Schlüsselfeld is a town on the southwestern edge of the

Upper Franconia Upper Franconia (german: Oberfranken) is a ''Regierungsbezirk'' (administrative 'Regierungs''region 'bezirk'' of the state of Bavaria, southern Germany. It forms part of the historically significant region of Franconia, the others being Middle F ...

n district (

Landkreis In all German states, except for the three city states, the primary administrative subdivision higher than a '' Gemeinde'' (municipality) is the (official term in all but two states) or (official term in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia ...

) of

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main. The town dates back to the 9th century, when its name was derived from the nearby ' castle. C ...

Geography

Schlüsselfeld lies 24 km southwest of

in the Steigerwald (forest) in the valley of the Reiche Ebrach, 299 m above sea level.

Constituent communities

The town of Schlüsselfeld is made up of 22 ''

Ortsteil A village is a clustered human settlement or Residential community, community, larger than a hamlet (place), hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population t ...

e'', which for the most part were independent communities until administrative reform: *Aschbach *Attelsdorf *Bernroth *Debersdorf *Eckersbach *Elsendorf *Fallmeisterei *Güntersdorf *Heuchelheim *Hohn am Berg *Hopfenmühle *Lach *Obermelsendorf *Possenfelden *Rambach bei Schlüsselfeld *Reichmannsdorf *Schlüsselfeld *Thüngbach *Thüngfeld *Untermelsendorf *Wüstenbuch *Ziegelsambach The town also has these traditional rural land units, known 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 **Ger ...

as ''Gemarkungen'' (most are former independent communities retained as cadastral areas): *Aschbach *Eckersbach *Elsendorf *Heuchelheim *Reichmannsdorf *Schlüsselfeld *Thüngfeld *Untermelsendorf *Ziegelsambach All share names with the town's constituent communities as it is traditional for a ''Gemarkung'' to be named after a town or village lying nearby. From 1972 to 1978, Schlüsselfeld belonged to

Middle Franconia Middle Franconia (german: Mittelfranken, ) is one of the three administrative regions of Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the west of Bavaria and borders the state of Baden-Württemberg. The administrative seat is Ansbach; however, ...

Climate

Schlüsselfeld's average yearly temperature is 8.24 °C.

History

Schlüsselfeld was founded on 10 June 1336 by Konrad von Schlüsselberg. He was granted the right to found a town by Holy Roman Emperor Ludwig IV. After its founder's death, Schlüsselfeld passed to the Bishops of Bamberg and

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg is ...

. Through a compromise, Würzburg also acquired Bamberg's share of the town in 1390. In 1396, the market town of Schlüsselfeld had its town rights confirmed. The Würzburg Bishops built Schlüsselfeld up into an ''

Amt Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...

'' and chose as their ''Amt'' seat the Thüngfeld Castle (''Thüngfelder Schloss''). The town hall built in 1723 declares the following in a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

inscription: “''This house hates unrest, loves peace, punishes crime, upholds the law, honours goodness. ''” As part of the Würzburg High Monastery, the tithing centre (''Centamt'') of Schlüsselfeld was

secularized In sociology, secularization (or secularisation) is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions. The ''secularization thesis'' expresses the ...

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 lan ...

’s favour in 1803, passed in 1805 with the Peace of Pressburg to the newly formed

Grand Duchy of Würzburg The Grand Duchy of Würzburg (german: Großherzogtum Würzburg) was a German grand duchy A grand duchy is a sovereign state, country or territory whose official head of state or ruler is a monarch bearing the title of grand duke or grand duc ...

, and then eventually, after territorial adjustments in 1810, was returned to Bavaria. In the course of administrative reform in Bavaria, today’s community came into being under the ''Gemeindeedikt'' (“Community Edict”) of 1818.

Religion

Of the town's inhabitants, 4,262 belong to the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, 1,217 to the

Evangelical Church Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...

and 588 to other or no religious bodies.

Population development

Within town limits, 4,780 inhabitants were counted in 1970, 5,034 in 1987 and 5,711 in 2000. Over the next six years, the population rose and on 31 December 2006, it had reached 5,824.

Politics

The mayor is Johannes Krapp (CSU). In 1999, municipal tax revenue, converted to

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

s, amounted to €2,715,000 of which business taxes (net) amounted to €817,000.

Town council

Town council consists of: *

CSU CSU may refer to: * Channel service unit, a Wide area network equivalent of a network interface card * Chari Aviation Services, Chad, by ICAO airline code * Christian Social Union (UK), an Anglican social gospel organisation * Christian Social Un ...

9 seats *

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...

4 seats * Freie Wählergemeinschaft 3 seats *Unabhängige Bürgergemeinschaft 3 seats *Überparteilich Christliche Wählergemeinschaft 1 seat

Coat of arms

Schlüsselfeld's arms might heraldically be described thus: In gules a key argent per bend sinister with the bit upturned, flanked per bend each side by a mullet of six Or. The key refers not only to the town's name (“Schlüsselfeld” literally means “Key Field” in

), but also by its

charges Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * '' Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...

and

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

s to the arms borne by the old Lords of Schlüsselberg, who have since died out, but who were once the town's owners and founders. The town was first mentioned in history as Konrad von Schlüsselberg's property. The current

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 ...

appeared for the first time in a seal from the 16th century. The town flag is gold, white and red.

Culture and sightseeing

Worth seeing in the Schlüsselfeld area are the following: *in Schlüsselfeld: the Town Gate Tower with remains of the town wall and two round towers, the ''Petrusbrunnen'' (fountain), the Old Town Hall with

pillory The pillory is a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse. The pillory is related to the stocks ...

, the New Town Hall, the

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

parish church, the ''Klein-Mariazell im Steigerwald'' church (with a copy of the

Icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...

Mariazell Mariazell (Central Bavarian: ''Mariazöö'') is an Austrian city in the southeastern state of Styria. Well known for being a hub of winter sports and a pilgrimage destination, it is located north of Graz. It is picturesquely situated in the valle ...

in the

Steiermark Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

) *in Aschbach: 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 ...

castle, the ''Mariä-Himmelfahrt'' church, the Evangelical church with ''Marienaltar'' *in Reichmannsdorf: Dientzenhof Castle *in Heuchelheim the ''

Dreifrankenstein The Dreifrankenstein (German for ''Three Franconias Stone'') is a boundary stone that marks the tripoint where the three Franconian provinces of Upper, Middle and Lower Franconia meet in southern Germany. As part of the regional reforms in 1972 ...

Economy and infrastructure

The town of Schlüsselfeld lies at the common point of all three of Franconia's ''

Regierungsbezirk A ' () means "governmental district" and is a type of administrative division in Germany. Four of sixteen ' ( states of Germany) are split into '. Beneath these are rural and urban districts. Saxony has ' (directorate districts) with more res ...

e'', right on the A 3 (Würzburg-

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

) with its ''Schlüsselfeld'' interchange, and is acknowledged as a smaller centre.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schlusselfeld Bamberg (district)