Biberach an der Riß (, ; ), often referred to as simply Biberach (), is a town in southern

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 ...

. It is the capital of Biberach district, in the

Upper Swabia Upper Swabia ( or ) is a region in Germany in the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria.''Brockhaus Enzyklopädie.'' 19. Auflage. Band 16, 1991, p. 72. The name refers to the area between the Swabian Jura, Lake Con ...

region of the German state (

Land Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of Earth not submerged by the ocean or another body of water. It makes up 29.2% of Earth's surface and includes all continents and islands. Earth's land sur ...

) of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, 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 i ...

. It is called Biberach an der Riß after the small river Riß which flows through the city to distinguish it from the other towns of similar names.

Geography

Biberach has a population of about 32,000 and is located in Upper Swabia between the river

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

and

Lake Constance Lake Constance (, ) refers to three 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, called the Seerhein (). These ...

Populated places

The districts of Biberach comprise the inner city (with the quarters Bachlangen, Bergerhausen, Birkendorf, Burren, Fünf Linden, Gaisental, Hagenbuch, Jordanbad, Mumpfental, Reichenbach and Wolfentalmühle) and its suburban, integrated villages Rißegg, Rindenmoos, Ringschnait, Stafflangen and Mettenberg.

History

For many centuries, Biberach was an Imperial Free City () in the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

. In that role it participated in the 1792 Reichstag. During the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

, Biberach was notable for being — eventually along only with

Ravensburg Ravensburg ( or ; Swabian: ''Raveschburg'') is a city in Upper Swabia in Southern Germany, capital of the district of Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg. Ravensburg was first mentioned in 1088. In the Middle Ages, it was an Imperial Free City and ...

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

and Dinkelsbühl — a "Mixed Imperial City" () where the

Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire ...

caused the establishment of a joint

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

–

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

government and administrative system, with equality offices () and a precise and equal distribution between Catholic and Protestant civic officials. This status ended in 1803, when Biberach was annexed by the

Margraviate of Baden The Margraviate of Baden () was a historical territory of the Holy Roman Empire. Spread along the right banks of the Upper Rhine in south-western Germany, it was named a margraviate in 1112 and existed until 1535, when it was split into the tw ...

, soon to become a grand-duchy. In 1806, it was traded to the

Kingdom of Württemberg The Kingdom of Württemberg ( ) was a German state that existed from 1806 to 1918, located within the area that is now Baden-Württemberg. The kingdom was a continuation of the Electorate of Württemberg, which existed from 1803 to 1806. Geogr ...

in exchange for the town of Villingen; becoming part of the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

on its creation in 1871. During the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars () were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted French First Republic, France against Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Habsb ...

, Biberach and its environs were the site of two sizable battles in

1796 Events January–March * January 16 – The first Dutch (and general) elections are held for the National Assembly of the Batavian Republic. (The next Dutch general elections are held in 1888.) * February 1 – The capital of Upper Can ...

and

1800 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 18), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 12 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 16), ...

. During World War II, two large

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as Prisoner of war, prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, inte ...

s were located here, with Oflag V-B for officers, and internment camp Ilag V-B for allied civilians, mainly from the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

Economy

With an unemployment rate of around 3.6 percent and place of business of companies like

EnBW EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG, or simply EnBW, is a publicly-traded energy industry, energy company headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany. History Foundation and development EnBW came into existence on 1 January 1997 as a result of the merge ...

, Handtmann,

Liebherr Liebherr () is a German-Swiss multinational corporation, multinational equipment manufacturer based in Bulle, Switzerland, with its main production facilities and origins in Germany. Liebherr consists of over 130 companies organized into 11 divi ...

, KaVo Dental GmbH, Vollmer and

Boehringer Ingelheim C.H. Boehringer Sohn AG & Co. is the parent company of the Boehringer Ingelheim group, which was founded in 1885 by Albert Boehringer (1861–1939) in Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany. As of 2018, Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the world's List of la ...

, Biberach is a significant industrial location in the southwest of Germany.

KaVo

KaVo (Kaltenbach & Voigt) is a company producing dental medicine equipment and products like instruments, dental systems, laboratory and equipment for training centres for universities. The head office is in Biberach. In March 2004, Danaher, an American industrial company, took over KaVo. KaVo was later acquired by Envista. The company returned to private ownership as part of the Planmeca Group in January, 2022.

Boehringer Ingelheim

researches, develops and produces pharmaceuticals. Boehringer Ingelheim was founded in

Ingelheim am Rhein Ingelheim (), officially Ingelheim am Rhein (), is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in the Rhineland-Palatinate state of Germany. The town sprawls along the Rhine's left bank. It has been Mainz-Bingen's district seat since 1996. From the la ...

, Germany, in 1885, where the corporate headquarters are located. There are about 6,500 employees in Biberach.

EnBW

EnBW means "Energy Baden-Württemberg". Its corporate centre is in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

. EnBW is Germany's third largest energy company. In Biberach there are about 900 employees.

Liebherr Biberach

The beginning of Liebherr Biberach was in 1954. The firm produces many sorts of cranes. 1,700 people and 112 trainees work there. The group's founder, Dr. Hans Liebherr, invented the mobile tower crane in 1949 in Kirchdorf/ Iller.

Transportation

The town has two stations on the Southern Railway (Württemberg) and hourly trains to Ulm and

Friedrichshafen Friedrichshafen ( or ; Low Alemannic: ''Hafe'' or ''Fridrichshafe'') is a city on the northern shoreline of Lake Constance (the ''Bodensee'') in Southern Germany, near the borders of both Switzerland and Austria. It is the district capital (''K ...

