
Gemünden am Main (officially ''Gemünden a.Main'') is a town in the
Main-Spessart district in the ''
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 ...
'' of
Lower Franconia
Lower Franconia (german: Unterfranken) is one of seven districts of Bavaria, Germany. The districts of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia make up the region of Franconia.
History
After the founding of the Kingdom of Bavaria the state was total ...
(''Unterfranken'') in
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 ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
and lies roughly 40 km down the
Main from
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.
Würzbur ...
. Gemünden has around 10,000 inhabitants.
Geography
Location
Gemünden is located in the
Main-Spessart district in the ''
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 ...
'' of
Lower Franconia
Lower Franconia (german: Unterfranken) is one of seven districts of Bavaria, Germany. The districts of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia make up the region of Franconia.
History
After the founding of the Kingdom of Bavaria the state was total ...
(''Unterfranken'') in
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 ...
, on the
Main, around 40 km downriver from
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.
Würzbur ...
. Within the town, the
River Sinn flows into the
Franconian Saale
The Franconian Saale (german: Fränkische Saale) is a 140 km long river in Bavaria, Germany. It is a right-bank tributary of the Main, in Lower Franconia. It should not be confused with the larger Saxon Saale (german: Sächsische Saale) ...
, which itself then discharges into the Main. The Main river changes its direction at Gemünden, from northwest to west, marking the northeastern end of the ''Mainviereck'' ("Main Square") near
Lohr am Main
Lohr am Main (officially: ''Lohr a. Main'') is a town in the Main-Spessart district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany and the seat (but not a member) of the ''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'' (muni ...
.
Gemünden lies on the ''
Birkenhainer Strasse'', an ancient trade road from Lower Franconia to today's
Frankfurt Rhine Main Region.
Subdivisions
Gemünden's ''
Stadtteile'' are
Adelsberg, Aschenroth, Harrbach, Hofstetten, Hohenroth, Kleinwernfeld,
Langenprozelten, Neutzenbrunn, Reichenbuch, Schaippach, Schönau, Seifriedsburg, Wernfeld and Massenbuch.
History

The local Schönau monastery (') was founded in 1189 by Philipp von Thüngen. A
Conventual Franciscan monastery since 1699, the monks' main job was to take care of the monastery and pilgrimage church.
The town, which likely had grown out of an early fishing village at the confluence of the three rivers, had its first documentary mention in 1243 in an agreement between
Prince-Bishop of Würzburg and Countess Adelheid of Rieneck. According to the agreement, two thirds of the castle and half of the settlement were subject to the ''
Hochstift
In the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church, the German term (plural: ) referred to the territory ruled by a bishop as a prince (i.e. prince-bishop), as opposed to his diocese, generally much larger and over which he exercised only spir ...
'' (or secular authority) of the Prince-Bishops of Würzburg. This followed attempts by the
Counts of Rieneck to expand their territory to the south. At that point, Gemünden had already been awarded the status of town by the Rieneck counts.
The castle above the town, the
Scherenburg, had been built by the Rienecks to control the shipping on the Main and the eastern terminus of the ''Birkenhainer Strasse'', an important trade route in the Middle Ages.
The first reference to Gemünden as an ''oppidum'' (town) was in a document from 1319. In 1377, Würzburg took control of the whole town but in 1405 the ''Hochstift Würzburg'' sold the town to the Counts of Rieneck, reserving a right to buy it back. In 1466,
Rudolf von Scherenberg made use of this and returned the town to Würzburg. Under Scherenberg's rule, Gemünden experienced a period of prosperity. The castle was named after him. Besides fishing, winegrowing also was an important source of income.
During the
German Peasants' War
The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt (german: Deutscher Bauernkrieg) was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It failed because of intense oppositio ...
and the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battl ...
the town was spared from significant damage. The town hall was built between 1585 and 1596. The castle became disused and started to fall into ruin in the 18th century.
The Prince-Bishopric of Würzburg was eventually annexed by
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 ...
in 1802. Gemünden became a Bavarian district seat (''Kreisstadt''); a railway link followed in 1854,
Ludwig's Western Railway
The Ludwig Western Railway () is a German railway line that was originally funded by the Kingdom of Bavaria. It runs from Bamberg via Würzburg to Aschaffenburg and on into the former " Kurhessian" Hanau.
