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Furtwangen im Schwarzwald (;
Low Alemannic Low Alemannic German (german: Niederalemannisch) is a branch of Alemannic German, which is part of Upper German. Its varieties are only partly intelligible to non-Alemannic speakers. Subdivisions * Lake Constance Alemannic ( de) **Northern Vor ...
: ''Furtwange im Schwarzwald'') is a small city located in the Black Forest region of southwestern Germany. Together with Villingen-Schwenningen, Furtwangen is part of the district (German: Kreis) of Schwarzwald-Baar.


Geography

Furtwangen is located in the
Southern Black Forest Nature Park The Southern Black Forest Nature Park (german: Naturpark Südschwarzwald) is located in Baden-Württemberg in Germany and covers an area of 394,000 hectares. As of 2018, it is Germany's largest nature park. History The Southern Black Forest Nat ...
in the Southeastern Black Forest, around 25 kilometers west of the district town of Villingen-Schwenningen and around 27 kilometers northeast of Freiburg. Furtwangen is the highest town in Baden-Württemberg. Between 850 m and 1,150 m above sea level, it lies in the upper Bregtal of the
Central Black Forest The Central Black Forest (german: Mittlerer Schwarzwald), also called the Middle Black Forest, is a natural or cultural division of the Black Forest in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It generally refers to a region of deeply incised valleys from t ...
in the headwaters of the Danube. The Breg is a small stream which, coming from the mountainous areas around Furtwangen, flows down through the inner city to the east. The Breg is one of the two little rivers which unite to form the river Danube. The population of Furtwangen comprises around 10,000 inhabitants (as of 2016/17).


History

Furtwangen gained the right to call itself a city in 1873. It was not the first time that Furtwangen applied for
city 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 all, in 1833, the village already had 2,292 inhabitants and 2,470 in 1840. The previous attempts had always failed because Furtwangen had no
town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...
, although higher administrative levels had already warned the building several times.


Coat of arms

The coat of arms is mainly in silver. It depicts a red castle ruin on green ground with silver openings, surrounded by two green fir trees.


Clockmaking

Furtwangen owes its economic boom to the clock, which reached the Black Forest in the 17th century and brought the region an unexpected boom in the 18th century. The founding of the watchmaking school in 1850 was the expression and motor of this development. Its first rector
Robert Gerwig Robert Gerwig (1820–1885) was a German civil engineer. Gerwig was born on 2 May 1820 in Karlsruhe, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, and attended the Großherzogliches Polytechnikum (now known as Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) where he stud ...
also achieved fame as one of the builders of the Black Forest Railway. The trade association, to which the city also owes the establishment of the Sparkasse, gave the impetus to establish the watchmaking school. Today's Furtwangen University of Applied Sciences developed from the watchmaking school. After the city elevation in 1873, industrialization began in Furtwangen through the watch industry. Large companies such as Baduf, Furtwängler and Siedle emerged. In total, they provided 2,000 jobs. At the turn of the century, the Furtwang industry was at its peak. The traffic conditions were improved by the Bregtalbahn, which opened in 1893. Emilian Wehrle (1832–1896) made musical clocks in the Furtwangen-Schönenbach area from about 1857 until his death in 1896. These musical clocks included the
Trumpeter clock A trumpeter clock is a type of musical clock that reproduces the trumpeters call. These clocks were made exclusively in the Black Forest region of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central E ...
, Flute clock, Singing Bird Clock, and Rooster Clock. These clocks call the hour with the sound of the trumpet, flute, song bird and rooster respectively.


