Boppard
Encyclopedia
Boppard is a town in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district
) in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
, lying in the Rhine Gorge
, a UNESCO
World Heritage Site
. It belongs to no Verbandsgemeinde
. The town is also a state-recognized tourism resort (Fremdenverkehrsort) and is a winegrowing centre.
, often known as the Rhine Gorge. This characteristic narrow form of valley arose from downward erosion
of the Rhine’s riverbed. The Gorge has been since 2002 a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A 17 km stretch of the Rhine forms the town’s eastern limit. Along this part of the river lie the outlying centres of Hirzenach and Bad Salzig, as well as the town’s main centre, also called Boppard.
Directly north of Boppard, the Rhine takes its greatest bend. This bow is called the Bopparder Hamm, although this name is more commonly applied to the winegrowing area found along it. The best known lookout point over this bow in the Rhine is the Vierseenblick, or “Four-Lake View”. This vista gets its name from the way in which the Rhine can be seen from here, or rather the way in which it cannot be seen: hills block out most of the view of the river itself so that visitors can only see four apparently separate patches of water, rather like four lakes. These are all actually parts of the Rhine; there are no lakes to be seen. The Vierseenblick can be reached by chairlift
.
Boppard’s town forest is the second biggest in Rhineland-Palatinate with an area of 43.6 km².
Since 1969, the town of Boppard has belonged to the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, and is the district’s northernmost municipality. Boppard is a middle centre
; the nearest upper centre is Koblenz
, some 22 km away.
). Each Ortsbezirk has its own council, whose head bears the title Ortsvorsteher. Some of these Ortsbezirke even have their own Ortsteile, but these have no separate representation on any council. Boppard’s Ortsbezirke are as follows:
in the Boppard area has been a storage yard dating back some 13,000 years to the time of the Federmesser culture
.
’s conquest of Gaul
and the ensuing Roman
settlement of the lands on the Rhine’s left bank, there also followed the founding of Vicus
Baudobriga (also Bodobriga or Bontobrica) on the way into the Mühltal (valley). The name is of Celtic
origin, which implies that there had been Celtic settlement before the Romans came, or perhaps that there was one at the same time as the Romans were there. With the expansion of the Limes
, the Middle Rhine lost its strategic importance. On the other hand, the river was gaining more and more importance as a supply and trade avenue. In the mid 3rd century, the Rhine’s right bank had to be evacuated and conceded to the Germani
, thereby making the Rhine the Empire’s
border once more. In 355, Roman Emperor Julian
stopped the Germanic invasion and began securing the Middle Rhine. His successor Valentinian I
finished the work. It was also at this time that the Late Roman castrum
, the Römerkastell Boppard on the Roman road through the Rhine valley, was built. Towards the end of 405, the last Roman troops were withdrawn to defend Italy. The town’s next documentary mention did not come until the Early Middle Ages
. According to this source from 643, Boppard was a Frankish
royal estate and an administrative centre of the Bopparder Reich (a Merovingian
state).
, and as such was often frequented by the German kings, who would then reside at the so-called Royal Estate. The Royal Estate lay at the end of the Mühltal on the Rhine. Governing the town and the surrounding Imperial
Estate were Imperial ministeriales; the head official in town was the Schultheiß
. A series of the ministeriales lived in the town, among whom were the Beyer von Boppard family, the family “among the Jews”, the von Schönecks and the von Bickenbachs (named after the village of Bickenbach
in the Hunsrück
).
In 1309 and 1312, Emperor Heinrich VII
pledged Boppard along with its outlying lands to his brother, Archbishop Baldwin of Trier. The Boppard townsfolk, however, felt that this merger with the Electorate of Trier was unlawful. They tried to struggle against what they saw as a foreign ruler and in 1327, they set up their own council. After a short siege
, Baldwin had the town stormed and quelled this challenge to his authority, thus absorbing the town of Boppard into the Electorate of Trier. Baldwin then had the toll castle
– the Alte Burg (“Old Castle”) – expanded, which was also meant to ensure his lordship over the town.
The Elector managed to win over the town nobility by taking them into his service and giving them jobs in administration, but the arrangement still did not sit well with the townsfolk. They had but one hope: to get rid of the pledge arrangement and reinstate the town’s lost Imperial immediacy. Emperor Karl IV
, though, dashed this hope. In 1368, he raised the sum of the pledge and promised that neither he nor his successor would allow the pledge to be redeemed. With high hopes, the townsfolk turned in 1496 to King of the Romans
(and later Holy Roman Emperor
) Maximilian I
, who was supporting the town in its dispute with the Elector of Trier, Johann II of Baden. He freed Boppard from Electoral jurisdiction and tolls. However, Maximilian overstepped his authority in redeeming the pledge and had to revise his decision. This led in 1497 to the Boppard War. The Bopparders were not prepared to see their town once more annexed by the Electorate. So, the Elector of Trier advanced on the town with an army of 12,000 soldiers. The neighbouring places of Bad Salzig and Weiler surrendered without a fight. Boppard could not withstand the siege for long, and in the end had to acknowledge the Elector as their ruler.
In the Thirty Years' War
, Boppard lost one third of its population. Swedish
troops under Rhinegrave Otto Ludwig occupied the town on 18 January 1632. In the Nine Years' War (1688-1697; known in Germany as the Pfälzischer Erbfolgekrieg, or War of the Palatine Succession), an attack by French
troops was successfully repulsed. In the War of the Polish Succession
, French troops under General de Court attacked Boppard. The new Electoral City Policy of 1789 was meant to strengthen the Elector’s influence, but by 1794, French Revolutionary
troops had occupied the town, which remained under French rule for the next 20 years.
downfall in 1813 and 1814, Boppard, along with all the lands on the Rhine’s left bank, belonged to France. After Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher
defeated the French troops, the victorious powers shared the administration of the territories under them. Thus, for a year and a half, Boppard was governed by the “Imperial and Royal” Austrian and Royal Bavarian joint Landesadministrationskommission.
In 1815 the Congress of Vienna
assigned the town along with the Rhine’s left bank as far upstream as Bingerbrück
to the Kingdom of Prussia
. In 1816, new districts (Kreise) were established and Boppard was assigned to the Sankt Goar district, which was dissolved in 1969. At the time of the Vormärz
, political tensions arose in Boppard, too. These flared up in particular around the long-time mayor, Matthias Jacobs, who as the representative of the long established, Catholic middle and lower classes was always trying to prevail against the town’s wealthy, liberal upper class. Only in the Year of Revolution
(1848) did his opponents manage to drive him out of office.
The physician Dr. Heusner and the local businessman Jacob Mallmann opened the Mühlbad (baths) at Remigiusplatz (square) in 1841. Under Jacob’s successor, Josef Syrée, who between 1848 and 1892 was Boppard’s mayor, the town developed into a tourism
centre and a spa. This new industry was furthered by the building of the Koblenz-Bingerbrück railway and the railway station
in 1859. Steamship traffic on the Rhine, too, led to an upswing in the town’s fortunes as a tourist centre. The Catholic middle and lower classes and the liberal, upper-class newcomers often found themselves at odds with each other, and this broke out into the open in 1872 with the Kulturkampf
, which lasted several years. In particular, Mayor Syrée’s and his liberal followers’ conversion to Old Catholicism
brought yet another religious figure into the fray. As the representative of the Catholic middle and lower classes, the long-time dean
Berger, who also enjoyed some fame as a poet, was the mayor’s opponent.
During the 19th century, Boppard’s population grew from some 3,000 at the beginning to some 5,000 by about 1875.
fortifications, was standing in the way, it had to be dismantled in the years 1906-1908, and it was then reassembled – albeit with thinner walls – north of its old location. In 1908, the last section of this line was completed and in the same year, it was opened.
Even after the First World War, the Rhine Province
, and thereby Boppard too, belonged to Prussia. Between 1919 and 1923, there were efforts throughout the Rhineland to separate from Prussia, but they were unsuccessful. The National Socialists’ seizure of power
in 1933 brought Boppard no changes at first, as the Centre Party
had won 50% of the vote at the 1933 elections. However, on Kristallnacht
(9-10 November 1938), the Nazis destroyed the synagogue
on Binger Gasse (lane), which had been opened in 1867. Many Jews were seized, and some were sent to concentration camps
. Roughly two thirds of the 100 or so Jews living in Boppard emigrated. Those that remained were deported in 1942. In 1940, the Marienberg Convent and its associated school were closed under pressure from the régime. Although Boppard was not the main target of any air strike, bombs were nevertheless dropped on the town. Beginning on 19 March 1945, the Rhine’s left bank was controlled by United States
forces, who built an emergency bridge across the Rhine at Boppard.
Since 1946, the town has been part of the then newly founded state
of Rhineland-Palatinate
. In 1952, the outlying centre of Boppard-Buchenau was founded. In the course of administrative restructuring in Rhineland-Palatinate
in the 1960s, the district of Sankt Goar was dissolved and Boppard was grouped into the new district of Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis. Municipal boundaries, too, underwent reform. For Boppard, this meant that as of 28 July 1970, the town found itself, along with Bad Salzig, Buchholz, Herschwiesen, Hirzenach, Holzfeld, Oppenhausen, Rheinbay, Udenhausen and Weiler in a new Verbandsgemeinde
. This, however, did not last. Later that same year, the idea was floated to merge Boppard with these nine other municipalities to form a unified, greater Boppard. This was meant to simplify administration, and besides, it would bring the town a DM 12,000,000 bonus from the state. With the promise that this money would be spent mainly on the outlying centres, eight of the ten still self-administering municipalities – including Boppard itself – came round to seeing the merger as the right way to proceed. Bad Salzig, on the other hand, would only agree to amalgamation as long as the new, greater Boppard could be called Boppard-Bad Salzig. Oppenhausen, for its part, completely refused to even consider the idea. Nonetheless, since the municipalities that agreed to amalgamation were home to more than two thirds of the Verbandsgemeinde’s population, and since the Verbandsgemeinde council itself also supported the proposal, the Minister of the Interior was able to effect the change by issuing a regulation
. This was implemented on 31 December 1975. The newly founded municipality was given the name of Boppard. This led the now Ortsteil of Bad Salzig to appeal to the State Constitutional Court – on the same day – and file suit to have the Interior Ministry’s regulation overturned. The ruling came on 8 May 1977; the Court rejected Bad Salzig’s bid.
