Ortenberg (; ) is a municipality in the district of

Ortenaukreis Ortenaukreis (; ) is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the west of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (clockwise from north) Rastatt, Freudenstadt, Rottweil, Schwarzwald-Baar and Emmendingen. To the west it borders the French Ba ...

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 ...

Geography

Ortenberg is located in the foothills of the

Black Forest The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...

, on the edge of the Kinzig valley and on the border of the

Upper Rhine Plain The Upper Rhine Plain, Rhine Rift Valley or Upper Rhine Graben ( German: ''Oberrheinische Tiefebene'', ''Oberrheinisches Tiefland'' or ''Oberrheingraben'', French: ''Vallée du Rhin'') is a major rift, about and on average , between Basel in the ...

. It is only a short distance, 5 kilometers, away from the town of Offenburg. The ''Badische Weinstraße'' (Baden wine route) runs through Ortenberg.

Neighboring Municipalities

The municipality of Ortenberg borders with the municipality of Offenburg's three sides. To the east, Ortenberg borders on Ohlsbach.

History

First mentioned in a document in 1148, the town carried the name ''Dottenwiler/Tatenwilre'' at that time. It was not until the mid 14th century that the name of the castle, which had been referred to as ''castrum Ortinberg'' as early as 1233, was given to the town. The castle was destroyed in 1678. However, it was rebuilt by Leonhard von Berckholtz in the 19th century. Between 1573 and 1630, a witch-hunt took place in Ortenberg and 19 women were executed for witchcraft. For a long time, Ortenberg was part of the district of Offenburg. However, since 1973, the year when the district was split up, the town has belonged to the

district of Ortenau Ortenaukreis (; ) is a Districts of Germany, ''Landkreis'' (district) in the west of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (clockwise from north) Rastatt (district), Rastatt, Freudenstadt (district), Freudenstadt, Rottweil (distri ...

Government

Mayors

* 1969–2008: Hermann Litterst * since 2008: Markus Vollmer *since 2021: Elias Fischer

Sister Cities

Ortenberg has two sister cities: * Stotzheim, Elsass, France, since 1965 * Ortenberg (Hessen),

Hessen Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a 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 historic cities are Da ...

, Germany, since 1976

Sights

Ortenberg Castle serves as a

youth hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory sleeping 4–20 people, with shared use of a lounge and usually a kitchen. Rooms can be private or shared - mixe ...

. The

towers A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

, however, are open for visitors. The castle-like construction, as it stands today, was planned by the German architect

Friedrich Eisenlohr Jakob Friedrich Eisenlohr (23 November 1805, in Lörrach – 27 February 1854, in Karlsruhe) was a German architect and university professor. His design for a cuckoo clock, now known as the Cuckoo clock#Bahnhäusle style, a successful design from ...

and built between 1838 and 1843 by Gabriel Leonhard von Beckholtz, a

Livonia Livonia, known in earlier records as Livland, is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Livonians, who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia. By the end of the 13th century, the name was extende ...

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

. The ruins of the former castle, which had been destroyed in 1678, provided the basis for re-construction. Contrary to popular opinion, only the municipality Ortenberg but not the district

Ortenau The Ortenau (), originally called Mortenau, is a historic region in the present-day German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the right bank of the river Rhine, stretching from the Upper Rhine Plain to the foothill zone of the Black F ...

was named after this castle. This term was derived from the former term ''Mortenau'' (Latin ''Moridunum'' = marshland). The initial consonant was lost in the 16th century due to

colloquialism Colloquialism (also called ''colloquial language'', ''colloquial speech'', ''everyday language'', or ''general parlance'') is the linguistic style used for casual and informal communication. It is the most common form of speech in conversation amo ...

. Bühlerweg chapel was constructed in 1497 and has been used ecumenically since 1972.

St. Bartholomew Bartholomew was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Most scholars today identify Bartholomew as Nathanael, who appears in the Gospel of John (1:45–51; cf. 21:2). New Testament references The name ''Bartholomew ...

parish church was constructed by Hans Voß in a style similar to Weinbrenner's architecture. Marie Ellender created the

paintings Painting is a visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or " support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush. Other implements, ...

in Nazarene style that can be found by the

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...

Economy and infrastructure

Ortenberg is a municipality in which wine is grown. It is part of the wine-growing region of Ortenau in the wine-growing area of Baden.

Transport

Even though Ortenberg is located on Black Forest Railway, which leads from Offenburg to

Singen Singen (; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Singe'') is an industrial city in the very south of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany and just north of the German-Swiss border. Location Singen is an industrial city situated in the far sout ...

, the

train station A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing suc ...

has been out of use since the 1980s. At the moment, '' Ortenau S-Bahn'' company is planning to re-open the stop.

Education

''Von-Berckholtz-Schule'' is the only

elementary 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 Ortenberg. For the younger children, there is a

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

Well-known People

Coming from Ortenberg

* Theodor von Brand: a German-American

parasitologist Parasitology is the study of parasites, their hosts, and the relationship between them. As a biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in question but by their way of life. This means it f ...

* Angelica Schwall-Düren (born in 1948), a German politician (member of the SPD), was brought up in Ortenberg.

Honorary citizens

* 1938: Gabriel Leonhard von Berckholtz * 1987: Franz Vollmer, a German

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

and

local historian Local history is the study of history in a geographically local context, often concentrating on a relatively small local community. It incorporates cultural history, cultural and social history, social aspects of history. Local history is not mer ...

* 1998: René Weisgerber, former

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of the Alsatian

sister city A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inte ...

of Stotzheim * 2008: Herrmann Litterst, former mayor of Ortenberg (from 1969 to 2008) * 2009: Richard Huber, former priest of Ortenberg (from 1991 to 2009) Ortenberg gazette from September 25, 2009
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ortenberg, Baden-Wurttemberg Ortenaukreis