Eltville am Rhein (; from ''Alta Villa'', Latin for "high estate, high town", corrupted to ''Eldeville'', ''Elfeld'' and later Eltville ) is a town in the

Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis Rheingau-Taunus is a Kreis (Districts of Germany, district) in the west of Hesse, Germany. Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis is part of the Darmstadt (region), Darmstadt region; its main administrative seat is Bad Schwalbach. Outposted sections of the local ad ...

in the ''

Regierungsbezirk A ' (, 'governmental district') is a type of administrative division in Germany. Currently, four of sixteen ' (states of Germany) are split into '. Beneath these are rural and urban districts ' (plural, ) serve as regional mid-level local gov ...

'' of

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

, Germany. It lies on the German Timber-Frame Road ('). Eltville is the largest town in the

Rheingau The Rheingau (; ) is a region on the northern side of the Rhine between the German towns of Wiesbaden and Lorch, Hesse, Lorch near Frankfurt, reaching from the Western Taunus to the Rhine. It is situated in the German state of Hesse and is part ...

. It bears the nicknames ''Weinstadt'', ''Sektstadt'', ''Rosenstadt'' and since 2006 also ''Gutenbergstadt''. Some of Germany's most famous

vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

s (Steinberg, Rauenthaler Baiken, Erbacher Marcobrunn) are found within Eltville's municipal limits.

Geography

Location

Eltville, which belongs culturally to the

region, lies on the River Rhine, 12 km west-southwest of

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

Neighbouring municipalities

Eltville borders in the north on the municipalities of Schlangenbad and Kiedrich, in the east on the district-free city of

and the municipality of Walluf, in the south – separated by the Rhine – on the municipalities of Budenheim und Heidesheim and the town of

Ingelheim Ingelheim (), officially Ingelheim am Rhein (), is a town in the Mainz-Bingen Districts of Germany, 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 sin ...

(all three in Mainz-Bingen 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 ...

) and in the west on the town of Oestrich-Winkel.

Territorial structure

Eltville am Rhein as a municipality consists of five

Stadtteil A quarter is a part of an urban area, urban settlement. A quarter can be administratively defined and its borders officially designated, and it may have its own administrative structure (subordinate to that of the city, town or other urban area ...

e: * Eltville (initial part and center) * Erbach * Hattenheim * Martinsthal * Rauenthal All of them have the status as an Ortsbezirk.

History

The earliest traces of humans settling here go back to the New Stone Age. There has been continuous habitation since the late 4th century. Eltville had its first documentary mention in ''Vita Bardonis'' (Bardo's life) from 1058, a biography of Archbishop Bardo of Mainz. In 1329, the castle and the town wall around Eltville were built. On 23 August 1332, Emperor

Louis the Bavarian Louis IV (; 1 April 1282 – 11 October 1347), called the Bavarian (, ), was King of the Romans from 1314, King of Italy from 1327, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1328 until his death in 1347. Louis' election as king of Germany in 1314 was cont ...

granted Eltville town rights. With the granting of town rights, Eltville ended up being a pawn in the then ongoing dispute between the Emperor and the Pope. Archbishop Baldwin, one of Emperor Louis's followers and administrator of the Mainz monastery, was the one who asked for Eltville to be raised to town. From 1347 to 1480, Eltville was the residence of the Archbishops of Mainz. In 1349, Günther of Schwarzburg was defeated in his bid for the German throne at the Siege of Eltville. From Dietrich Schenk von Erbach, Archbishop of Mainz (1434–1459), the outlying centre of Erbach presumably got its name.

Politics

Town council

The municipal election held on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:

Town partnerships

The town of Eltville am Rhein maintains partnerships with these places: * Montrichard,

Loir-et-Cher Loir-et-Cher (, ) is a Departments of France, department in the Centre-Val de Loire Regions of France, region of France. It is named after two rivers which run through it, the Loir in its northern part and the Cher (river), Cher in its southern p ...

, France * Arzens,

Aude Aude ( ; ) is a Departments of France, department in Southern France, located in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region and named after the river Aude (river), Aude. The departmental council also calls it " ...