Since the old town of Boppard was dissolved by the regulation, Boppard also no longer held town rights. Boppard’s legal quest was, however, more successful than Bad Salzig’s, and an appeal to the state government led to Boppard being granted town rights once more on 10 July 1976.
monastery. The mayor’s office, too, is to be found here. The town council meetings, though, are still held at the old Town Hall, built to plans by Paul Rowald in 1884 and 1885 in the Renaissance Revival style, on the marketplace.
The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:
As a result of this division of political fortunes, a CDU-Green-FWG coalition was formed.
The town’s arms
might in English heraldic
language be described thus: Or an eagle displayed sable armed and langued gules and clawed argent, his breast surmounted by an inescutcheon of the last charged with a cross of the third.
Once the new, greater town of Boppard had been founded, the town’s old arms lost their validity. Only in 1985 could the town council reach an agreement on new arms. The problem stemmed from, among other things, wanting to please everyone by choosing an heraldic emblem with which all Ortsbezirke could identify. This was not easy from an heraldic point of view, for only two of the constituent communities, Boppard and Bad Salzig, had borne arms before amalgamation. The other eight therefore had no heraldic history. Thus it was decided that the new coat of arms should be charge
d with the Imperial Eagle
, like the old arms, but that the eagle should have an inescutcheon on its breast, itself charged with Saint George's Cross, ironically the heraldic device formerly borne by the Electorate of Trier, against whose hegemony the townsfolk had once fought so hard. The Imperial Eagle was meant to refer to the time when Boppard was a free imperial city
– before the widely unpopular pledge put the town in Electoral-Trier hands – and the Trier cross, of course, to the time under Trier’s rule. An element of unity could be seen in the latter charge, for all but one of the Ortsbezirke had once lain under Electoral-Trier sovereignty, Holzfeld being the only one that never had.
’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
and Burg Sterrenberg
, known as the Feindliche Brüder (“Adversarial Brothers”) after a German legend that arose in the 16th century, and the pilgrimage
centre of Kamp-Bornhofen
with its mediaeval monastery.
What follows expands somewhat on the entries in the Directory of Cultural Monuments:
, was opened. A complete circuit involves eleven different climbs.
), for Bubberder Platt actually belongs to the Moselle Franconian dialects, and is closely akin to Luxembourgish
. A certain degree of kinship with Rhenish and Hessian speech can also be heard. Furthermore, Bubberder Platt also features sporadic Yiddish influences, for until the time of the Third Reich
, Boppard had a considerable Jewish community. Outlying Ortsbezirke, too, have their own local Moselle Franconian forms of speech. South of Boppard runs the “Boppard Line”, a linguistic boundary that marks the separation of speech populations who say Korf (to the north) or Korb (to the south).
. Grown here are Riesling
, Müller-Thurgau
and Pinot noir
. Together with Boppard’s various other attractions (see above), winegrowing stands as the basis for the town’s tourism
industry.
, with some 1,200 employees, the cosmetics
enterprise Sebapharma GmbH & Co. KG
and a software business.
Boppard is known for its very good Rhine wine, attracting tourists with many lodging and dining businesses. From Boppard, excursion ships sail on the Rhine to the Loreley and to Rüdesheim along the loveliest stretch of the whole Rhine Valley with its many castles.
and Mainz
, and on the Hunsrückbahn (Boppard–Emmelshausen
) as well. The town of Boppard has its main railway station, Boppard Hauptbahnhof
as well as five halts, Boppard Süd, Boppard-Buchholz, Boppard-Hirzenach, Boppard-Bad Salzig and Boppard-Fleckertshöhe. At the Hauptbahnhof (“Main Station”), two InterCity
trains each day, to and from Frankfurt
, stop. Further services are run by DB Regio
in the form of two-hourly Regional-Express trains on the Koblenz
–Bingen
–Mainz–Frankfurt route. Local transport has been run since December 2008 by TransRegio; this involves hourly trains between Koblenz and Mainz. Passenger transport on the Hunsrückbahn has since December 2009 been run by Rhenus Veniro.
Running through Boppard is the important long-distance highway, Bundesstraße
9. In the outlying centre of Buchholz, furthermore, is an Autobahn interchange
onto the A 61
, which can be reached by heavy vehicles and those hauling hazardous goods over Landesstraße (State Road) 210 (Simmerner Straße) and by vehicles up to 10.5 t and long-distance buses over Landesstraße 209 (Buchholzer Straße) from the main centre. The Hunsrückhöhenstraße (“Hunsrück Heights Road”, a scenic road across the Hunsrück built originally as a military road on Hermann Göring
’s orders) also runs through Buchholz.
and tertiary schools are all in the main centre of Boppard. These are the Fritz-Straßmann-Schule (Realschule plus), the Bischöfliche Realschule
Marienberg, the Kant-Gymnasium
Boppard, the berufsbildende Schule (“professional training school”) and the Janusz-Korczak-Erzieherschule.
Other educational institutions in Boppard are the Bundesakademie für öffentliche Verwaltung (“Federal Academy for Public Administration”), the Institut für Schulische Fortbildung und Schulpsychologische Beratung (“Institute for Advanced Scholastic Training and Educational-Psychological Counselling”) and the medical college.
, both institutions were merged. In 1855, the Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo
were called to work at the hospital.
In 1956 and 1957, the hospital foundation acquired some buildings right near the hospital that were on the Rhine and on Niederstadtstraße, and in the years that followed, until 1962, the hospital was thoroughly renovated and also expanded. The expansion claimed the Hospitalsgasse (“Hospital Lane”) as a victim; this no longer exists. The gynaecology
department was housed in the new building on the Rhine and new operating rooms were built on the main floor at the old building. Moreover, the hospital acquired new two- and three-bed rooms. A further expansion building was begun in 1975 and dedicated two years later. Since then, it has been used as a nursing home for seniors.
In January 1999, the focus on psychosomatic medicine was instituted. Four years later in 2003, the Boppard hospital joined together with the Gesundheitszentrum Evangelisches Stift St. Martin Koblenz (“health centre”) and the Diakoniezentrum Paulinenstift Nastätten
and founded the Verbundklinikum Stiftungsklinikum Mittelrhein, another hospital in Koblenz.
Today, the Hospital zum Heiligen Geist has at its disposal 152 beds. In 2009, work began, funded by the hospital foundation, on a seniors’ home at the Villa Belgrano.
sessions are staged by KG Bälzer Knorrköpp and KG Schwarz-Gold Baudobriga.
. The new complex, if built, is to be called Römer-Therme Monte Mare and is to be fed with hot mineral water
, which has already been successfully tapped. The town council, however, postponed the date for the onset of construction indefinitely in early December 2009.
is housed in the old Electoral castle. On permanent display there are exhibits about the town’s history, Michael Thonet
and his bentwood
furniture
, the composer Engelbert Humperdinck
and other people somehow linked with the town. In November 2009, the museum was closed for four years for a thorough €9,000,000 renovation. This work on the castle building will be financed mainly by the Federal world heritage programme.
Districts of Germany
The districts of Germany are known as , except in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein where they are known simply as ....
) in Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, lying in the Rhine Gorge
Rhine Gorge
The Rhine Gorge is a popular name for the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, a 65 km section of the River Rhine between Koblenz and Bingen in Germany...
, a UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
. It belongs to no Verbandsgemeinde
Verbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde is an administrative unit in the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt.-Rhineland-Palatinate:...
. The town is also a state-recognized tourism resort (Fremdenverkehrsort) and is a winegrowing centre.
Location
Boppard lies on the upper Middle RhineMiddle Rhine
Between Bingen and Bonn, Germany, the Rhine River flows as the Middle Rhine through the Rhine Gorge, a formation created by erosion, which happened at about the same rate as an uplift in the region, leaving the river at about its original level, and the surrounding lands raised...
, often known as the Rhine Gorge. This characteristic narrow form of valley arose from downward erosion
Erosion
Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...
of the Rhine’s riverbed. The Gorge has been since 2002 a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A 17 km stretch of the Rhine forms the town’s eastern limit. Along this part of the river lie the outlying centres of Hirzenach and Bad Salzig, as well as the town’s main centre, also called Boppard.
Directly north of Boppard, the Rhine takes its greatest bend. This bow is called the Bopparder Hamm, although this name is more commonly applied to the winegrowing area found along it. The best known lookout point over this bow in the Rhine is the Vierseenblick, or “Four-Lake View”. This vista gets its name from the way in which the Rhine can be seen from here, or rather the way in which it cannot be seen: hills block out most of the view of the river itself so that visitors can only see four apparently separate patches of water, rather like four lakes. These are all actually parts of the Rhine; there are no lakes to be seen. The Vierseenblick can be reached by chairlift
Chairlift
An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel cable loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs...
.
Boppard’s town forest is the second biggest in Rhineland-Palatinate with an area of 43.6 km².
Since 1969, the town of Boppard has belonged to the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, and is the district’s northernmost municipality. Boppard is a middle centre
Central Place Theory
Central place theory is a geographical theory that seeks to explain the number, size and location of human settlements in an urban system. The theory was created by the German geographer Walter Christaller, who asserted that settlements simply functioned as 'central places' providing services to...
; the nearest upper centre is Koblenz
Koblenz
Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...
, some 22 km away.
Constituent communities
Since 1976, Boppard has consisted of ten Ortsbezirke, a special kind of municipal internal division found in some cities and towns in Rhineland-Palatinate (and also HesseHesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
). Each Ortsbezirk has its own council, whose head bears the title Ortsvorsteher. Some of these Ortsbezirke even have their own Ortsteile, but these have no separate representation on any council. Boppard’s Ortsbezirke are as follows:
- Boppard (main centre) with the Ortsteil of Buchenau (and the Hellerwald commercial development)
- Bad SalzigBad SalzigBad Salzig is a small town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the west bank of the Rhine. It is part of the municipality of Boppard. It is near the city of Koblenz and the Lorelei. It is a spa town, with a spring which dispenses slightly salty water...
- Buchholz with the Ortsteil of Ohlenfeld
- Herschwiesen with the Ortsteil of Windhausen
- Hirzenach
- Holzfeld
- Oppenhausen with the Ortsteil of Hübingen
- Rheinbay
- Udenhausen
- Weiler with the Ortsteil of Fleckertshöhe
History
The earliest trace of settlement unearthed by archaeologistsArchaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
in the Boppard area has been a storage yard dating back some 13,000 years to the time of the Federmesser culture
Federmesser culture
The Federmesser culture is a toolmaking tradition of the late Upper Palaeolithic era, of the Northern European Plain dating to between c. 9800 and 8800 BC...
