Großheubach (or ''Grossheubach'') is a market
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
in the
Miltenberg district 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
Lower Franconia
Lower Franconia (, ) is one of seven districts of Bavaria, Germany. The districts of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia make up the region of Franconia. It consists of nine districts and 308 municipalities (including three cities).
History
After ...
(''Unterfranken'') in
Bavaria
Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
,
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 ...
.
Geography
Location
Großheubach lies on the right bank of the
Main. The community is located on the slopes of the ''
Mittelgebirge
A ''Mittelgebirge'' (; German: ''Mittel'', "middle or mid"; ''Gebirge'', "mountains or mountainous area") is a type of relatively low mountain range or highland area typical of the geography of central Europe, especially central and southern Germ ...
''
Spessart
Spessart () is a ''Mittelgebirge'', a range of low wooded mountains, in the States of Bavaria and Hesse in Germany. It is bordered by the Vogelsberg, Rhön and Odenwald. The highest elevation is the Geiersberg (Spessart), Geiersberg at 586 metre ...
. The highest point in the municipal area is the 439 m-high Ospisrain. Großheubach is located on the ''Fränkischer Rotwein Wanderweg'' ("Franconian Red Wine Hiking Trail"). Across the Main lie the hills of the
Odenwald
The Odenwald () is a low mountain range in the Germany, German states of Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg.
Location
The Odenwald is located between the Upper Rhine Plain with the Bergstraße Route, Bergstraße and the ''Hessisches Ried' ...
.
Subdivisions
The
hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...
s of Klotzenhof and Roßhof are part of the municipality Großheubach.
History
Earlier names for Großheubach are Heidebah (mentioned in 878) and Grotzenheidbach (1358). ''Großheubach'' derives from the name of the stream
Heubach which flows into the Main here. The area was settled by 1000 BC, as witnessed by
urnfields and graves. Local wine growing is first mentioned in the 11th century AD. As of the late 12th century, the place was held by the Lords of Klingenberg. In 1291, the
Teutonic Knights
The Teutonic Order is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to t ...
purchased the village and its surroundings. About 1300, the community's first wooden
chapel
A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...
was built on the Rulesberg (hill), now known as the Engelberg. From 1483, Großheubach belonged to the
Archbishopric of Mainz
The Electorate of Mainz ( or '; ), previously known in English as Mentz and by its French name Mayence, was one of the most prestigious and influential states of the Holy Roman Empire. In the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, the Archbishop-Elec ...
.
In 1612, the historic town hall was built.
In 1803, the Archbishopric of Mainz was
secularized
In sociology, secularization () is a multilayered concept that generally denotes "a transition from a religious to a more worldly level." There are many types of secularization and most do not lead to atheism or irreligion, nor are they automatica ...
. By way of the
Grand Duchy of Frankfurt
The Grand Duchy of Frankfurt was a German satellite state of Napoleonic creation. It came into existence in 1810 through the combination of the former territories of the Archbishopric of Mainz along with the Free City of Frankfurt itself.
Histo ...
, Großheubach came 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. In 1828, ''
Kloster Engelberg'' was taken over by the
Franciscan
The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...
s.
In 1896, the old town church was expanded and today's parish church thereby came into being.
Governance
Community council
The local council has 20 members (Elections in 2020):
*
CSU
CSU may refer to:
Universities and university systems
United States
* Columbia Southern University, in Orange Beach, Alabama
* California State University system
* Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, Colorado
* Connecticut State Univers ...
: 7 seats
*
Freie Wähler
Free Voters (, FW) is a political party in Germany. It originates as an umbrella organisation of several Free Voters Associations (), associations of people which participate in an election without having the status of a registered party. These ...
: 5 seats
* Heimat mit Zukunft: 5 seats
*
SPD: 3 seats
Mayors
Gernot Winter (CSU): Mayor since May 2020.
*Former mayors:
*Josef Zipf: 1933 - 1940
*Felix Straub: 1940 - 1942
*Anton Blatz: 1942 - 1945
*Otto Kempf: 1945 - 1946
*Josef Heinrich Wolf: 1946 - 1948
*Richard Galmbacher: 1948 - 1967
*Franz Hegmann: 1967 - 1990
*Günther Oettinger: 1990 - 2020
Coat of arms
The community'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: Per pale, argent a saltire pattée sable and gules a wheel spoked of six of the first.
