Mosbach (; South Franconian: ''Mossbach'') is a town in the north of

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 ...

, Germany. It is the seat of the

Neckar-Odenwald Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the north of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from east clockwise) Main-Tauber-Kreis, Hohenlohe-Kreis, Heilbronn, Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, Odenwaldkreis (Hesse) and Landk ...

district 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 o ...

and has a population of approximately 25,000 distributed in six boroughs: Mosbach Town, Lohrbach, Neckarelz, Diedesheim, Sattelbach and Reichenbuch.

Geography

Located about 35 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 is situated south of 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 ...

mountains at a height of 134-354m at the confluence of 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 ...

and the Elz. The town is part of the conservation area Naturpark Neckartal-Odenwald and the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

''Geopark Bergstraße-Odenwald''.

History

The settlement of Mosbach developed around the

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monastery of

Mosbach Abbey Mosbach Abbey (Kloster Mosbach) was a Benedictine monastery, later a monastery of Augustinian Canons, in the town of Mosbach in the Odenwald, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. As part of the systematic Carolingian Christianisation of this part of ...

(''"Monasterium Mosabach"''), the first written record of which dates from the 9th century. In 1241 rights and privileges had been granted to Mosbach as an

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 ...

. These rights were lost in 1362 when Mosbach became part of 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 ...

. With the division of the lands of King Rupert in 1410, Mosbach became the capital of a small principality known as

Palatinate-Mosbach Palatinate-Mosbach was a state of the Holy Roman Empire centred on Mosbach and Eberbach in the north of modern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Palatinate-Mosbach was created in 1410 out of the partition of the Palatinate after the death of King ...

as the inheritance for his son

Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Francia, East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the olde ...

. With the death of his brother

John, Count Palatine of Neumarkt John (Johann von Pfalz-Neumarkt; 1383 – 14 March 1443) was the Count Palatine of Neumarkt from 1410 to his death. The son of Rupert III of the Palatinate, he married Catherine of Pomerania in 1407. He is mainly known for his crushing victory ...

1443, the territory of Palatinate-Neumarkt was added in a personal union to Palatinate-Mosbach creating the territory of

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 ...

. This principality was dissolved with the death 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 Italy. ...

in 1499. The city and adjoining territory reverted to the

, and Mosbach became the capital of the administrative district of ''"Oberamt Mosbach"''. In 1806 the city was made part of the

Grand Duchy of Baden The Grand Duchy of Baden (german: Großherzogtum Baden) was a state in the southwest German Empire on the east bank of the Rhine. It existed between 1806 and 1918. It came into existence in the 12th century as the Margraviate of Baden and subs ...

. In

World War II 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 opposin ...

, the Mosbach area was the location of a

Daimler-Benz The Mercedes-Benz Group Aktiengesellschaft, AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German Multinational corporation, multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It ...

underground airplane engine factory, codenamed "Goldfisch". It was occupied by the 289th Combat Engineer Battalion in the immediate postwar period.

Twin towns and sister cities

Mosbach is twinned with: * Budapest II, Hungary *

Château-Thierry Château-Thierry () is a French commune situated in the department of the Aisne, in the administrative region of Hauts-de-France, and in the historic Province of Champagne. The origin of the name of the town is unknown. The local tradition att ...

, France *

Finike Finike, the ancient Phoenix or Phoinix ( grc, Φοῖνιξ), also formerly Phineka, is a town and a district on the Mediterranean coast of Antalya Province in Turkey, to the west of the city of Antalya, along the Turkish Riviera. It is located o ...

, Turkey *

Lymington Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a car ferry service operated by Wightlink. It is within the ...

, England, United Kingdom *

Rosolina Rosolina ( vec, Roxołina) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Rovigo in the Italian region Veneto, located about south of Venice and about east of Rovigo. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 6,303 and an area of .All de ...

, Italy

Points of interest

Historic sites include: * the historic town centre with the pedestrian area and

timber-framed 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, such as: ** the Palm House built in 1610, which is the town's emblem ** the Salzhaus, which is the oldest timber-framed house * old town hall with tower * the former collegiate church, now a parish church, of which the nave is used by the

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

s, and the chancel by the

Roman Catholic 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 lette ...

s * the ''Tempelhaus'' in Neckarelz, which has the character of both a castle and a church. Mosbach lies on two ''heritage'' routes: * the ''Burgenstraße'' (''“Castle Road”''), linking many historic castles * the ''Deutsche Fachwerkstraße'' (''“German Half-timbered Road”''), joining the locations of many of the best German half-timbered buildings image:Mosbach kickelhain.jpg, Kickelhain House image:Mosbach_palmscheshaus.jpg, The “Palmsche Haus” at the market place image:Mosbach marktplatz gegenseite.jpg, Market place, opposite side to the “Palmsche Haus” image:Mosbach rathaus.jpg, Town hall image:Mosbach_winkel.jpg, A picturesque corner image:Neckar river watershed.png, Mosbach and the other cities on the Neckar River

References

{{Authority control Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis Populated places on the Neckar basin Populated riverside places in Germany Baden

Geography

History

Twin towns and sister cities

Points of interest

See also

References