.
Roman times
In the course of Julius CaesarJulius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
’s conquest of Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
and the ensuing Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
settlement of the lands on the Rhine’s left bank, there also followed the founding of Vicus
Vicus
Vicus may refer to:*Vicus , plural vici, a neighborhood or local administrative unit of ancient Rome**Vicus Tuscus in Rome**Vicus Jugarius, leading into the Roman Forum** Gensis in Moesia Superior...
Baudobriga (also Bodobriga or Bontobrica) on the way into the Mühltal (valley). The name is of Celtic
Celtic languages
The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-European language family...
origin, which implies that there had been Celtic settlement before the Romans came, or perhaps that there was one at the same time as the Romans were there. With the expansion of the Limes
Limes
A limes was a border defense or delimiting system of Ancient Rome. It marked the boundaries of the Roman Empire.The Latin noun limes had a number of different meanings: a path or balk delimiting fields, a boundary line or marker, any road or path, any channel, such as a stream channel, or any...
, the Middle Rhine lost its strategic importance. On the other hand, the river was gaining more and more importance as a supply and trade avenue. In the mid 3rd century, the Rhine’s right bank had to be evacuated and conceded to the Germani
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
, thereby making the Rhine the Empire’s
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
border once more. In 355, Roman Emperor Julian
Julian the Apostate
Julian "the Apostate" , commonly known as Julian, or also Julian the Philosopher, was Roman Emperor from 361 to 363 and a noted philosopher and Greek writer....
stopped the Germanic invasion and began securing the Middle Rhine. His successor Valentinian I
Valentinian I
Valentinian I , also known as Valentinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 364 to 375. Upon becoming emperor he made his brother Valens his co-emperor, giving him rule of the eastern provinces while Valentinian retained the west....
finished the work. It was also at this time that the Late Roman castrum
Castra
The Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. The word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian as well as in Latin. It may have descended from Indo-European to Italic...
, the Römerkastell Boppard on the Roman road through the Rhine valley, was built. Towards the end of 405, the last Roman troops were withdrawn to defend Italy. The town’s next documentary mention did not come until the Early Middle Ages
Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from the 5th century to approximately 1000. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages...
. According to this source from 643, Boppard was a Frankish
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
royal estate and an administrative centre of the Bopparder Reich (a Merovingian
Merovingian dynasty
The Merovingians were a Salian Frankish dynasty that came to rule the Franks in a region largely corresponding to ancient Gaul from the middle of the 5th century. Their politics involved frequent civil warfare among branches of the family...
state).
Holy Roman Empire
Until 1309, Boppard was a free imperial cityFree Imperial City
In the Holy Roman Empire, a free imperial city was a city formally ruled by the emperor only — as opposed to the majority of cities in the Empire, which were governed by one of the many princes of the Empire, such as dukes or prince-bishops...
, and as such was often frequented by the German kings, who would then reside at the so-called Royal Estate. The Royal Estate lay at the end of the Mühltal on the Rhine. Governing the town and the surrounding Imperial
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
Estate were Imperial ministeriales; the head official in town was the Schultheiß
Schultheiß
In medieval Germany, the Schultheiß was the head of a municipality , a Vogt or an executive official of the ruler.As official it was...
. A series of the ministeriales lived in the town, among whom were the Beyer von Boppard family, the family “among the Jews”, the von Schönecks and the von Bickenbachs (named after the village of Bickenbach
Bickenbach, Rhineland-Palatinate
Bickenbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
in the Hunsrück
Hunsrück
The Hunsrück is a low mountain range in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the river valleys of the Moselle , the Nahe , and the Rhine . The Hunsrück is continued by the Taunus mountains on the eastern side of the Rhine. In the north behind the Moselle it is continued by the Eifel...
).
In 1309 and 1312, Emperor Heinrich VII
Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry VII was the King of Germany from 1308 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1312. He was the first emperor of the House of Luxembourg...
pledged Boppard along with its outlying lands to his brother, Archbishop Baldwin of Trier. The Boppard townsfolk, however, felt that this merger with the Electorate of Trier was unlawful. They tried to struggle against what they saw as a foreign ruler and in 1327, they set up their own council. After a short siege
Siege
A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit". Generally speaking, siege warfare is a form of constant, low intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static...
, Baldwin had the town stormed and quelled this challenge to his authority, thus absorbing the town of Boppard into the Electorate of Trier. Baldwin then had the toll castle
Toll castle
A toll castle is a castle that, in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Era guarded a customs post and was intended to control it. It thus always stood in the vicinity of an important long-distance trade route over, for example, the Alpine passes or the Middle Rhine...
– the Alte Burg (“Old Castle”) – expanded, which was also meant to ensure his lordship over the town.
The Elector managed to win over the town nobility by taking them into his service and giving them jobs in administration, but the arrangement still did not sit well with the townsfolk. They had but one hope: to get rid of the pledge arrangement and reinstate the town’s lost Imperial immediacy. Emperor Karl IV
Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles IV , born Wenceslaus , was the second king of Bohemia from the House of Luxembourg, and the first king of Bohemia to also become Holy Roman Emperor....
, though, dashed this hope. In 1368, he raised the sum of the pledge and promised that neither he nor his successor would allow the pledge to be redeemed. With high hopes, the townsfolk turned in 1496 to King of the Romans
King of the Romans
King of the Romans was the title used by the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire following his election to the office by the princes of the Kingdom of Germany...
(and later Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
) Maximilian I
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I , the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and Eleanor of Portugal, was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 until his death, though he was never in fact crowned by the Pope, the journey to Rome always being too risky...
, who was supporting the town in its dispute with the Elector of Trier, Johann II of Baden. He freed Boppard from Electoral jurisdiction and tolls. However, Maximilian overstepped his authority in redeeming the pledge and had to revise his decision. This led in 1497 to the Boppard War. The Bopparders were not prepared to see their town once more annexed by the Electorate. So, the Elector of Trier advanced on the town with an army of 12,000 soldiers. The neighbouring places of Bad Salzig and Weiler surrendered without a fight. Boppard could not withstand the siege for long, and in the end had to acknowledge the Elector as their ruler.
In the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
, Boppard lost one third of its population. Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
troops under Rhinegrave Otto Ludwig occupied the town on 18 January 1632. In the Nine Years' War (1688-1697; known in Germany as the Pfälzischer Erbfolgekrieg, or War of the Palatine Succession), an attack by French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
troops was successfully repulsed. In the War of the Polish Succession
War of the Polish Succession
The War of the Polish Succession was a major European war for princes' possessions sparked by a Polish civil war over the succession to Augustus II, King of Poland that other European powers widened in pursuit of their own national interests...
, French troops under General de Court attacked Boppard. The new Electoral City Policy of 1789 was meant to strengthen the Elector’s influence, but by 1794, French Revolutionary
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
troops had occupied the town, which remained under French rule for the next 20 years.
Prussian times
Until Napoleon’sNapoleon I
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
downfall in 1813 and 1814, Boppard, along with all the lands on the Rhine’s left bank, belonged to France. After Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher
Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher
Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Fürst von Wahlstatt , Graf , later elevated to Fürst von Wahlstatt, was a Prussian Generalfeldmarschall who led his army against Napoleon I at the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig in 1813 and at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 with the Duke of Wellington.He is...
defeated the French troops, the victorious powers shared the administration of the territories under them. Thus, for a year and a half, Boppard was governed by the “Imperial and Royal” Austrian and Royal Bavarian joint Landesadministrationskommission.
In 1815 the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
assigned the town along with the Rhine’s left bank as far upstream as Bingerbrück
Bingerbrück
Bingerbrück is a Stadtteil of Bingen am Rhein, on the opposite side of the river Nahe from the old town of Bingen. It was self-administering until 1969.- Binger Mäuseturm :...
to the Kingdom of Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
. In 1816, new districts (Kreise) were established and Boppard was assigned to the Sankt Goar district, which was dissolved in 1969. At the time of the Vormärz
Vormärz
' is the time period leading up to the failed March 1848 revolution in the German Confederation. Also known as the Age of Metternich, it was a period of Austrian and Prussian police states and vast censorship in response to calls for liberalism...
, political tensions arose in Boppard, too. These flared up in particular around the long-time mayor, Matthias Jacobs, who as the representative of the long established, Catholic middle and lower classes was always trying to prevail against the town’s wealthy, liberal upper class. Only in the Year of Revolution
Revolutions of 1848
The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It was the first Europe-wide collapse of traditional authority, but within a year reactionary...
(1848) did his opponents manage to drive him out of office.
The physician Dr. Heusner and the local businessman Jacob Mallmann opened the Mühlbad (baths) at Remigiusplatz (square) in 1841. Under Jacob’s successor, Josef Syrée, who between 1848 and 1892 was Boppard’s mayor, the town developed into a tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
centre and a spa. This new industry was furthered by the building of the Koblenz-Bingerbrück railway and the railway station
Boppard Hauptbahnhof
is the central railway station in the German town of Boppard on the Left Rhine railway.-Operational usage:...
in 1859. Steamship traffic on the Rhine, too, led to an upswing in the town’s fortunes as a tourist centre. The Catholic middle and lower classes and the liberal, upper-class newcomers often found themselves at odds with each other, and this broke out into the open in 1872 with the Kulturkampf
Kulturkampf
The German term refers to German policies in relation to secularity and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, enacted from 1871 to 1878 by the Prime Minister of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck. The Kulturkampf did not extend to the other German states such as Bavaria...
, which lasted several years. In particular, Mayor Syrée’s and his liberal followers’ conversion to Old Catholicism
Old Catholic Church
The term Old Catholic Church is commonly used to describe a number of Ultrajectine Christian churches that originated with groups that split from the Roman Catholic Church over certain doctrines, most importantly that of Papal Infallibility...
brought yet another religious figure into the fray. As the representative of the Catholic middle and lower classes, the long-time dean
Dean (religion)
A dean, in a church context, is a cleric holding certain positions of authority within a religious hierarchy. The title is used mainly in the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church.-Anglican Communion:...
