Salem is a municipality in the Bodensee district 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 ...

in Southern

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 ...

, located 9 km north of

Lake Constance Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three Body of water, bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, ca ...

, with a population of 11,100.

Geography

The community is located about nine kilometers east of

Überlingen Überlingen is a German city on the northern shore of Lake Constance (Bodensee) in Baden-Württemberg near the border with Switzerland. After the city of Friedrichshafen, it is the second largest city in the Bodenseekreis (district), and a centr ...

and ten kilometers north east of Meersburg in

Linzgau Linzgau is a historic region in Southern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located north of Lake Constance and south of the Danube valley. Geography The region is bounded by the shore of Lake Constance on the south, the Hegau regi ...

mainly in the valley of

Linzer Aach The Seefelder Aach is a river in the districts of Sigmaringen and Bodenseekreis, Tübingen region, southern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is approximately 55 kilometres long and flows into Lake Constance. It has a catchment area of 279 k ...

. The district Oberstenweiler is situated on a side peak of the Gehrenberg up to 600 m height. The district area covers approximately 6270 hectares 1(as of December 31, 2014). (Date: 31 December 2014).Gemarkungsfläche 62.698.426 m² (Date: 31. Dezember 2014).

Neighboring communities

The community is adjacent to

, Meersburg, Bermatingen,

Heiligenberg Heiligenberg is a municipality and a village in the Bodensee district in Baden-Württemberg, about seven kilometres north of Salem, in Germany. Location and climate Heiligenberg (literally: the Holy Mountain or the Mountain of Saints) is loca ...

Deggenhausertal Deggenhausertal is a municipality in the district of Bodensee in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. __TOC__ Geography Deggenhausertal is located in two hilly valleys between the mountains of Gehrenberg and Höchsten. It is bordered to the west by ...

Frickingen Frickingen is a municipality and a village in the district of Bodensee in Baden-Württemberg in Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in ...

and

Uhldingen-Mühlhofen Uhldingen-Mühlhofen is a town at the northern shore of Lake Constance, Germany between Überlingen and Meersburg. The town is a popular holiday destination and home to the Pfahlbauten open-air museum in Unteruhldingen and the Birnau basilica. ...

Municipality arrangement

The town of Salem consists of eleven member locations :.Vgl. ''Salem''. in: ''Das Land Baden-Württemberg. Amtliche Beschreibung nach Kreisen und Gemeinden. Band VII: Regierungsbezirk Tübingen'', Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1978, . S. 590–596. The locations are listed below: (As at 31 December 2014)area 62.698.426 m² (Stand: 31. Dezember 2014).Einwohner und Fläche
der Gemeinde Salem; retrieved 24. February 2015 *Salem Stefansfeld (chief town) 743 ha *Beuren 888 ha *Buggensegel 361 ha *Grasbeuren 347 ha *Mimmenhausen 628 ha *Mittelstenweiler 314 ha *Neufrach 1030 ha *Oberstenweiler 324 ha *Rickenbach 171 ha *Tüfingen 911 ha *Weildorf 551 ha

History

For a detailed history of the monastery see the article

Salem Abbey Salem Abbey (german: Kloster Salem) was a very prominent Cistercian monastery in Salem in the district of Bodensee about ten miles from Konstanz, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The buildings are now owned by the State of Baden-Württemberg and a ...

. The area has been populated since at least the Bronze Age. Beginning in the 3rd century, the Alemanni and, later, the

Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...

established several villages, including the small settlement Salemanneswilare (later Salmannsweiler).

, founded by the Order of

Cistercians The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

, was established here in 1134. It quickly achieved the rank of 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 about 1285 to 1425, the High Gothic Salem Münster (Minster) was built, and has been preserved until the current day. In the 17th century, the monastery had to cope with serious setbacks. The

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

brought death and destruction to many areas. And, in 1697, a fire destroyed not only most of the buildings, but also numerous art treasures owned by the abbey. Subsequently, under the master builder Franz Beer of

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label= Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with the ...

, the Baroque buildings currently standing on the site were built. Among other things, Abbot Anselm II Schwab founded an Orphans' Fund in 1749 that is considered the first

savings bank A savings bank is a financial institution whose primary purpose is accepting savings deposits and paying interest on those deposits. They originated in Europe during the 18th century with the aim of providing access to savings products to al ...

in Germany. Anselm also had the pilgrimage church Birnau built on the shores of Lake Constance. The heyday of the monastery ended with the German mediatization in 1803. It was secularized, and the territory fell to the

Margraviate of Baden The Margraviate of Baden (german: Markgrafschaft Baden) was a historical territory of the Holy Roman Empire. Spread along the east side of the Upper Rhine River in southwestern Germany, it was named a margraviate in 1112 and existed until 1535, ...

