Bann is a municipality in the district of Kaiserslautern, in

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

, western

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Located in the Steinalb valley with the

Palatinate Forest The Palatinate Forest (; ), sometimes also called the Palatine Forest, is a List of landscapes in Rhineland-Palatinate, low-mountain region in southwestern Germany, located in the Palatinate (region), Palatinate in the state of Rhineland-Palatina ...

bordering it to the east.

Vicinity

It is located between the hills of ''Hausberg'' (474 m), ''Kahlenberg'' (464 m) and ''Kirchberg'' (423 m) in the Steinalb valley, which separates the Sickingen Heights from the Palatinate Forest. Through Bann flows a small stream, the Queidersbach, popularly called Steinalb. It rises at the Ziegelsteige on the Sickingerhöhe.

History

Bann was first mentioned in the year 1182 in a document by the Pope. Until the end of the 18th century the municipality belonged to the so-called Grand Court of the rule Landstuhl, which was owned by the barons of Sickingen the line to Hohenburg. In 1794, the left bank of the Rhine was occupied in the

War of the First Coalition The War of the First Coalition () was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797, initially against the Constitutional Cabinet of Louis XVI, constitutional Kingdom of France and then the French First Republic, Frenc ...

. From 1978 to 1814 Bann belonged to the canton

Landstuhl Landstuhl (), officially the Sickingen Town of Landstuhl (), is a town in the district of Kaiserslautern, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the Municipal Association of Landstuhl. Situated on the north-west edge of the Palatin ...

in the department

Donnersberg The Donnersberg (; literally: "thunder mountain") is the highest peak of the Palatinate () region of Germany. The mountain lies between the towns of Rockenhausen and Kirchheimbolanden, in the Donnersbergkreis district, which is named after th ...

. Due to the agreements made at the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

, the area first came to

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

in June 1815 and was ceded to the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria ( ; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1806 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German Empire in 1871, the kingd ...

in 1816 on the basis of the

Treaty of Munich The Munich Agreement was reached in Munich on 30 September 1938, by Nazi Germany, the United Kingdom, the French Third Republic, French Republic, and the Kingdom of Italy. The agreement provided for the Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–194 ...

. Under the Bavarian administration Bann belonged from 1817 to the District of Homburg in the Rhine district, from 1862 to the district office Homburg, moved in 1929 to the district office

Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern (; ) is a town in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfurt am Main, 666 kilometers (414 m ...

and belongs since 1939 to the district of Kaiserslautern. In 1982, the 800th anniversary of the municipality was celebrated with a big celebration. Amongst other things there was a big historical procession.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms is held in red and black. On the left hand side it shows a lion on a red background and on the right hand side five silver balls on a black background. The lion stands for the former belonging to the county of Homburg (Saar), while the five balls recall to the administration of the Sickingens for many centuries.

Population growth

The development of the population of the municipality Bann, the values from 1871 to 1987 are based on censuses.

Sports

At the season of 2006/2007 the

chess club A chess club is a club formed for the purpose of playing the board game of chess. Chess clubs often provide for both informal and tournament games and sometimes offer league play. Traditionally clubs play over the board and face to face chess a ...

SC Bann took part in the 1.Schachbundesliga (the highest reachable league of chess in

Famous citizens

* (born 1939; died 2006 in Queidersbach), musician * Matthias Mayer,

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

of the Heavy Metal-Band "Ross the Boss" set up around former

Manowar Manowar is an American heavy metal band from Auburn, New York. Formed in 1980, the group is known for lyrics based on fantasy (particularly sword and sorcery) and mythology (particularly Norse mythology and Greco-Roman mythology), as well as n ...

guitar-player Ross Friedman * Hugo Schmitt, elephant trainer at

Circus Carl Hagenbeck A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclist ...

and Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus * Leo Spielberger, Football Player

References

Kaiserslautern (district) Municipalities in Rhineland-Palatinate Palatinate Forest {{Kaiserslautern-geo-stub