Berger, who also enjoyed some fame as a poet, was the mayor’s opponent.
During the 19th century, Boppard’s population grew from some 3,000 at the beginning to some 5,000 by about 1875.
20th century
About 1903, work began on linking another railway line to the station, the Hunsrückbahn. Because the old Säuerlingsturm, a tower that had been part of the town’s mediaevalMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
fortifications, was standing in the way, it had to be dismantled in the years 1906-1908, and it was then reassembled – albeit with thinner walls – north of its old location. In 1908, the last section of this line was completed and in the same year, it was opened.
Even after the First World War, the Rhine Province
Rhine Province
The Rhine Province , also known as Rhenish Prussia or synonymous to the Rhineland , was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822-1946. It was created from the provinces of the Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg...
, and thereby Boppard too, belonged to Prussia. Between 1919 and 1923, there were efforts throughout the Rhineland to separate from Prussia, but they were unsuccessful. The National Socialists’ seizure of power
Machtergreifung
Machtergreifung is a German word meaning "seizure of power". It is normally used specifically to refer to the Nazi takeover of power in the democratic Weimar Republic on 30 January 1933, the day Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany, turning it into the Nazi German dictatorship.-Term:The...
in 1933 brought Boppard no changes at first, as the Centre Party
Centre Party (Germany)
The German Centre Party was a Catholic political party in Germany during the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic. Formed in 1870, it battled the Kulturkampf which the Prussian government launched to reduce the power of the Catholic Church...
had won 50% of the vote at the 1933 elections. However, on Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht, also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, and also Reichskristallnacht, Pogromnacht, and Novemberpogrome, was a pogrom or series of attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9–10 November 1938.Jewish homes were ransacked, as were shops, towns and...
(9-10 November 1938), the Nazis destroyed the synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
on Binger Gasse (lane), which had been opened in 1867. Many Jews were seized, and some were sent to concentration camps
Nazi concentration camps
Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
. Roughly two thirds of the 100 or so Jews living in Boppard emigrated. Those that remained were deported in 1942. In 1940, the Marienberg Convent and its associated school were closed under pressure from the régime. Although Boppard was not the main target of any air strike, bombs were nevertheless dropped on the town. Beginning on 19 March 1945, the Rhine’s left bank was controlled by United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
forces, who built an emergency bridge across the Rhine at Boppard.
Since 1946, the town has been part of the then newly founded state
States of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...
of Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
. In 1952, the outlying centre of Boppard-Buchenau was founded. In the course of administrative restructuring in Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
in the 1960s, the district of Sankt Goar was dissolved and Boppard was grouped into the new district of Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis. Municipal boundaries, too, underwent reform. For Boppard, this meant that as of 28 July 1970, the town found itself, along with Bad Salzig, Buchholz, Herschwiesen, Hirzenach, Holzfeld, Oppenhausen, Rheinbay, Udenhausen and Weiler in a new Verbandsgemeinde
Verbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde is an administrative unit in the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt.-Rhineland-Palatinate:...
. This, however, did not last. Later that same year, the idea was floated to merge Boppard with these nine other municipalities to form a unified, greater Boppard. This was meant to simplify administration, and besides, it would bring the town a DM 12,000,000 bonus from the state. With the promise that this money would be spent mainly on the outlying centres, eight of the ten still self-administering municipalities – including Boppard itself – came round to seeing the merger as the right way to proceed. Bad Salzig, on the other hand, would only agree to amalgamation as long as the new, greater Boppard could be called Boppard-Bad Salzig. Oppenhausen, for its part, completely refused to even consider the idea. Nonetheless, since the municipalities that agreed to amalgamation were home to more than two thirds of the Verbandsgemeinde’s population, and since the Verbandsgemeinde council itself also supported the proposal, the Minister of the Interior was able to effect the change by issuing a regulation
Regulation (law)
A regulation is a form of secondary legislation issued by a government minister under the authority of primary legislation. Regulations are used to make the detailed arrangements which give effect to the intent and purpose of primary legislation. Regulations are typically used to address matters of...
. This was implemented on 31 December 1975. The newly founded municipality was given the name of Boppard. This led the now Ortsteil of Bad Salzig to appeal to the State Constitutional Court – on the same day – and file suit to have the Interior Ministry’s regulation overturned. The ruling came on 8 May 1977; the Court rejected Bad Salzig’s bid.
Since the old town of Boppard was dissolved by the regulation, Boppard also no longer held town rights. Boppard’s legal quest was, however, more successful than Bad Salzig’s, and an appeal to the state government led to Boppard being granted town rights once more on 10 July 1976.
Politics
Since 1976, the town administration has been housed at the former CarmeliteCarmelites
The Order of the Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel or Carmelites is a Catholic religious order perhaps founded in the 12th century on Mount Carmel, hence its name. However, historical records about its origin remain uncertain...
monastery. The mayor’s office, too, is to be found here. The town council meetings, though, are still held at the old Town Hall, built to plans by Paul Rowald in 1884 and 1885 in the Renaissance Revival style, on the marketplace.
Town council
The council is made up of 32 parttime council members, who were elected at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the fulltime mayor as chairman.The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:
| CDU | SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
Grüne Alliance '90/The Greens Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir... |
Bürger für Boppard | Frei Wählergruppe Boppard | FDP Free Democratic Party Free Democratic Party is the name of several political parties around the world. It usually designates a party that is ideologically based around liberalism... |
Total | |
| 2009 | 12 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 32 seats |
As a result of this division of political fortunes, a CDU-Green-FWG coalition was formed.
Mayor
The mayor is elected every eight years. Boppard’s current mayor, elected on 1 August 1997 and again on 10 April 2005, is Dr. Walter Bersch, and his deputies are Dr. Heinz Bengart, Ruth Schneider and Horst-Peter Hassbach.Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: In Gold ein rot bezungter und rot bewehrter schwarzer Adler mit silbernen Krallen, belegt mit einem Herzschild, darin in Silber ein rotes Balkenkreuz.The town’s arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
might in English heraldic
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
language be described thus: Or an eagle displayed sable armed and langued gules and clawed argent, his breast surmounted by an inescutcheon of the last charged with a cross of the third.
Once the new, greater town of Boppard had been founded, the town’s old arms lost their validity. Only in 1985 could the town council reach an agreement on new arms. The problem stemmed from, among other things, wanting to please everyone by choosing an heraldic emblem with which all Ortsbezirke could identify. This was not easy from an heraldic point of view, for only two of the constituent communities, Boppard and Bad Salzig, had borne arms before amalgamation. The other eight therefore had no heraldic history. Thus it was decided that the new coat of arms should be charge
Charge (heraldry)
In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon . This may be a geometric design or a symbolic representation of a person, animal, plant, object or other device...
d with the Imperial Eagle
Reichsadler
The Reichsadler was the heraldic eagle, derived from the Roman eagle standard, used by the Holy Roman Emperors and in modern coats of arms of Germany, including those of the German Empire, the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany...
, like the old arms, but that the eagle should have an inescutcheon on its breast, itself charged with Saint George's Cross, ironically the heraldic device formerly borne by the Electorate of Trier, against whose hegemony the townsfolk had once fought so hard. The Imperial Eagle was meant to refer to the time when Boppard was a free imperial city
Free Imperial City
In the Holy Roman Empire, a free imperial city was a city formally ruled by the emperor only — as opposed to the majority of cities in the Empire, which were governed by one of the many princes of the Empire, such as dukes or prince-bishops...
– before the widely unpopular pledge put the town in Electoral-Trier hands – and the Trier cross, of course, to the time under Trier’s rule. An element of unity could be seen in the latter charge, for all but one of the Ortsbezirke had once lain under Electoral-Trier sovereignty, Holzfeld being the only one that never had.
Town partnerships
Boppard fosters partnerships with the following places:| City | Region | Country | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ōme Ome -Places:Italy* Ome, Lombardy, a comune in the Province of BresciaJapan* Ōme, Tokyo, a city in the Prefecture of Tokyo* Ōme Line, a railway in the Prefecture of TokyoUnited States* OME, the IATA and FAA code for Nome Airport, Alaska-Other uses:... |
 TokyoTokyo , ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family... |
 Japan |
1965 |
| Amboise Amboise Amboise is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. It lies on the banks of the Loire River, east of Tours. Today a small market town, it was once home of the French royal court... |
 Indre-et-LoireIndre-et-Loire Indre-et-Loire is a department in west-central France named after the Indre and the Loire rivers.-History:Indre-et-Loire is one of the original 83 départements created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790... |
 Early Modern France |
1985 |
| Truro Truro Truro is a city and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The city is the centre for administration, leisure and retail in Cornwall, with a population recorded in the 2001 census of 17,431. Truro urban statistical area, which includes parts of surrounding parishes, has a 2001 census... |
 Kingdom of England |
 United Kingdom |
1991 |
| Keszthely Keszthely Keszthely is a Hungarian city of 21,100 inhabitants located on the western shore of Lake Balaton. It's the second largest city by the lake after Siófok.... |
 Zala |
 Hungary |
1997 |
| Nyabitekeri |  Western Province |
Rwanda |
2008 |
Culture and sightseeing
Buildings
The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-PalatinateRhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
Boppard
- Former Electoral castleCastleA castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
(Alte Burg), Burgplatz 2 – four-winged complex with two round towers, north wing lengthened, keepKeepA keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...
, soon after 1312, altered in 1499 after fire and in the 17th century; on the east wing and on the former tollhouse coats of arms of Archbishops Karl Kaspar von der Leyen-HohengeroldseckKarl Kaspar von der Leyen-HohengeroldseckKarl Kaspar von der Leyen was Archbishop-Elector of Trier and a Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 1652 to 1676.- Life :A member of the noble Leyen family, Charles Kaspar was made a coadjutor bishop on 11 June 1650...
(1652-1672) and Johann VIII Hugo von Orsbeck (1672-1711) - Angertstraße – EvangelicalEvangelical Church in GermanyThe Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
Christ Church (Christuskirche); cruciform Romanesque RevivalRomanesque Revival architectureRomanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque architecture...
aisleless churchAisleless churchAn Aisleless church is a single-nave church building that consists of a single hall-like room. While similar to the hall church, the aisleless church lacks aisles or passageways either side of the nave separated from the nave by colonnades or arcades, a row of pillars or columns...
with columned vestibule, 1850-1852, building inspector Althoff, KoblenzKoblenzKoblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...
