Schongau is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

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 ...

, near the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

. It is located along the Lech, between

Landsberg am Lech Landsberg am Lech (Landsberg at the Lech) is a town in southwest Bavaria, Germany, about 65 kilometers west of Munich and 35 kilometers south of Augsburg. It is the capital of the district of Landsberg am Lech. Overview Landsberg is situat ...

and Füssen. It has about 12,000 inhabitants. Schongau has a well-preserved old wall around the center.

Local history

The origin of Schongau is the current Altenstadt (lit.: old town). A large number of the inhabitants moved only a few kilometres into a new settlement founded on the Lech and took the name Schongau with them in the 13th century. The hillside was far better situated to defend it. The town of Schongau is located very close to the former Roman road to

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

Via Claudia Augusta The Via Claudia Augusta is an ancient Roman road, which linked the valley of the Po River with Rhaetia (encompassing parts of modern Eastern Switzerland, Northern Italy, Western Austria, Southern Germany and all of Liechtenstein) across the Al ...

(47 AD) and has its name from the Romans. In the Middle Ages, it was an important hub and an commercial centre on route Verona-Augsburg-Nuremberg and at salt road from Berchtesgadener Land into 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 ...

. Lechrain, populated by the Alemanni, was under the rule of the Swabian Welfs until the 12 century. After the death of Welf VI in 1191, the Welf territories in

Swabia Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...

changed in to the hands to the

Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynas ...

. Emperor

Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt ...

gave it to the Hohenstaufen. When the last Staufer ruler

Conradin Conrad III (25 March 1252 – 29 October 1268), called ''the Younger'' or ''the Boy'', but usually known by the diminutive Conradin (german: link=no, Konradin, it, Corradino), was the last direct heir of the House of Hohenstaufen. He was Duke ...

had moved to Italy in 1267 to defend his power against Charles of Anjou, his ally Duke Ludwig II of Bavaria unexpectedly denied his help and demanded the payment of debts, which is why Konradin had to give away a large part of his possessions as the Duke of Swabia (called the Konradinian donation). In this way, the Bavarian dukes of

Wittelsbach The House of Wittelsbach () is a German dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including Bavaria, the Palatinate, Holland and Zeeland, Sweden (with Finland), Denmark, Norway, Hungary (with Romania), Bohemia, the Electorate ...

, who were ambitious to extend their influence into the Alamannian settlements up to Lech and came to rule the Lechrain in 1268. Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian had given Schongau the right to mint in 1331.Georg Paula, Stefanie Berg-Hobohm: ''Landkreis Weilheim-Schongau: Denkmäler in Bayern.'' Volume 2, Lipp Verlag, München 2003, , p 372. Duke Christoph der Starke liked to stay in the city.Sigfrid Hofmann: ''Geschichte der Stadt Schongau.'' In: ''Schongau Herzstück des Pfaffenwinkels.'' p 46. Christophstrasse is named after him in the historic centre of the town. On 22 May 1493, a devastating fire destroyed large parts of the Oberstadt (upper town) and the ducal palace; it was not until 1514 that reconstruction was completed. Schongau was involved several times in martial conflicts and was often a transit camp of friendly and hostile troops. Through trade and the diligence of its citizens, Schongau experienced a period of prosperity until the time of the discovery of America, which resulted in relocation of the great trade routes. As a result, the city became so poor that significant buildings such as the castle and the balehouse were partially decayed or demolished. After the Second World War, the city and the surrounding area gained a considerable number of residents due to refugees and developed into a district with relatively low unemployment due to the prosperous middle class. The city had the first railroad connection with the railway line

to Schongau on 16 November 1886. The railway connection in the direction of Weilheim was opened on January 12, 1917, by the section from Peissenberg to Schongau on the railway line Weilheim-Schongau. The railway line Kaufbeuren-Schongau existed from 1923 to 1977, it was built because of mining in Peiting. Schongau used to be a county of the same name. Due to the Bavarian district reform in 1972, it merged with the Weilheim district into today's

Weilheim-Schongau Weilheim-Schongau is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the south of Bavaria, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the north clockwise) Landsberg, Starnberg, Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Ostallgäu. Geography The distric ...

county. In the town are still some institutions from the county authority, and the name Altlandkreis Schongau (lit.: old county Schongau) is still occasionally used.

Transport

The town has a railway station, , on the Schongau–Peißenberg line.

Popular culture

Schongau and the nearby area is the setting of the

Oliver Pötzsch Oliver Pötzsch (born 20 December 1970) is a German author of popular fiction, noted for being among the first writers to achieve bestselling status by publishing e-books. Pötzsch was born in Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, M ...

novel ''

The Hangman's Daughter ''The Hangman's Daughter'' (original title in german: Die Henkerstochter) is a novel by Oliver Pötzsch. First published in Germany by Ullstein Verlag in 2008, it was translated into English and issued digitally under the AmazonCrossing imprin ...

''.

Twin towns

Colmar Colmar (, ; Alsatian: ' ; German during 1871–1918 and 1940–1945: ') is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), it i ...

(

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

) since 1962 * Lucca (

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

) since 1962 * Sint-Niklaas (

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

) since 1962 * Abingdon, Oxfordshire since 1970 * Gogolin (

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

) since 1996

Mayor

Since May 1, 2014, the mayor of Schongau is Falk Sluyterman van Langeweyde (SPD). He was elected in March 2014 with 50,3% of the votes. His predecessor was Karl-Heinz Gerbl (SPD); he was in office from 2008 to 2014.

Sons and daughters of the town

* Reinhold Bocklet (born 1943), CSU politician * Michael Kreitl (born 1975), ice hockey player *

Franz Rupp Franz Rupp (February 24, 1901 – May 27, 1992) was a German-American pianist and Accompaniment, accompanist. Life Rupp was born in the town of Schongau, Bavaria, the son of Ludwig and Lina Rupp, ''née'' Gartner. In 1912 his father was trans ...

(1901-1992), pianist * Stefan Schauer (born 1983), ice hockey player

Photo gallery

Schongau-206-Mariae Himmelfahrt bis Muenzstr 7-gje.jpg Schongau-250-Loewenstr 1-gje.jpg Schongau-140-Polizeidienerturm-gje.jpg Schongau-224-Stadtmauer Christophstr 51 bis 57 hinter Roessle-gje.jpg Schongau-Heilig-Geist-Spitalkirche St Anna-06-Stadtmauer-gje.jpg Schongau-Heilig-Geist-Spitalkirche St Anna-50-Seitenaltaere rechts-gje.jpg Schongau-Heilig-Geist-Spitalkirche St Anna-42-Seitenaltar Mitte links-gje.jpg Schongau-Mariae Himmelfahrt-12-gje.jpg Schongau-Mariae Himmelfahrt-Hauptaltar-gje.jpg Schongau-Mariae Himmelfahrt-Apostel Thomas-Jakobus major-gje.jpg

References

Weilheim-Schongau {{WeilheimSchongau-geo-stub