History
In the 1840s it was already cle ...
, nowadays the
Main–Spessart railway. Gemünden became a railway hub. In 1872 came the opening of the
Flieden–Gemünden line, in 1879 the
Gemünden–Schweinfurt line and in 1884 the Gemünden – Hammelburg line.
During the time of the
National Socialist
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
régime, the
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
community's
synagogue was destroyed on
Kristallnacht
() or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's Sturmabteilung, (SA) paramilitary and Schutzstaffel, (SS) paramilitary forces along ...
(9 November 1938) by
SA men. During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, many
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold priso ...
had to perform
forced labour in operations that were important to the war effort.
Owing to the town's strategically important location as a railway hub, two thirds of it was destroyed by
Allied bombing raids and fighting towards the end of the Second World War. In the final days of the war, in April 1945, the railway junction was the subject of fierce fighting which lasted for six days.
Post-war, the railway was rebuilt and Gemünden once again became an important junction. In 1964,
Deutsche Bundesbahn
The Deutsche Bundesbahn or DB (German Federal Railway) was formed as the state railway of the newly established Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remaine ...
employed 1,200 people in Gemünden.
In 1972, the Gemünden am Main district was abolished. With the amalgamation of nine municipalities with 14 ''
Ortsteil
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
e'' between 1971 and 1978, the municipal territory increased sevenfold.
Arts and culture
Museums
Film-Photo-Ton (“Film-Photo-Sound”) Museum in the ''Huttenschloss'' in Gemünden
Regular events
There are the ''Scherenburgfestspiele'' (festival) in July and August in the inner courtyard at the Scherenburg ruins. This is run by ''Festspielverein der Stadt Gemünden e.V.''.
''Heimatfest'' is a local festival held every year on the fairgrounds on the opposite side of the Franconian Saale from the town's
pedestrian precinct. It is always held during the summer months (usually either in June or July). It is very much a scaled-down version of the
Oktoberfest
The Oktoberfest (; bar, Wiesn, Oktobafest) is the world's largest Volksfest, featuring a beer festival and a travelling carnival. It is held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It is a 16- to 18-day folk festival running from mid- or la ...
(held at the end of September every year in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
) with a beer tent, rides, and games. It is always one week in length (from Saturday to the following Sunday) concluding in a fireworks display from the Scherenburg castle ruins.
Gemünden was well known as the venue for the
heavy metal festival "Up From The Ground". However, the festival was last held in 2007, and owing to a number of factors, including fears for safety and poor service access at the venue, the promoters have no plans to continue the festival in Gemünden.
Attractions
Over Gemünden's town centre rise the ruins of
Scherenburg, a castle also known as ''Schloss Scherenberg'', which once belonged to the Counts of Rieneck. Farther up the hill are found the ruins of the Slorburg, another castle.
The Elias Hügel Column from 1740 was built based on the design of the mostly destroyed original in
Kaisersteinbruch. The master mason was Friedrich Opferkuh and the sculptor was Ferenc Gyurcsek. It also stands as a token of good collaboration between the Gemünden am Main Historical Society and the Kaisersteinbruch Museum and Cultural Club.
A plaque recalls the old synagogue that was heavily damaged on
Kristallnacht
() or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's Sturmabteilung, (SA) paramilitary and Schutzstaffel, (SS) paramilitary forces along ...
(9 November 1938) and torn down in 1945. A memorial to those Soviet prisoners who lost their lives during forced labour, can be found in the direction of
Rieneck. There is also a war cemetery, inaugurated in 1957.
At the far south of the municipal territory is the ''
Ruine Schönrain'', the ruins of a former priory and castle. Beneath the ruins, the ' railway tunnel enters the hill.
Sports
* WWC White Water Company Gemünden am Main e.V.: canoe sport club with focus on whitewater canoeing and recreational sport
* FV Gemünden/Seifriedsburg: football club
Governance
Town twinning
*
Duiven,
Gelderland
Gelderland (), also known as Guelders () in English, is a province of the Netherlands, occupying the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by ...