; expansion and west tower 1885-1887 - CarmeliteCarmelitesThe Order of the Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel or Carmelites is a Catholic religious order perhaps founded in the 12th century on Mount Carmel, hence its name. However, historical records about its origin remain uncertain...
Catholic Church (Karmeliterkirche) and former Carmelite monastery, Karmeliterstraße – originally towerless aisleless church, under construction in 1320, aisle 1439-1444; monastery, plain BaroqueBaroque architectureBaroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
complex, marked 1730; whole complex of buildings - Saint Severus’s Catholic Parish Church (Pfarrkirche St. Severus), Kronengasse 3 – former canonical foundation church, CrucifixionCrucifixion of JesusThe crucifixion of Jesus and his ensuing death is an event that occurred during the 1st century AD. Jesus, who Christians believe is the Son of God as well as the Messiah, was arrested, tried, and sentenced by Pontius Pilate to be scourged, and finally executed on a cross...
group, three-naved gallery basilica, earlier half of the 13th century, quire flanking towers possibly from the first fourth of the 12th century; outside Crucifixion group of the former graveyard, marked 1516 - Town wall – remnants of the RomanAncient RomeAncient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
castrumCastraThe Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. The word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian as well as in Latin. It may have descended from Indo-European to Italic...
, possibly after 364 until 375, Roman tower; mediaeval town fortifications, first expansion of the Roman castrum about the Friesenviertel (“Frisian Quarter”), 12th century, after 1327 until the mid 14th century wall building about Oberstadt (“Upper Town”) and Niederstadt (“Lower Town”); Sandtor (“Sand Gate”) or Eisbrechertor (“CutwaterStarling (architecture)In architecture, a starling or, more commonly, cutwater is a defensive bulwark, usually built with pilings or bricks, surrounding the supports of a bridge or similar construction...
Gate”), gate towerGate towerA gate tower is a tower built over or next to a major gateway.Usually it is part of a medieval fortification. This may be a town or city wall, a fortress or a castle. The gate tower may be built as a twin tower on either side of an entranceway. Even in the design of modern building complexes, gate...
with so-called Nikolauskanzel (“Saint Nicholas’s Pulpit”) and tomb slabs; remnants of the Bingertor (“Bingen Gate”); south wall preserved in almost original height; Burgplatz 1 and 3 see below; Säuerlingsturm (roughly “Mineral Water Tower”), in 1906-1908 partly torn down and reconstructed; Ebertor (“Boar Gate”), hipped mansard roofMansard roofA mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...
, about 1750; tomb slab 1595, coat of arms stone, third fourth of the 17th century; corner of Rheinallee/Bahnhofstraße 2 (see below) 15 m long piece of wall; Hospitaltor (“Hospital Gate”), originally three-floor gate tower, remodelled in the mid 18th century with mansard roof; Kronentor (“Crown Gate”), gate tower, two twinned windows, 17th century; second upper floor timber-frameTimber framingTimber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
, 18th century; three-floor timber-frame house, partly solid, plastered, essentially from the 17th century, remodelled in the 18th century; Lilientor (“Lily Gate”), marked 1857 (reconstruction) with Late HistoricistHistoricism (art)Historicism refers to artistic styles that draw their inspiration from copying historic styles or artisans. After neo-classicism, which could itself be considered a historicist movement, the 19th century saw a new historicist phase marked by a return to a more ancient classicism, in particular in...
oriel construction, 1896 - Am Alten Posthof 2 – post office; stately Romanesque Revival plastered building, 1895; former Kleines Hospital (“Little Hospital”) “Gotteshaus” (“House of God”, a synonym in German for “church”), later Alte Posthalterei (“Old Coaching Inn”); hook-shaped timber-frame building, partly solid, hipped roof ; essentially possibly from the 16th century, remodelled in the 17th and 18th centuries; whole complex of buildings
- Auf der Zeil 20 B – Haus Bethseda; plastered building, staircase, 1858/1859, expansion 1904
- At Bahnhofstraße 2 – town wall remnant on the side of the house on Rheinallee
- Binger Gasse 18 – Gothic RevivalGothic Revival architectureThe Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
winery building, brick, about 1860 - Binger Gasse 21 – three-floor timber-frame house, partly solid, plastered, essentially from the 16th century
- At Binger Gasse 34 – two carved wooden brackets, marked 1607
- Buchholzer Straße 4 – Haus Sabelshöhe; villa, about 1900; whole complex of buildings with garden
- Burdengasse 1 – timber-frame house, partly solid, marked 1681
- Burdengasse 7 – building with half-hipped roof, timber framing plastered, 17th century
- Burgplatz 1 – three-floor plastered building, 19th century, part of the town wall
- Burgplatz 3 – Hotel “Römerburg”; two-floor solid building, about 1910; part of the town wall
- Burgstraße 2 – brick corner building, now plastered, about 1880, Ladenlokal, about 1928
- Eltzerhofstraße 2 – three-floor plastered building, partly timber framing, about 1900/10
- Eltzerhofstraße 21 – Hotel “Zum Römer”; timber-frame house, partly solid, plastered, latter half of the 17th century
- Eltzerhofstraße 25 – building with hipped mansard roof, marked 1925
- Flogtstraße 48 – brick villa, about 1900
- Hintergasse 3 – stately timber-frame house, marked 1551, 1553, gable and roof from the 19th century
- Humperdinckstraße 12 – plastered building, partly timber framing in 17th-century style, about 1890
- Humperdinckstraße 14 – plastered building with low-key gable risaltiRisalitA risalit, from the Italian risalto for "projection", is a German term which refers to a part of a building that juts out, usually over the full height of the building. In English the French term avant-corps is sometimes used. It is common in façades in the baroque period.A corner risalit is where...
, about 1910 - Humperdinckstraße 25 – so-called Humperdinckschlösschen; Late ClassicistClassicismClassicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...
villa, about 1870, from 1897 to 1900 composer Engelbert HumperdinckEngelbert HumperdinckEngelbert Humperdinck was a German composer, best known for his opera, Hänsel und Gretel. Humperdinck was born at Siegburg in the Rhine Province; at the age of 67 he died in Neustrelitz, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.-Life:After receiving piano lessons, Humperdinck produced his first composition...
’s main residence; whole complex of buildings with park - Karmeliterstraße 1/3 – former Hotel “Karmeliterhof”; three-floor double house in TudorTudor architectureThe Tudor architectural style is the final development of medieval architecture during the Tudor period and even beyond, for conservative college patrons...
Gothic style, after 1867 - At Koblenzer Straße 194 – stuccoStuccoStucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
tondoTondo (art)A tondo is a Renaissance term for a circular work of art, either a painting or a sculpture. The word derives from the Italian rotondo, "round." The term is usually not used in English for small round paintings, but only those over about 60 cm in diameter, thus excluding many round portrait...
with allegorical woman figure, mid 19th century - Koblenzer Straße 205 – villa, partly timber framing (brick infill), round tower, Swiss chalet styleSwiss chalet styleSwiss chalet style is an architectural style inspired by the chalets of Switzerland. The style originated in Germany in the early 19th century and was popular in parts of Europe and North America, notably in the architecture of Norway, the country house architecture of Sweden, Cincinnati, Ohio,...
, about 1900 - Koblenzer Straße 236 – brick villa with sandstoneSandstoneSandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
framing around brickwork, Renaissance Revival, about 1900 - Koblenzerstraße 248 – so-called Königsvilla (“King’s Villa”); two-winged Gothic Revival brick building, about 1890; coachman’s house, 1½-floor brick building, partly timber framing, half-hipped roof; hearth heating plate, 18th century; whole complex of buildings with garden
- Kreuzweg 1 – timber-frame building, mansard roof, marked 1737, slated west wing with tower, 19th century
- Kreuzweg 4 – Weiße Villa (“White Villa”), representative villa; Classicist building with tower, 1875; whole complex of buildings with garden
- Kreuzweg/Ecke Rheinallee – so-called Schunk’sches Kreuz (cross); Crucifixion group, marked 1739
- Kronengasse 8 – three-floor timber-frame house, partly solid, half-hipped roof, 16th century
- Mainzer Straße 8 – former Saint Martin’s FranciscanFranciscanMost Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
Convent; aisleless church, 1766-1768, portal with Gothic Revival sculpture of Saint John; west wing of the former convent building, essentially from the 18th century, altered in the 19th and 20th centuries, north wing from the 19th century; so-called Hohes Kreuz (“High Cross”), marked 1620, renovated in 1947 after destruction; whole complex of buildings - At Mainzer Straße 15 – plastered villa façade, about 1870
- Mainzer Straße 16/18 – stately double villa, mezzanine, about 1890; whole complex of buildings with garden
- Mainzer Straße 17 – villa, Tuscan style, about 1870; whole complex of buildings with garden
- Mainzer Straße 20 – brick villa, Renaissance Revival, about 1870; whole complex of buildings with garden
- Mainzer Straße 24 – Kantgymnasium (school); three-floor two-winged plastered building, Renaissance Revival, 1903-1906, expansion in 1945; two-floor headmaster’s dwelling wing
- Mainzer Straße 29 – Gothic Revival brick villa, three-floor polygonal corner tower, 1863; whole complex of buildings with garden
- Mainzer Straße 40 – brick villa, hipped mansard roof, about 1902; whole complex of buildings with garden
- Mainzer Straße 41 – villa, about 1890; whole complex of buildings with garden
- Mainzer Straße 46 – Late Classicist villa, about 1875; whole complex of buildings with garden
- Mainzer Straße 54 – Late Classicist plastered villa, mezzanine, about 1870; whole complex of buildings with garden
- Marienberger Hohl 1 – former Marienberg BenedictineBenedictineBenedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
Convent; Baroque convent complex; four-winged complex with tower, abbess’s building with columned portal, priory building, livestock building, 1739-1753, architect Thomas Neurohr, Tyrol; park complex - Marienberger Straße 7 – Gothic Revival Villa, about 1905
- Marktplatz – basaltBasaltBasalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
fountain, marked 1854 - Marktplatz 1 – three-floor, plastered timber-frame house, essentially from the 17th century
- Marktplatz 2 – plastered building with rounded corner, about 1860
- Marktplatz 3/4 – no. 3 four-floor timber-frame house, 16th century; no. 4 four-floor timber frame house, partly solid, essentially Late GothicGothic architectureGothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
, extensively renovated in the 18th century - Marktplatz 5 – “Ratsstube” Inn; timber-frame house, marked 1905
- Marktplatz 6 – three-floor timber-frame house, partly solid, plastered, essentially possibly from the 17th century
- Marktplatz 17 – former town hall; brick building, Renaissance Revival, 1884/1885
- Michael-Bach-Straße 1 – Late Classicist plastered building, corner bay windowBay windowA bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room, either square or polygonal in plan. The angles most commonly used on the inside corners of the bay are 90, 135 and 150 degrees. Bay windows are often associated with Victorian architecture...
