Opfenbach is a municipality in the district of

Lindau Lindau (german: Lindau (Bodensee), ''Lindau am Bodensee''; ; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Lindou'') is a major Town#Germany, town and Lindau (island), island on the eastern side of Lake Constance (''Bodensee'' in German) in Bavaria, Ge ...

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 l ...

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 betwee ...

Geography

Opfenbach is located in the

Allgäu The Allgäu (Standard German: , also Allgovia) is a region in Swabia in southern Germany. It covers the south of Bavarian Swabia, southeastern Baden-Württemberg, and parts of Austria. The region stretches from the pre-alpine lands up to the ...

region, more precisely in the

Westallgäu Westallgäu is the western part of the Allgäu in Germany. It contains large parts of the districts of Lindau in the south west of the region, Swabia in Bavaria and the district of Ravensburg in the south east of Baden-Württemberg. Westallgäu ex ...

, about 15 km from

. One of the districts of Opfenbach is Wigratzbad. Others are Mellatz, Beuren, Heimen, Litzis, Göritz, Mywiler and Ruhlands.

History

Opfenbach once was part of the Austrian authority of Bregenz-Hohenegg. Since the signing of the peace treaties of Brünn and

Preßburg Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% of ...

in 1805 the town belongs to Bavaria. In the course of the administrative reforms in Bavaria, the contemporary municipality was formed by the ''"Gemeindeedikt"'' of 1818.

Population development

In 1970 1,879, in 1987 1,952 and in 2000 2,196 inhabitants were living in the municipality of Opfenbach.

Politics

Matthias Bentz (''Opfenbach direkt'') is mayor of the town. The revenue from the municipal tax added up to 869,000 € in 1999, of which the net business tax amounted to 160,000 €.

Economy and infrastructure

Economy, agriculture and forestry

According to the official statistics, in 1998 there were neither employees who were subject to social insurance contribution in the industrial sector, nor in the sector of trade and transport at place of work. In miscellaneous sector there were 110 people employed at place of work. At place of domicile there were 711 employees altogether. In the industrial sector there were none, in the main construction trade two businesses. Moreover, there were 62 agricultural businesses in 1999 with a total area of 1,010 ha.

Education

In 1999 there were the following institutions: *Kindergartens: 75 kindergarten places and 72 children *An elementary school with six teachers and 102 students *A seminary in Wigratzbad

Place of prayer

A catholic place of prayer is located in the district of Wigratzbad. On the occasion of an alleged personal epiphany for Frau Antonie Rädler in a small chapel ("Gnadenkapelle"), the place of prayer developed bit by bit until the so-called "Sühnekirche", a bigger church in modern red steel architecture, was built. In Wigratzbad

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother ...

is venerated as "Unsere Liebe Frau vom Sieg" ("Our beloved woman of victory"). The remains of Antonie Rädler and long-time pilgrim pastor Pater Johannes Schmid OP, who is considered saintly by his followers, rest in a particular chapellike grave.

References

External links

place of prayer at Wigratzbad
{{Authority control Lindau (district)