,
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
*
Nals,
South Tyrol
it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol
, settlement_type = Autonomous province
, image_skyline =
, image_alt ...
,
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 ...
*
Zella-Mehlis,
Thuringia
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and lar ...
Coat of arms
The town's
arms
Arms or ARMS may refer to:
*Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body
Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to:
People
* Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader
Coat of arms or weapons
*Armaments or weapons
**Fi ...
might be described thus: Azure a castle argent with wall embattled flanked by towers, rising behind the wall a greater tower, itself with two flanking turrets braced underneath against the tower, in the wall a gate Or, the leaves open showing a portcullis raised of the same, the opening sable, all tower and turret roofs and tops of merlons gules, all roofs conical, and on top of each a roundle of the third.
Infrastructure
Transport
Gemünden station is an important
railway junction
A junction, in the context of rail transport, is a place at which two or more rail routes converge or diverge. This implies a physical connection between the tracks of the two routes (assuming they are of the same gauge), provided by ''points'' ( ...
. The
North-South railway from
Fulda
Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a town in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival.
Histor ...
to Würzburg forms a junction here with the east-west line from
Aschaffenburg to Würzburg. West of town, the newly built
Hanover–Würzburg high-speed railway
The Hanover–Würzburg high-speed railway was the first of several high-speed railway lines for InterCityExpress traffic that were built in Germany. While technically starting in the village of Rethen and ending at Würzburg Hauptbahnhof, it ...
crosses the Main on the Gemünden Main Valley Bridge. Furthermore, the
Franconian Saale Valley Railway
Franconian may refer to:
*anything related to Franconia (German ''Franken''), a historic region in Germany, now part of Bavaria, Thuringia and Baden-Württemberg
*East Franconian German, a dialect spoken in Franconia
*Franconian languages
*Franconi ...
(''Fränkische Saaletalbahn'') branches off at Gemünden, running to the
spa town
A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits.
Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath, Somerset, B ...
of
Bad Kissingen
Bad Kissingen is a German spa town in the Bavarian region of Lower Franconia and seat of the district Bad Kissingen. Situated to the south of the Rhön Mountains on the Franconian Saale river, it is one of the health resorts, which bec ...
. Gemünden is an important goods handling hub, and also running here are the Deutsche Bahn's ''
Regionalbahn'' trains linking Gemünden with Würzburg and Aschaffenburg.
Gemünden lies on ''
Bundesstraße 26
The Bundesstraße 26 or Federal Highway 26, (abbreviation: B 26) runs between the city of Riedstadt at the B44, to the city of Hallstadt, at the Bundesautobahn 70, A70 in Germany. The highway run East to West. It crosses the River Main and ...
''.
Notable people
* (b. 2 December 1664; d. 14 September 1719), master stonemason
* (b. 17 June 1681; d. 22 August 1755), Imperial
Baroque court master stonemason and churchbuilder
* (b. 29 August 1884; d. 15 July 1951 in Bad Liebenstein), German jurist, writer and publisher, cofounder and managing director of the Karl-May-Verlag (publishing house).
* (b. 9 June 1923; d. 11 July 2008), painter
* (b. 1929, d. 2006), writer
*
Hans Michelbach
Hans Michelbach (born 3 May 1949) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union (CSU) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Bavaria from 1994 until 2021.
He represents Coburg.
Political career
Michelbac ...
(b. 1949),
CSU politician
*
Andreas Kümmert
Andreas Kümmert (born 20 July 1986) is a German singer and songwriter who is best known for winning season three of ''The Voice of Germany''. He also won '' Unser Song für Deutschland'' with the song " Heart of Stone", giving him the possibilit ...
(b. 1986), German singer, selected
Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pri ...
participant, but turned down the offer.
Further reading
* Anneliese Lussert and Olga Knoblach-Wolff: ''Dir sing ich Gemünden mein Lied'' by Hofmann, G H 1982.
* Olga Knoblach-Wolff: ''Gemündener Türen und Tore. Impressionen und Erinnerungen in Bild und Wort''. Accompanying historical commentary by Erhard Schenk.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gemunden am Main
Main-Spessart
Towns in Bavaria
Populated places on the Main basin
Populated riverside places in Germany