, about 1870 - Michael-Bach-Straße 2 – representative building with hipped roof, about 1870
- Mühltal – Heiligenhäuschen (a small, shrinelike structure consecrated to a saint or saints) with Baroque MadonnaMadonna (art)Images of the Madonna and the Madonna and Child or Virgin and Child are pictorial or sculptured representations of Mary, Mother of Jesus, either alone, or more frequently, with the infant Jesus. These images are central icons of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox Christianity where Mary remains...
- Mühltal 8 – Fondelsmühle (mill); timber-frame house, partly solid, towerlike risalto, hipped mansard roof, about 1760/1762; timber-frame house, hipped roof, 19th century; whole complex of buildings
- Niederstadtstraße 5 – Haus zum Heiligen Geist (“House to the Holy Ghost”); timber-frame house, partly solid, plastered, essentially possibly from the 16th century, conversion in the 18th century, marked 1732
- Niederstadtstraße 7 – three-floor timber-frame house, partly solid, marked 1655; two-floor side wing, partly timber-frame, 18th century
- Niederstadtstraße 8 – timber-frame house, half-hipped roof, 17th century; high-water marks, among others, 1683, 1784; in the garden town wall remnant
- Oberstraße 58 – stately brick building, after 1885
- Oberstraße 62 – cadastral office; Gothic Revival plastered building, 1903; adjoining wall with portal; whole complex of buildings with Franciscan church and teacher’s college
- Oberstraße 86 – Hotel “Deutsches Haus”; three-floor plastered building, polygonal corner oriel tower, half-hipped roof, marked 1912
- Oberstraße 90 – rich three-floor timber-frame house with veranda, essentially possibly late mediaeval, radical conversion marked 1615
- Oberstraße 92 – residential and commercial house, Art NouveauArt NouveauArt Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
, 1906 - Oberstraße 115 – Wasserfasshof (“Water Barrel Manor”), so-called Arche; two-winged timber-frame house, partly solid, essentially from the mid 16th century, conversion and expansion marked 1623/1624, stable addition 19th century; gravestone
- Oberstraße 142 – former Eltzer Hof; building with half-hipped roof, timber framing, partly solid, plastered, Late Gothic profile, marked 1566; Baroque building with hipped mansard roof, about 1738, with old building linked to the town wall by a walkway; whole complex of buildings, partly on Roman town wall
- Oberstraße 147 – timber-frame house, partly solid, hipped mansard roof, 18th century
- Pastorsgasse 9 – former Evangelical parish office; ten-axis Early Classicist plastered building, dormer with Palladian elements, late 18th century
- Pützgasse 1 – timber-frame house, partly solid, plastered, 18th century
- Rheinallee – accident cross, 18th century
- Rheinallee 19 – Baroque Revival villa with mansard roof, staircase, about 1910/1920; whole complex of buildings with fence and big park
- Rheinallee 22 – Saint Michael’s episcopal college; seven-axis plastered building with three-floor decorative façade, Renaissance Revival, 1902-1904
- Rheinallee 23 – Ritter-Schwalbach-Haus; Late Gothic castle house; three-floor building with hipped roof, staircase, essentially possibly from the 13th century
- Rheinallee 24 – former monastery church and teacher’s college; long towerless aisleless church, 1683-1686, Gothic Revival Baroque; teacher’s college, irregular three-and-a-half-floor four-winged complex, 1864-1868; whole complex of buildings with cadastral office
- Rheinallee 26, Seminarstraße (no number) – Rheinallee 26: former Knoodt’sches Haus; seven-axis plastered building, marked 1778, architect possibly Nikolaus Lauxen, Koblenz, expansion 1896; Seminarstraße (no number): so-called Templerhaus; Late Hohenstaufen plastered building, second fourth of the 13th century, integrated into the UrsulineUrsulinesThe Ursulines are a Roman Catholic religious order for women founded at Brescia, Italy, by Saint Angela de Merici in November 1535, primarily for the education of girls and the care of the sick and needy. Their patron saint is Saint Ursula.-History:St Angela de Merici spent 17 years leading a...
school as a chapelChapelA chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
in 1896 and expanded in Romanesque Revival style, conversion 1956, three-floor towerlike plastered building with three Late Romanesque double-arcade windows - Rheinallee 32 – Hotel “Zum Hirsch”; four-floor timber-frame house, partly plastered, wooden loggia, about 1900 (partly dismantled in 2009)
- Rheinallee 44 – Catholic rectory; three-floor plastered building, Rococo Revival, 1901
- Rheinallee 47 – former orphanage; originally two-floor plastered building, 1863-1865, expanded in 1886/1887, raised in 1901/1902
- Rheinallee 51 – Hotel “Rheinvilla”; representative building with hipped roof, Classicist gabled portal, about 1865/1870; whole complex of buildings with garden
- Rheinallee 52 – 2½-floor villa, about 1865/1870; whole complex of buildings with garden
- Rheinallee 53 – 2½-floor villa, about 1865/1870; whole complex of buildings with garden
- Rheinallee, near the Ebertor – monument; gabled stele with relief, artificial stoneArtificial stoneArtificial stone is a name for various kinds of synthetic stone products used from the 18th century onward. They have been used in building construction, civil engineering work, and industrial uses such as grindstones....
, marked 1915 - Ritter-Schwalbach-Straße 1 – plastered building, partly decorative timber framing, about 1900
- Sabelstraße 26 – plastered building, partly timber framing, rich Art Nouveau décor, about 1900/1910
- Sabelstraße 27 – BerufsfachschuleEducation in GermanyThe responsibility for the German education system lies primarily with the states while the federal government plays only a minor role. Optional Kindergarten education is provided for all children between three and six years of age, after which school attendance is compulsory, in most cases for...
St. Carolus (professional school); originally a villa with park and gatehouse, 1910; castlelike plastered building, staircase, gatehouse, partly timber framing; whole complex of buildings with garden and gatehouse - Sabelstraße 28 – plastered building, rich Art Nouveau décor, about 1910
- Simmerner Straße 12 – brick villa, about 1865
- Simmerner Straße 19 – villa, about 1890
- Steinstraße 31 – timber-frame house, latter half of the 17th century, expansion in the 18th century
- Untere Fraubachstraße 1 – villa with residential tower, about 1865/70
- Untere Fraubachstraße 2 – Villa Belgrano; representative brick building, Renaissance Revival, 1890; whole complex of buildings with garden
- Untere Marktstraße 5 – three-floor timber-frame house, 17th century
- Untere Marktstraße 7 – four-floor timber-frame house, essentially from the 16th century, alteration marked 1767
- Untere Marktstraße 8 – three-floor timber-frame house, plastered, essentially from the 17th century
- Untere Marktstraße 9 – three-floor timber-frame house, partly solid, plastered, 17th century
- Untere Marktstraße 10 – timber-frame house, latter half of the 16th century
- Untere Marktstraße 24 – four-floor timber-frame house, 16th century, mansard roof from the last third of the 18th century
- Zelkesgasse 12 – “Heilig Grab” winehouse; plastered building, about 1800
- Hunsrück-Bahn (monumental zone) – section of the railway line built in 1906-1908, one of the Prussian State Railway’s steepest lines; two viaducts: Rauschenlochviadukt (at rail kilometre 49.4) and Hubertusviadukt (150 m long; at rail kilometre 49.6) and five tunnels: Hinterburden-Tunnel 1 (at rail kilometre 48), Hinterburden-Tunnel 2 (at rail kilometre 48.3), Rauerberg-Tunnel (at rail kilometre 49.9), Talberg-Tunnel (at rail kilometre 50.2) and Kalmut-Tunnel (at rail kilometre 51.1)
- Kreuzbergkapelle (chapel) with Way of the Cross, south of the town – Stations of the Cross 1851/1852; chapel, 1709-1724; wayside cross, marked 1760; forest house, timber-frame building, partly solid, marked 1769, expansion in the 19th and 20th centuries; whole complex of buildings
- Milestone on BundesstraßeBundesstraßeBundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
9 going towards RhensRhensRhens is a municipality in the district Mayen-Koblenz, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the left bank of the Rhine, approx. 10 km south of Koblenz.Rhens is the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde Rhens....
– obelisk, about 1820 - Milestone on Bundesstraße 9 going towards Sankt GoarSankt GoarSankt Goar is a town on the left bank of the Middle Rhine in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Sankt Goar-Oberwesel, whose seat is in the town of Oberwesel....
– obelisk, about 1820 - Votive cross on Proffenstiege – basalt, marked 1735
- Wayside cross, Kreuzer Flur (cadastral area) – so-called Stang’sches Kreuz (cross), marked 1760
- Wayside cross on Landesstraße (State Road) 210 going towards Buchenau – basalt, marked 1724
- At Jakobsbergerhof 1 – basalt portal, marked 16.., of the former monastery building
- East of the Jakobsbergerhof – Jakobskapelle (chapel); aisleless church, essentially post-mediaeval, conversion in the 18th and 19th centuries; cast-ironCast ironCast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
wayside cross, late 19th century; bough cross, early 20th century; 15 border stones
Bad Salzig
- Saint GilesSaint GilesSaint Giles was a Greek Christian hermit saint from Athens, whose legend is centered in Provence and Septimania. The tomb in the abbey Giles was said to have founded, in St-Gilles-du-Gard, became a place of pilgrimage and a stop on the road that led from Arles to Santiago de Compostela, the...
’s Catholic Church (Kirche St. Aegidius), Weilerer Weg – Gothic Revival pseudobasilica, 1899-1902, architect Lambert von Fisenne, GelsenkirchenGelsenkirchenGelsenkirchen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the Ruhr area. Its population in 2006 was c. 267,000....