Culture and tourism

The German Clock Museum exhibits more than 8,000 items related to clocks and clockmaking. The museum's history dates back to 1852, when
Robert Gerwig Robert Gerwig (1820–1885) was a German civil engineer. Gerwig was born on 2 May 1820 in Karlsruhe, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, and attended the Großherzogliches Polytechnikum (now known as Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) where he stud ...
, Director of the ''Grand Ducal Baden Clockmaking School'' in Furtwangen, began to collect old clocks as witnesses of traditional handicrafts. In 1978, the "Historic Clock Collection" is renamed into the "German Clock Museum". The Hexenloch Mill was built in 1825. It has been in the family since 1839. The mill was built as a sawmill, its wheels are driven by the water from the hay stream (approx. 300 litres/second). The large water wheel (4m diameter, 13 HP) is the drive of a high-speed and a circular saw which are still functional today.


Education

The University of Applied Sciences Furtwangen was founded in 1850. It specialises in microelectronics, precision mechanics, computer sciences, informatics, digital media, industrial technologies, medical and life sciences, mechanical and medical engineering etc.


Infrastructure

Strongly frequented by traffic is the "
B 500 B, or b, is the second letter of the Latin-script alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' bee'' (pronounced ), plural ''bees''. It re ...
" (Bundesstraße 500) road which is also commonly known as the black forest "Panoramastraße". In 1972, the railway connection called ''Bregtalbahn'' was closed after 80 years of service. The railway track had led from Furtwangen to
Donaueschingen Donaueschingen (; Low Alemannic: ''Eschinge'') is a German town in the Black Forest in the southwest of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg in the Schwarzwald-Baar '' Kreis''. It stands near the confluence of the two sources of the river Da ...
.


Sons and daughters of the city

* * Hugo Eberhardt (1874-1959), architect * Fritz Faiss (1905 – 1981), abstract expressionist artist * Siegfried Weiss (1933-2013), cross-country skier


Personalities related to the city

*
Christabel Bielenberg Christabel Mary Bielenberg (''née'' Burton, 18 June 1909 – 2 November 2003) was a British writer who was married to a German lawyer, Peter Bielenberg. She described her experiences living in Germany during the Second World War in two books: ' ...
(1909-2003), British writer *
Robert Gerwig Robert Gerwig (1820–1885) was a German civil engineer. Gerwig was born on 2 May 1820 in Karlsruhe, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, and attended the Großherzogliches Polytechnikum (now known as Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) where he stud ...
(1825-1885), engineer, from 1850 to 1857 head of watchmaking school; one of the principal designers of the Black Forest Railway * Alexander Herr (born 1978), ski jumper *
Georg Hettich Georg Hettich (born 12 October 1978 in Furtwangen im Schwarzwald, Baden-Württemberg) is a Nordic combined skier and Olympic medalist from Germany. Hettich was a surprise winner of the 15 km individual event at the 2006 Winter Olympics. At ...
(born 1978), Nordic combiner *
Dominik Koepfer Dominik Koepfer (born 29 April 1994) is a German professional tennis player. He has achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 50 on 10 May 2021, and a doubles ranking of No. 92 on 14 February 2022. He played college tennis at Tulan ...
(born 1994), professional tennis player *
Martin Schmitt Martin Schmitt (; born 29 January 1978) is a German former ski jumper who competed from 1997 to 2014. He is one of Germany's most successful ski jumpers, having won the World Cup twice; a gold medal at the Winter Olympics; four gold medals at th ...
(born 1978), popular ski jumper * Thorsten Schmitt (born 1975), Nordic combiner


External links


Official website of the municipality
in German)


Furtwangen: pictures & history (de)


Photo gallery

File:Furtwangen Feb 05 GHB.jpg, Furtwangen File:Furtwangen Jan 05 fog GHB.jpg, Furtwangen in January 2005 (in the mist) File:University of Applied Sciences Furtwangen Germany.jpg, University of Applied Sciences Furtwangen File:Deutsches-Uhrenmuseum-Aussenansicht.png, German Clock Museum File:Furtwangen-Neukirch - Hexenlochmühle (01-2).jpg, Hexenloch Mill in Furtwangen File:Furtwangen 1808.jpg, Drawing of Furtwangen (1808)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Furtwangen Im Schwarzwald Black Forest Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis Baden