Maulbronn () is a city in the district of Enz in

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 ...

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 ...

History

Founded in 1838, it emerged from a settlement, built around a monastery, which belonged to the Neckar Community in 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 1886, Maulbronn officially became a German town and was an administrative centre until 1938. The return of many displaced persons following the Second World War significantly raised the local population. Of particular note is the town's monastery,

Maulbronn Abbey Maulbronn Monastery () is a former Cistercian abbey and Prince-bishopric, ecclesiastical state in the Holy Roman Empire located at Maulbronn, Baden-Württemberg. The monastery complex, one of the best-preserved in Europe, was named a UNESCO World ...

, which features prominently in

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a Germans, German-Swiss people, Swiss poet and novelist, and the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His interest in Eastern philosophy, Eastern religious, spiritual, and philosophic ...

's novel, ''

Beneath the Wheel ''Beneath the Wheel'' (''Unterm Rad'') is a 1906 novel written by Hermann Hesse. The novel is a severe criticism of academic education that ignores students' personal development; in that respect, it is typical of Hesse's work. A Peter Owen Publ ...

''. The 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 has been a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

since 1993. Legend has it that the settlement was founded by monks who followed a mule to a valley with a source of clean water. The valley was also blessed with large deposits of soft sandstone for building. The monks built the original abbey and erected a fountain to honour the mule. The town name means mule fountain. According to legend, the monks of Maulbronn also invented the pasta dish

Maultasche (; singular ''Maultasche'' , ) are a kind of large meat-filled dumpling in Swabian cuisine. They consist of sheets of pasta dough filled with minced meat, smoked meat, spinach, bread crumbs and onions and flavored with various herbs and spi ...

Activities

Maulbronn has a beautiful lake which is called "Tiefersee" which stands for "deep lake". The deep lake is a great attraction from May to September. Once a year there is a great Rock festival. The Turkish community of Maulbronn is organizing once a year a huge soccer tournament which is well visited and participated from all over Germany and sometimes even Poland, Austria and France.

Coat of arms

The blazon of the coat of arms means: "In black on a abased, double-rowed from red and silver bar a to the left swept flowing gold fountain and a standing gold mule with a gold burden."

Partner cities

Partner cities/twin towns of Maulbronn are *

Valdahon Valdahon () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Population Climate See also * Communes of the Doubs department The following is a list of the 563 communes of the Doubs depart ...

Notes

{{Authority control Enzkreis