; Late Gothic west tower and quire, 15th century; outside: Crucifix, second fourth of the 15th century; Mount of Olives, about 1480; graveyard: 22 grave crosses, 16th to 18th century; border stone, eagle coat of arms, marked 1607; whole complex of buildings with graveyard and rectory - Am Bahnhof (no number) – railway station; chevron-shaped slate quarrystone building group, “hometown” style, 1937
- Bopparder Straße – Crucifixion group, 19th century
- Dammigstraße 16 – timber-frame house, partly solid, earlier half of the 19th century
- Rheinbabenallee 1 – Hotel “Anker im Burgfrieden”; plastered building with flat-roofed porch, about 1925; Crucifix, 18th century
- At Rheinbabenallee 15 – coat of arms, marked 1743
- Rheinblick 4 – villa, hipped mansard roof, 1920s/1930s
- Rheinuferstraße 2/2a – timber-frame house, partly solid, mansard roof, staircase, marked 1647
- At Salzbornstraße 14 – bathhouse; three-part building complex, Baroque Revival plastered building, 1907
- St.-Ägidius-Straße 6 – Catholic rectory; plastered building, partly timber-frame, Swiss chalet style, 1905
- Sterrenberger Straße – wooden wayside cross, marked 1738 and 1813, bronzeBronzeBronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
Body of ChristBody of ChristIn Christian theology, the term Body of Christ has two separate connotations: it may refer to Jesus's statement about the Eucharist at the Last Supper that "This is my body" in , or the explicit usage of the term by the Apostle Paul in to refer to the Christian Church.Although in general usage the...
renovated in 1930
Buchenau
- Graveyard – graveyard building, 1875; cast-iron graveyard cross, latter half of the 19th century; cross, 1724; J. B. Berger tomb, about 1888, Gothic Revival, C. Berger tomb, about 1888
- Bridge on Landesstraße 210 – 1824, renovated
- JewishJudaismJudaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
graveyard on Landesstraße 210 (monumental zone) – opened in early 17th century (?), 130 gravestones, mainly from the late 19th century and the first third of the 20th century, oldest from 1605
Buchholz
- Auf den Gärten 17 – Quereinhaus (a combination residential and commercial house divided for these two purposes down the middle, perpendicularly to the street), timber framing plastered, earlier half of the 19th century
- Heidestraße 27 – former schoolSchoolA school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
; slate quarrystone building, about 1840 - Heidestraße 29 – former Saint Sebastian’s Catholic Church (Kirche St. Sebastian); Romanesque Revival brick aisleless church, 1892-1896
Herschwiesen
- Saint Pancras’s Catholic Parish Church (Pfarrkirche St. Pankratius), Pankratiusring – aisleless church, 1744-1746, master builder Johann Neurohr, Tyrol, two sculptures, about 1750, sculptor Joseph Kindtgen, Ehrenbreitstein
- Im Schiessgraben 1 – timber-frame house, half-hipped roof, oven addition, 18th century
- Pankratiusring 6 – former rectory; timber-frame house, partly solid, essentially possibly from the early 17th century, conversion marked 1715, expansion 1930; timber-frame barn, 18th century
- Pankratiusring 21 – timber-frame house, marked 1700
- Wayside cross, on Kreisstraße (District Road) 119 going towards Buchholz – marked 1798
- Wayside cross, on Kreisstraße 119 going towards Windhausen – marked 1748
- Wayside cross, on Kreisstraße 119 going towards Windhausen – marked 1819
Windhausen
- Schönecker Straße – Wallfahrtskapelle Zur Schwarzen Muttergottes (“Pilgrimage Chapel to the Black Madonna”); aisleless church, about 1770/1780
- Schönecker Straße 9 – timber-frame house, half-hipped roof, first third of the 18th century
- Burg Schöneck (castle), south of the village, on the Kreisstraße 120 extension – mentioned in 1222, Imperial ministerialis Philipp von Schöneck’s fief, after the Etzer Feud (1331-1336) partly held by the Electorate of Trier, after 1354 wholly held by the Electorate of Trier, destroyed in 1618; terrace-shaped complex on a mountain ridge: only preserved parts are the girding wall with round open-backed towers and the outer bailey as well as two gateway arches on the way in; in the outer bailey former forester’s dwelling from 1805; main castle expanded in 1846 and the early 20th century
Hirzenach
- Saint Bartholomew’s Catholic Church (Kirche St. Bartholomäus), Kirchstraße – former Benedictine provostry church, Romanesque columned basilica, possibly begun soon after 1110, nave, crossingCrossing (architecture)A crossing, in ecclesiastical architecture, is the junction of the four arms of a cruciform church.In a typically oriented church , the crossing gives access to the nave on the west, the transept arms on the north and south, and the choir on the east.The crossing is sometimes surmounted by a tower...
, bayBay (architecture)A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
before the quire, apseApseIn architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
and tower’s lower floor from the first fourth of the 12th century; west façade and tower’s upper floors from the early 13th century (about 1220/1230); Early Gothic quire; main portal and paradise about 1250; churchyard with grave crosses; whole complex of buildings with provostry - Kirchstraße 6 – so-called Villa Brosius, former Saint Bartholomew’s Parish Church; aisleless church, expansion in the 19th century
- Propsteistraße – former provostry garden; rectangle with paths laid out at right angles and with BoxBuxus sempervirensBuxus sempervirens is a flowering plant in the genus Buxus, native to western and southern Europe, northwest Africa, and southwest Asia, from southern England south to northern Morocco, and east through the northern Mediterranean region to Turkey. Buxus colchica of western Caucasus and B...
hedges, in the centre a small fountain; earlier half of the 18th century - Propsteistraße 2 – former Benedictine provostry; stately Baroque building with hipped mansard roof, marked 1716; remnant of a fountain complex, marked 1569; whole complex of buildings with church and garden
- At Propsteistraße 3 – coat of arms
- At Propsteistraße 4 – coat of arms, marked 1664
Holzfeld
- Evangelical church, Röhrenbornstraße 1 – aisleless church, 1769, mediaeval tower; whole complex of buildings with graveyard
- Jewish graveyard “Untern Budbach”, Kellerchen district, in the forest (monumental zone) – opened in the mid 19th century, 15 gravestones from 1847 to 1924
Oppenhausen
- Wayside chapel, on the road to Herschwiesen, corner of Kreisstraße 120/Kreisstraße 119 – slate quarrystone aisleless church, marked 1850
Rheinbay
- Saint Sebastian’s Catholic Church (branch church; Kirche St. Sebastian), Hauptstraße/corner of St.-Sebastian-Straße – slate quarrystone aisleless church, 1897-1899
- Villa Ludwigsruh, southwest of the village – Late Historicist villa, about 1900
Weiler
- Saint PeterSaint PeterSaint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
in Chains Catholic Church (Kirche St. Peter in Ketten), Zur Peterskirche – quire, second fourth of the 13th century, aisleless church, latter half of the 13th century, roof frame from time of building; ridge turretRidge turretA ridge turret is a turret build on the peak of a roof....
18th century; whole complex of buildings with graveyard
Fleckertshöhe
- Rheingoldstraße – Saint AnneSaint AnneSaint Hanna of David's house and line, was the mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus Christ according to Christian and Islamic tradition. English Anne is derived from Greek rendering of her Hebrew name Hannah...
’s Catholic Chapel (Kapelle St. Anna); Gothic Revival plastered building, 1888
Further information on local buildings and sites
Over on the other side of the Rhine stand two castles, Burg LiebensteinBurg Liebenstein (Rhein)
The Burg Liebenstein is a castle above the village of Kamp-Bornhofen in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-Sources and external links:*...
and Burg Sterrenberg
Burg Sterrenberg (Rhein)
The Burg Sterrenberg is a castle above the village of Kamp-Bornhofen in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-Sources and external links:*...
, known as the Feindliche Brüder (“Adversarial Brothers”) after a German legend that arose in the 16th century, and the pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
centre of Kamp-Bornhofen
Kamp-Bornhofen
Kamp-Bornhofen is a municipality in the district of Rhein-Lahn, in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany.Sights in Kamp-Bornhofen include the well known castle Liebenstein.-External links:****...
with its mediaeval monastery.
What follows expands somewhat on the entries in the Directory of Cultural Monuments:
- Roman castrum wall – Near the marketplace is the Römerpark with ruins of the Roman castrum fortifications from the 4th century AD. In the course of renovation work in Boppard’s main townsite in 2009, parts of the western Roman wall were unearthed. Renovation work is still incomplete (as at December 2009)
- Mediaeval town wall – The Roman castrum walls were still used on into the Middle AgesMiddle AgesThe Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. In the 14th century, the town was expanded in the west (Niederstadt or “Lower Town”) and east (Oberstadt and “Upper Town”) and girded the new parts of town with walls with towers. The Säuerlingsturm was part of the western fortifications. Major parts of the walls were first removed when the railway was built. Even so, many parts of the mediaeval town wall still stand today. - Saint Severus’s Church – At the marketplace stands the Late Romanesque Saint Severus’s Church (1236), built on the foundations of a Roman military bath. During excavations under the church, remnants of a 6th-century early Christian church were found, with a keyhole-shaped pulpit facility (ambo) and a baptismal font. Comparable baths can be found in CologneCologneCologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and the south of FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. - Electoral castle (Alte Burg, or “Old Castle”) – Standing on the Rhine is the castle built by Baldwin of Trier. Today it houses Boppard’s municipal museum.
- Carmelite Church – The church itself dates from the 14th and 15th centuries and was formerly the monastery church at the now long vanished Carmelite monastery, founded in 1265. The décor is opulent with monumental tombs, choir stalls and memorial plaques.
- Marienberg Convent – The convent was founded as early as 1120. After a fire, it was built again from the ground up (1738). At this time, it finds itself in a very poor state.
- Former synagogue – This was built in 1867 and was destroyed by Nazi vandals on KristallnachtKristallnachtKristallnacht, also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, and also Reichskristallnacht, Pogromnacht, and Novemberpogrome, was a pogrom or series of attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9–10 November 1938.Jewish homes were ransacked, as were shops, towns and...
(9-10 November 1938). - Noble estates – In the Middle Ages, many noble families lived in town. Some of their houses have remained preserved: Ritter-Schwalbach-Haus (15th century), Eltzer Hof (1566 and 1738), Templerhaus (essentially from the 13th century) and remnants of the Boos von Waldeck estate.
