Großheubach (or ''Grossheubach'') is a market community in the Miltenberg 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 totally ...

(''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 lan ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Geography

Location

Großheubach lies on the right bank of the

Main Main may refer to: Geography * Main River (disambiguation) **Most commonly the Main (river) in Germany * Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province *"Spanish Main", the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territories in the 16th and 17th centuries ...

. The community is located on the slopes of the ''

Mittelgebirge A ''Mittelgebirge'' (German: ''Mittel'', "middle/medium"; ''Gebirge'', "mountain range") is a type of relatively low mountain range or highland area typical of the geography of central Europe, especially central and southern Germany; it refers to ...

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 at 586 metres above sea level. Ety ...

. 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.

Subdivisions

The

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

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 Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians o ...

purchased the village and its surroundings. About 1300, the community's first wooden

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

was built on the Rulesberg (hill), now known as the Engelberg. From 1483, Großheubach belonged to the Archbishopric of Mainz. In 1612, the historic town hall was built. In 1803, the Archbishopric of Mainz was

secularized In sociology, secularization (or secularisation) is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions. The ''secularization thesis'' expresses the ...

. 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. Hist ...

, Großheubach came to the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German ...

in 1816. In 1828, '' Kloster Engelberg'' was taken over by the

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

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: 7 seats *

Freie Wähler Free Voters (german: Freie Wähler, FW or FWG) in Germany may belong to an association of people which participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party. Usually it involves a locally organized group of voters ...

: 5 seats * Heimat mit Zukunft: 5 seats *

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been t ...

: 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

(although their coat of arms showed an upright cross). The

Wheel of Mainz The Wheel of Mainz or ''Mainzer Rad'', in 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 bac ...

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, 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

Großheubach - Historisches Rathaus - Seite

This was built in 1611 and 1612 by master builder Otto Oswald Heppeler in Old Franconian

timber-frame Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

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 (german: Kurfürstentum Mainz or ', la, Electoratus Moguntinus), 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 ...

''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. He was the most seni ...

'' 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 (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

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.

Engelberg Abbey

The

'' Kloster Engelberg'' with its well-known pilgrimage church was founded about 1300. The building, built in 1630 for the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, 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 average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

, 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''.