige
grundschule Education in Germany is primarily the responsibility of individual German States of Germany, states (), with the federal government playing a minor role. Optional Kindergarten, Kindergarden (nursery school) education is provided for all child ...
*Dr.-Weiß Grund- und Förderschule *
Hauptschule A ''Hauptschule'' (, "general school") is a secondary school in Germany, starting after four years of elementary schooling (''Grundschule''), which offers Lower Secondary Education (Level 2) according to the International Standard Classification ...
Eberbach *
Realschule ''Realschule'' () is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), ...
Eberbach *Hohenstaufen- Gymnasium * Gewerbeschule Eberbach


Health services

Hospital of the Gesundheitszentren Rhein Neckar GmbH (GRN) * Internal medicine * Surgery * Urology * Anaesthesia * HNO *
Gynaecology Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined are ...
*
Proctology Colorectal surgery is a field in medicine dealing with disorders of the rectum, anus, and colon. The field is also known as proctology, but this term is now used infrequently within medicine and is most often employed to identify practices rela ...
* Short-term care * Physiotherapy * Training for nursing


Notable natives

*
Johann Conrad Beissel Johann Conrad Beissel (March 1, 1691 – July 6, 1768) was a German-born religious leader who in 1732 founded the Ephrata Community in the Province of Pennsylvania.For the correct date of his birth see Alderfer, Everett Gordon: ''The Ephrata Com ...
(1691-1768), emigrant who founded the Ephrata monastery in Ephrata, Pennsylvania (USA) *
Robert Heinrich Wagner Robert Heinrich Wagner, born as Robert Heinrich Backfisch (13 October 1895 – 14 August 1946) was a Nazi Party official and politician who served as ''Gauleiter'' and '' Reichsstatthalter'' of Baden, and Chief of Civil Administration for ...
(1895-1946), NS functionary, Gauleiter of Baden and "chief of the civil administration" in occupied Alsace, executed for war crimes * Alfred Wolf (rabbi) (1915-2004), rabbi in Los Angeles * Eduard Ritsert (1859–1946), chemist, inventor of
Benzocaine Benzocaine, sold under the brand name Orajel amongst others, is an ester local anesthetic commonly used as a topical pain reliever or in cough drops. It is the active ingredient in many over-the-counter anesthetic ointments such as products f ...


International relations

Eberbach (Baden) is twinned with: *
Thonon-les-Bains Thonon-les-Bains (; frp, Tonon), often simply referred to as Thonon, is a subprefecture of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. In 2018, the commune had a population of 35,241. Thonon-les-Bains is ...
,
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
*
Ephrata Ephrata may refer to: Places * Ephrata, Suriname * Ephrata, Pennsylvania, U.S. *Ephrata, Washington, U.S. * Ephrata Township, Pennsylvania, U.S. Other uses *Ephrata Cloister, a religious community in Ephrata, Pennsylvania See also * * Efrata or E ...
,
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...


References


External links

*
Town's official website
*
Eberbach Channel – Online town magazine with current news
*
Pleutersbach home page, a borrough of Eberbach
*
Rockenau Sports Club home page

Tourist information for ''die Burgstrasse'', the Castle Road
* {{Authority control Towns in Baden-Württemberg 1227 establishments in Europe Populated places in Baden-Württemberg Populated places on the Neckar basin Populated riverside places in Germany Baden