Arts and entertainment

Museums

* Braith-Mali-Museum: The museum resides in a building from the 16th century and presents on 2,800 square meters archaeology, history, art and natural history. * Wieland-Museum: The exhibition explores the life and work of

Christoph Martin Wieland Christoph Martin Wieland (; ; 5 September 1733 – 20 January 1813) was a German poet and writer, representative of literary Rococo. He is best-remembered for having written the first ''Bildungsroman'' (''Geschichte des Agathon''), as well as the ...

. The museum was founded in 1907 and resides in the summer house of Wieland.

Film festival

Biberach has a film fest for German films which was founded in 1978.

"Biberacher Schützenfest"

The '' Biberacher Schützenfest'' is a historic festival for children and the town. The event is held annually in July and lasts nine days. The name " Schützenfest" derives from the German noun ''Schütze'', meaning ''marksman''. But nowadays, the crossbow competition and the appraisal of the best male and female champion shot (Schützenkönig and -königin) are only small events during the week of the Schützenfest. Other attractions and events during the festival are: * Street parades * Fairgrounds * Historical performances * Theme park * Parties in bars, cafès and so on * Beer tent * Children's theater (Schützentheater)

Christmas Market

The annual

Christmas market A Christmas market is a street market associated with the celebration of Christmas during the four weeks of Advent. These markets originated in Germany, but are now held in many countries. Some in the U.S. have Phono-semantic matching, adapted ...

, called "Christkindlesmarkt", which lasts 16 days, is another highlight of the year. Exotic foods from Britain, France, and Italy (presented by the twin cities), kitsch, and beautiful arts and crafts are there to see and buy. People meet to drink

mulled wine Mulled wine, also known as spiced wine, is an alcoholic drink usually made with red wine, along with various mulling spices and sometimes raisins, served hot or warm. It is a traditional drink during winter, especially around Christmas. It is ...

Music

The

church music Church music is a genre of Christian music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclesiastical liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn. History Early Christian musi ...

in Biberach is specially determined by the St.-Martins-Chorknaben Biberach ( English: St Martin's Boys’ Choir Biberach).

Other events in Biberach

Musiknacht
* Musikfrühling
Kabarettherbst

Sports

TG Biberach 1847 e. V. is one of the biggest clubs in the region. It has more than 6,000 members and 27 divisions including American football, tennis, chess or volleyball. IBOT Another important sports festival in Biberach is IBOT, an annual international handball tournament for youth with more than a thousand participants which takes place at Easter.

Notable people

* Johann Heinrich Schönfeld (1609–1684), Baroque style painter. * Johann Melchior Dinglinger (1664–1731), jeweller at the court of

Augustus II the Strong Augustus II the Strong (12 May 1670 – 1 February 1733), was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1697 to 1706 and from 1709 until his death in 1733. He belonged to the Albertine branch of the H ...

in Dresden * Lorenz Natter (1705–1763), gem-engraver and medallist. * Felicitas Abt (1741–1783), actress * Justin Heinrich Knecht (1752–1817), composer, organ player and conductor * Johann Baptist Pflug (1785–1866), German genre painter * Johann Friedrich Dieterich (1787-1846), painter and art professor. * Eberhard Emminger (1808–1885), lithographer and landscape painter. * Anton Braith (1836–1905), landscape and animal painter, born and died locally * Anscar Vonier (1875–1938), abbot of Buckfast Abbey from 1906 on. * Matthias Erzberger (1875–1921), politician of the Centre Party, buried locally. * Hugo Häring (1882–1958), architect and architectural writer * Alf Bayrle (1900–1982), painter, printmaker and sculptor. *

Anton Kutter Anton Kutter (13 June 1903, in Biberach an der Riß – 1 February 1985, in Biberach) was a German film director and screenwriter. He studied mechanical engineering at Stuttgart Technical University. In 1926 Kutter went to Cologne and joined the ...

(1903–1985), film director and screenwriter. * Wolfgang Schad (1935–2022), evolutionary biologist and anthroposophist * Gisela Erler (born 1946), feminist, entrepreneur and

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

politician * Harry Baer (born 1947), actor, producer, author

Sport

* Ernst Felle (1876–1959), rower and team bronze medallist at the

1900 Summer Olympics The 1900 Summer Olympics (), today officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad () and also known as Paris 1900, were an international multi-sport event that took place in Paris, France, from 14 May to 28 October 1900. No opening or closin ...

* Dirk Raudies (born 1964), Grand Prix driver and TV

sports commentator In Broadcasting of sports events, sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real time (media), real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present t ...

* Steffen Deibler (born 1987), swimmer, former world record holder for the 50m. butterfly * Markus Deibler (born 1990), swimmer * Loris Karius (born 1993), football goalkeeper, played over 200 games

Twin towns – sister cities

Biberach an der Riß is twinned with: *

Asti Asti ( , ; ; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) of 74,348 inhabitants (1–1–2021) located in the Italy, Italian region of Piedmont, about east of Turin, in the plain of the Tanaro, Tanaro River. It is the capital of the province of Asti and ...

, Italy *

Świdnica Świdnica (; ; ) is a city on the Bystrzyca (Oder), Bystrzyca River in south-western Poland in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. As of 2021, it has a population of 55,413 inhabitants. It is the seat of Świdnica County, and also of the smaller dis ...

, Poland * Telavi, Georgia * Tendring, England, United Kingdom * Valence, France Biberach an der Riß also has friendly relationship with

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

References

External links

*
Biberach Riss - Interactive discovery

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biberach An Der Riss 1803 disestablishments in the Holy Roman Empire States and territories established in 1281 Biberach (district) 1280s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1281 establishments in Europe Free imperial cities