, France * Passignano sul Trasimeno,

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

Umbria Umbria ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region of central Italy. It includes Lake Trasimeno and Cascata delle Marmore, Marmore Falls, and is crossed by the Tiber. It is the only landlocked region on the Italian Peninsula, Apennine Peninsula. The re ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Culture and sightseeing

Buildings

* Eltville Castle (Burg Eltville) from the 14th century, with a rose garden * Remains of town fortifications * timber-frame from the 16th and 18th centuries * Eberbach Abbey, former

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, 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 Benedict, as well as the contri ...

monastery * ''Clos'' of the Steinberg, Germany's best known ''clos'' (enclosed

) * Schloss Reinhartshausen (palace, now hotel) * St. Peter und Paul, parish church from the 14th century * Pfarrkirche St. Markus (St. Mark's parish church) in Erbach from the 15th century and the

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 ...

church in Erbach from the 19th century. * Kulturkirche Martinsthal (culture church) * Crass Castle

Regular events

* Gutenberg-Winter in Eltville – each year in January and February * Rheingauer Schlemmerwoche (gluttons' week) and Days of Open Wine Cellars with many wine samplings – late April/early May * Rosentage in Eltville (rose days) – each year on the first weekend in June * Erdbeerfest in Erbach (strawberry festival) – each year in mid-June * Sektfest Eltville – each year on the first weekend in July * Martinsthaler Weinfest – always on the second weekend in July * Rheingau Musik Festival – International Music Festival, in summer * Rauenthaler Weinfest – on the second or third weekend in August * Burghofspiele – in summer * Kappeskerb/Weinlesefest in Eltville ( kermis/wine harvest festival) – each year on the last weekend in October * Rheingau Pokal ("cup" in taekwondo, fighting) – each year in mid-November * Musikalischer Winter in Eltville – each year on each Thursday from mid-November to late April * Christmas Market in the Old Town – on the second weekend in December.

Economy and infrastructure

Economy and tourism

Eltville is developed for tourists, and well known for its

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

and sekt production, which can be sampled at many wineries and ''Straußwirtschaften'' (seasonal wine shops). Eltville is the headquarters of MM-Sektkellerei (which today belongs to Rotkäppchen-Sekt), Hessische Staatsweingüter Kloster Eberbach (Hessian State Wine Estates of Eberbach Monastery), and Sektmanufaktur Schloss Vaux, as well as the biggest industrial employer in the Rheingau, Jean Müller GmbH Elektrotechnische Fabrik. Eltville is one of Germany's ten "Rosenstädte" (rose towns).

Transport

Eltville lies on ''

Bundesstraße ''Bundesstraße'' (, ), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways. Germany Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km. German ''Bundesstraßen'' are labelled with re ...

'' 42, which towards the east is built like an

Autobahn The (; German , ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. Much of t ...

and near Walluf seamlessly joins the A 66. Eltville station also lies on the East Rhine Railway, which connects

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

and

Koblenz Koblenz ( , , ; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz'') is a German city on the banks of the Rhine (Middle Rhine) and the Moselle, a multinational tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman military p ...

and

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

and belongs to the

Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund The Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) is a List of German transport associations, transport association that covers the Public transport, public transport network of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main area in Germany. Its head offi ...

. On the Rhine's bank are several landing stages for, among others, the Köln-Düsseldorfer Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt, a well known Rhine passenger ship operator.

Education

* Freiherr-vom-Stein-Schule (

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

in the main town) * Gutenberg-Schule (

Realschule Real school (, ) is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), F ...

in the main town) * Gymnasium Eltville (in the main town) * Sonnenblumenschule (primary school in Erbach) * Waldbachschule (primary school in Hattenheim) * Otfried-Preußler-Schule (primary school in Rauenthal) * Mediathek Eltville (public municipal library) * IREBS Immobilier Akademie, Real Estate Management academy situated in Kloster Eberbach

Notable people

Johannes Gutenberg Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg ( – 3 February 1468) was a German inventor and Artisan, craftsman who invented the movable type, movable-type printing press. Though movable type was already in use in East Asia, Gutenberg's inven ...

was named on 17 January 1465 a courtly nobleman by the Archbishop and Elector Adolph II of Nassau, who at the time resided in the Electoral castle at Eltville. Presumably under Gutenberg's guidance, the Brothers Bechtermünz founded a small printing shop. This published in 1467 the '' Vocabularius ex quo'', a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

dictionary. In this workshop,

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...