Culture and sights

The

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

monastery of

was founded in 1134 when the knight Guntram von Adelsreute donated land for its establishment. The abbey already had its own

scriptorium Scriptorium (), literally "a place for writing", is commonly used to refer to a room in medieval European monasteries devoted to the writing, copying and illuminating of manuscripts commonly handled by monastic scribes. However, lay scribes an ...

in the 12th century and formed one of the most important monastery libraries in Europe. Salem Internat 1

Currently the grounds are home to the middle school campus of the boarding school

Schule Schloss Salem Schule Schloss Salem (Anglicisation: ''School of Salem Castle'', ''Salem Castle School'') is a boarding school with campuses in Salem and Überlingen in Baden-Württemberg, Southern Germany. It offers the German Abitur, as well as the Inter ...

, founded in 1920 by

Kurt Hahn Kurt Matthias Robert Martin Hahn (5 June 1886, Berlin – 14 December 1974, Hermannsberg) was a German educator. He was decisive in founding, among other organizations and initiatives, Stiftung Louisenlund, Schule Schloss Salem, Gordonsto ...

and

Prince Max of Baden Maximilian, Margrave of Baden (''Maximilian Alexander Friedrich Wilhelm''; 10 July 1867 – 6 November 1929),Almanach de Gotha. ''Haus Baden (Maison de Bade)''. Justus Perthes, Gotha, 1944, p. 18, (French). also known as Max von Baden, was a Ger ...

. The abbey complex covers a total of 17 hectares. Other sights are the Gothic style Salem Minster (the former church of the abbey complex) and the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

chapel.

Sports

In summer the Schlosssee (castle lake) attracts swimmers from all over the region. There are also tennis courts, a football and athletics stadium, sports grounds, sports halls and rehearsal rooms for teams.Peter Schober: ''Salem. Salem ist nicht Hintertupfingen''. In: ''Die Region stellt sich vor. Wir sind hier''. Sonderbeilage des ''

Südkurier The Südkurier is a regional daily newspaper in Germany serving the regions northwest of Lake Constance, Hochrhein and Black Forest with its headquarters Konstanz, Germany. The paper appears with a circulation of around 130,000, six times per w ...

'' vom 19. November 2010, S. 8.

Teams

Fanfarenzug Salem during the day of open doors on 14 September 2014 in Salem Monastery and Palace. Salem has numerous clubs, including the Fanfarenzug Salem.Vereine in Salem (Baden).

Regular events

The Schloss Seefest Salem, one of the largest open-air events in the Lake Constance region, is held every first summer holiday weekend. International artists perform large outdoor concerts on the castle grounds in the lakeside park.

Notable people

Joseph Anton Feuchtmayer Joseph Anton Feuchtmayer (6 March 1696 (baptized) – 2 January 1770) was an important Rococo stuccoist and sculptor, active in southern Germany and Switzerland. J. A. Feuchtmayer was born in Linz, a member of the famous Feuchtmayer family ...

(1696–1770),

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

plasterer and sculptor * Jodok Pein (died after 1729), archivist, konzipist and teaching provost *

Johann Baptist von Keller Johann Baptist von Keller (16 May 1774 – 17 October 1845) was a German Catholic priest from Salem. He served as the first Bishop of Rottenburg. Keller was consecrated a priest in 1797 and was called to Württemberg in 1808. In 1816, he ...

(1774–1845), Bishop of Rottenburg *

Maximilian, Margrave of Baden Maximilian, Margrave of Baden (Maximilian Andreas Friedrich Gustav Ernst August Bernhard; 3 July 1933 – 29 December 2022), also known as Max von Baden, was a German businessman and the head of House of Baden. Through his mother, Princess Theo ...

(born 1933), head of the House of Baden since 1963. * Abdullah Wagishauser (born 1950), Muslim cleric * Bernhard, Hereditary Prince of Baden (born 1970), German prince and heir to the head of the House of Baden * Alexander Hahn (born 1987), politician (FDP)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salem, Baden-Wurttemberg Bodenseekreis