The black saltire (X-shaped cross) comes from a village court seal from 1654 and refers to the hegemony once exercised by the
Teutonic Knights
The Teutonic Order is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to t ...
(although their coat of arms showed an upright cross). The
Wheel of Mainz
The Wheel of Mainz or , in German language, German, was the coat of arms of the Archbishopric of Mainz and thus also of the Electorate of Mainz (Kurmainz), in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It consists of a silver wheel with six spokes on a red ...
and the
tincture
A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...
s argent and gules (silver and red) refer to the community's later feudal overlord, the
Archbishopric of Mainz
The Electorate of Mainz ( or '; ), previously known in English as Mentz and by its French name Mayence, was one of the most prestigious and influential states of the Holy Roman Empire. In the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, the Archbishop-Elec ...
, which held Großheubach until the end of the
Old Empire in 1803.
The arms have been borne since 1956.
Description and explanation of Großheubach’s arms
/ref>
Culture and sightseeing
Buildings
Saint Peter’s parish church
In 1247, the church had its first priest, and in 1519, it acquired its first bell. In 1609, a massive fortress church was built in the Romanesque style with defensive towers, parapets and battlements. Between 1895 and 1897, the church underwent remodelling, giving it its current appearance. In 1949, the church acquired four bells. On 1 August 1958, the churchtower was destroyed in a storm. In 1987, the church was renovated.
Historic town hall
This was built in 1611 and 1612 by master builder Otto Oswald Heppeler in Old Franconian timber-frame style. The house served as a seat for a lower official of the ''Amt'' of Prozelten. The ground floor was used as a prison. Functioning as the house's owners were Johann Schweikhard von Kronberg, Archbishop of Mainz and Elector, and Caspar Herr zu Eltz, Electoral Mainz
The Electorate of Mainz ( or '; ), previously known in English as Mentz and by its French name Mayence, was one of the most prestigious and influential states of the Holy Roman Empire. In the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, the Archbishop-Elec ...
''Groß hofmeister'', councilman and ''Amtmann
__NOTOC__
The ''Amtmann'' or ''Ammann'' (in Switzerland) was an official in German-speaking countries of Europe and in some of the Nordic countries from the time of the Middle Ages whose office was akin to that of a bailiff
A bailiff is a ...
'' at Prozelten.
''Abendanz’sches Haus''
The ''Abendanz’sches Haus'' is a timber-frame house in Großheubach core built around 1600. Over the centuries, several conversions to the building were undertaken. After the restorations done between 1987 and 1990, the timber framing
Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...
was exposed and the original façade was reconstructed. The house served as a dwelling for, among others, the wine merchant Johann Simon Abendanz and the last abbot of the Amorbach Abbey
Amorbach Abbey () was a Rule of St. Benedict, Benedictine Princely abbeys and imperial abbeys of the Holy Roman Empire, imperial abbey of the Holy Roman Empire located at Amorbach. It was later the residence of the rulers of the short-lived Princi ...
.
Engelberg Abbey
The Franciscan
The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...
'' Kloster Engelberg'' with its well-known pilgrimage church was founded about 1300. The building, built in 1630 for the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (; postnominal abbr. OFMCap) is a religious order of Franciscan friars within the Catholic Church, one of three " First Orders" that reformed from the Franciscan Friars Minor Observant (OFMObs, now OFM), the ...
, was on King Ludwig I's orders turned over to the Bavarian Franciscans, who still run the abbey today. The Engelberg, the hill on which the monastery stands, which is 250 m above sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...
, can be reached over the 612 so-called ''Engelstaffeln'' (roughly, "Angel's Steps") made out of bunter.
''Hunnenstein''
Once considered a possible heathen cult site, the natural sandstone known as ''Hunnenstein'' or ''Heunenschüssel'', is found on a hill ridge near Engelberg Abbey, close to the '' Eselsweg''.
Notable people
Sons and daughters of the town
* Guido Kratschmer (b. 10 January 1953), decathlete and Olympic medallist
References
External links
*
Municipal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grossheubach
Miltenberg (district)
Populated places on the Main basin