's ''Summa de articulis fidei'' (1472) was also reprinted. This made Eltville one of the cradle towns of book printing. In the castle tower, a memorial recalls Gutenberg. Gutenberg's brother, Friele Gensfleisch, lived in Eltville from 1434 until his death in 1447. The Gensfleisch-Haus still stands today right next to the castle. *Gebeno von Eberbach, clergyman * Julius Koch (28 February 1912,

2 July 1991, Eltville), German drink researcher, oenologist and food chemist. * Georg Herber (1763–1833 in Eltville), for many years President of the second chamber of

The Estates The Estates, also known as the States (, , , Hungarian: Rendek), was the assembly of the representatives of the estates of the realm, the divisions of society in feudal times, called together for purposes of deliberation, legislation or taxatio ...

Duchy of Nassau The Duchy of Nassau (German language, German: ''Herzogtum Nassau'') was an independent state between 1806 and 1866, located in what became the Germany, German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. It was a States of the Confederation of th ...

Sons and daughters of the town

*Michael Apitz (born 1965), graphic and comic strip artist * Franz Josef Jung (born 1949), German politician (CDU) and Federal Minister of Defence in the first Merkel cabinet *Augustinus Kilian (1856–1930 in

Limburg an der Lahn Limburg an der Lahn (, ; officially abbreviated ''Limburg a. d. Lahn'') is the district seat of Limburg-Weilburg in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Limburg lies in western Hesse between the Taunus and the Westerwald on the river Lahn. The t ...

) was from 1913 until his death in 1930 Roman Catholic Bishop of the Bishopric of Limburg an der Lahn. *Heinrich Köppler (1925–1980), German politician (CDU), candidate at the Landtag election in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, 1980. *

Wilhelm Kreis Wilhelm Kreis (17 March 1873 – 13 August 1955) was a prominent German architect and professor of architecture, active through four political systems in German history: the Wilhelmine era, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, and the found ...

(1873–1955), architect *Eduard Kremer (1881–1948), politician *Ernst Freiherr Langwerth von Simmern (1865–1942), German diplomat, ambassador in Madrid and Imperial commissar for the occupied Rhenish areas in Koblenz *Ferdinand Wilhelm Emil Roth (1853–1924), historical researcher * Andreas Scholl (born 1967),

countertenor A countertenor (also contra tenor) is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo-soprano voice types, generally extending from around G3 to D5 or E5, although a sopranist (a ...

Bernhard Schott Bernhard Peter Schott (9 August 174826 April 1809) was a German clarinetist and Music publisher (sheet music), music publisher. He founded the predecessor of Schott Music, a major German music publishing company which continues to this day. Biog ...

(1748–1809), music publisher, founded the music publishing house Schott Music in

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

in 1770 * Jennifer Braun (born 1991), singer, lives in Eltville

Photo gallery

Eltville biedermeier.jpg, Bronze sculpture of a Biedermeier couple Altstadt Eltville St Peter & Paul.jpg, St. Peter's and Paul's parish church Altstadt Eltville Nacht St Peter & Paul.jpg, St. Peter's and Paul's parish church Weinstube Gelbes Haus, Burgstraße 3 and 5, Eltville 20150222 2.jpg, Historic half-timbered buildings

References

External links

*
Hattenheim

Rheingau Daily Photo Blog

Image of Elfeld
(today Eltville) from J.F. Dielmann, A. Fay, J. Becker (illustrators): ''Panorama of the Rhine – View of the right and left bank of the Rhine'', Lithographische Anstalt F. C. Vogel, Frankfurt 1833 {{Authority control Populated places on the Rhine Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis Rheingau