- Burg Schöneck – The castle stands on the Ehrbachklamm, part of a local river otherwise called simply the Ehrbach. This is near the outlying centre of Windhausen. It was built in 1200 under Imperial ministerialis Konrad von Boppard.
- On the Fleckertshöhe (heights) stands the Sender Boppard-Fleckertshöhe, an FMFM broadcastingFM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
and microwaveMicrowave transmissionMicrowave transmission refers to the technology of transmitting information or power by the use of radio waves whose wavelengths are conveniently measured in small numbers of centimeters; these are called microwaves. This part of the radio spectrum ranges across frequencies of roughly...
radio transmitter. The main antenna-bearing tower in this complex is of a unique construction. It was built as a 121 m-tall hybrid tower with a steel-framework support structure. - Hunsrückbahn – This railway line from Boppard to EmmelshausenEmmelshausenEmmelshausen is a town in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde, to which it also belongs...
is among Germany’s steepest. Among German railway lines still in operation, only the RübelandbahnRübeland RailwayThe Rübeland Railway is a railway link from Blankenburg via Rübeland and Königshütte to Tanne in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It was built by the Halberstadt-Blankenburg Railway between 1880 and 1886. The route length is 30.6 kilometres, the height difference over 300 metres...
(Saxony-AnhaltSaxony-AnhaltSaxony-Anhalt is a landlocked state of Germany. Its capital is Magdeburg and it is surrounded by the German states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony, and Thuringia.Saxony-Anhalt covers an area of...
) and the Rennsteigbahn (ThuringiaThuringiaThe Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
) are steeper. The Hunsrückbahn is said to be one of Rhineland-Palatinate’s most scenic railway lines. The train runs on this line across two viaducts and on the stretch between Boppard and Buchholz through five tunnels. It has stood under monumental protection since 1987.
Natural monuments
The Vierseenblick mentioned above offers a rather obscured view of the Rhine. However, another lookout point nearby affords an outstanding view of the great bow in the Rhine at Boppard. This is the Gedeonseck. In 2006 in this same area, the Mittelrhein-Klettersteig, a via ferrataVia ferrata
A via ferrata or klettersteig is a mountain route which is equipped with fixed cables, stemples, ladders, and bridges. The use of these allows otherwise isolated routes to be joined to create longer routes which are accessible to people with a wide range of climbing abilities...
, was opened. A complete circuit involves eleven different climbs.
Dialect
People in Boppard speak a dialect known as Bubberder Platt, Bubberder being the dialectal form of Bopparder. Platt is a word used to designate a dialect; it does not refer here to Plattdeutsch (that is, Low GermanLow German
Low German or Low Saxon is an Ingvaeonic West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands...
), for Bubberder Platt actually belongs to the Moselle Franconian dialects, and is closely akin to Luxembourgish
Luxembourgish language
Luxembourgish is a High German language spoken mainly in Luxembourg. About 320,000 people worldwide speak Luxembourgish.-Language family:...
. A certain degree of kinship with Rhenish and Hessian speech can also be heard. Furthermore, Bubberder Platt also features sporadic Yiddish influences, for until the time of the Third Reich
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, Boppard had a considerable Jewish community. Outlying Ortsbezirke, too, have their own local Moselle Franconian forms of speech. South of Boppard runs the “Boppard Line”, a linguistic boundary that marks the separation of speech populations who say Korf (to the north) or Korb (to the south).
Regular events
- Närrischer Abendumzug – a “parade of fools” staged by KG Schwarz-Gold Baudobriga 1955 e. V., a local CarnivalCarnivalCarnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...
club, at 18:11 on QuinquagesimaQuinquagesimaQuinquagesima is the name used in the Western Church for the Sunday before Ash Wednesday. It was also called Quinquagesima Sunday, Quinquagesimae, Estomihi, or Shrove Sunday...
(the Sunday before Ash WednesdayAsh WednesdayAsh Wednesday, in the calendar of Western Christianity, is the first day of Lent and occurs 46 days before Easter. It is a moveable fast, falling on a different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter...
); the parade proceeds through the inner town. - Mittelrheinischer Weinfrühling (“Middle-Rhenish Wine Spring”) – a wine festival held along the vineyard paths in the Bopparder Hamm on the last Sunday in April.
- Bopparder Mai – a whole series of events and small festivals in mid May.
- Bälzer Kermes – a kermis held at WhitsunWhitsunWhitsun is the name used in the UK for the Christian festival of Pentecost, the seventh Sunday after Easter, which commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Christ's disciples...
. - Mittelrhein-Marathon – a marathonMarathonThe marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres , that is usually run as a road race...
run from OberweselOberweselOberwesel is a town on the Middle Rhine in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Sankt Goar-Oberwesel, whose seat is in the town.-Location:...
to KoblenzKoblenzKoblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...
in June. - Rheinuferfest (“Rhine Bank Festival”) – held on the third weekend in July.
- Niedersburger Kirmes – a kermis held by the neighbourhoods of Upper and Lower Niedersburger Neighbourhoods
- Rhein in FlammenRhein in FlammenRhein in Flammen is the name of five different firework displays along the river Rhine in Germany. The displays take place annually, at various locations along the river. On the five different dates, brightly illuminated ships sail the river in an evening convoy for their passengers to see the...
(“Rhine in Flames”) – The Bopparder Hamm is the starting point for the convoy of over 80 ships that take visitors to the site of each fireworksFireworksFireworks are a class of explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display. A fireworks event is a display of the effects produced by firework devices...
display on the second Saturday in August. - Weinkost (“Wine Sampling”) – a small wine festival held in the castle’s inner ward on one weekend in August.
- Quetsche-Kirmes in Bad Salzig – held in early September.
- Zwiwwelsmat (dialectal for Zwiebelmarkt, or “Onion Market”) – held on the second Wednesday and Thursday in September.
- Weinfest (“Wine Festival”) – held on the last weekend in September and first weekend in October.
- Sommerfest (“Summer Festival”) – staged by the volunteer fire brigade on the first weekend in September.
Economy
Boppard is characterized by winegrowing, which had its first documentary mention in 643. With 75 ha of planted vineyards, Boppard is the biggest winegrowing centre in the Middle Rhine wine regionMittelrhein (wine region)
Mittelrhein is a region for quality wine in Germany, and is located along a 120 km stretch of river Rhine in the touristic portions of the Rhine region known as Middle Rhine. On the left bank of Rhine, vineyards begin immediately downstream of the Nahe River estuary and last until Koblenz...
. Grown here are Riesling
Riesling
Riesling is a white grape variety which originated in the Rhine region of Germany. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet and sparkling white wines. Riesling wines are usually varietally...
, Müller-Thurgau
Müller-Thurgau
Müller-Thurgau is a variety of white grape which was created by Hermann Müller from the Swiss Canton of Thurgau in 1882. It is a crossing of Riesling with Madeleine Royale. It is used to make white wine in Germany, Austria, Northern Italy, Hungary, England, in Australia, Czech Republic, Slovakia,...
and Pinot noir
Pinot Noir
Pinot noir is a black wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes...
. Together with Boppard’s various other attractions (see above), winegrowing stands as the basis for the town’s tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
industry.
Established businesses
Outside the historic town centre lie many commercial concerns, such as the Boppard-headquartered manufacturer BOMAGBOMAG
BOMAG is a German company is global market leader in compaction technology and manufactures soil, asphalt and refuse compaction equipment, as well as stabilizers and recyclers...
, with some 1,200 employees, the cosmetics
Cosmetics
Cosmetics are substances used to enhance the appearance or odor of the human body. Cosmetics include skin-care creams, lotions, powders, perfumes, lipsticks, fingernail and toe nail polish, eye and facial makeup, towelettes, permanent waves, colored contact lenses, hair colors, hair sprays and...
enterprise Sebapharma GmbH & Co. KG
Sebamed
Sebamed is a German brand name of Sebapharma GmbH & Co. KG, which manufactures medicinal skin care products.-History:Sebamed was established by Heinz Maurer in 1957. Since 1971 the Sebamed products are exported to 70 countries...
and a software business.
Boppard is known for its very good Rhine wine, attracting tourists with many lodging and dining businesses. From Boppard, excursion ships sail on the Rhine to the Loreley and to Rüdesheim along the loveliest stretch of the whole Rhine Valley with its many castles.
Transport
Boppard is on the West Rhine Railway (linke Rheinstrecke in German) between CologneCologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
and Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
, and on the Hunsrückbahn (Boppard–Emmelshausen
Emmelshausen
Emmelshausen is a town in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde, to which it also belongs...
) as well. The town of Boppard has its main railway station, Boppard Hauptbahnhof
Boppard Hauptbahnhof
is the central railway station in the German town of Boppard on the Left Rhine railway.-Operational usage:...
as well as five halts, Boppard Süd, Boppard-Buchholz, Boppard-Hirzenach, Boppard-Bad Salzig and Boppard-Fleckertshöhe. At the Hauptbahnhof (“Main Station”), two InterCity
InterCity
InterCity is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe...
trains each day, to and from Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, stop. Further services are run by DB Regio
DB Regio
DB Regio AG is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn which operates short and medium distance passenger train services in Germany, and operates light and heavy rail infrastructure in the United Kingdom.-Germany:...
in the form of two-hourly Regional-Express trains on the Koblenz
Koblenz
Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...
–Bingen
Bingen am Rhein
Bingen am Rhein is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.The settlement’s original name was Bingium, a Celtic word that may have meant “hole in the rock”, a description of the shoal behind the Mäuseturm, known as the Binger Loch. Bingen was the starting point for the...
–Mainz–Frankfurt route. Local transport has been run since December 2008 by TransRegio; this involves hourly trains between Koblenz and Mainz. Passenger transport on the Hunsrückbahn has since December 2009 been run by Rhenus Veniro.
Running through Boppard is the important long-distance highway, Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
9. In the outlying centre of Buchholz, furthermore, is an Autobahn interchange
Interchange (road)
In the field of road transport, an interchange is a road junction that typically uses grade separation, and one or more ramps, to permit traffic on at least one highway to pass through the junction without directly crossing any other traffic stream. It differs from a standard intersection, at which...
onto the A 61
Bundesautobahn 61
is an autobahn in Germany that connects the border to the Netherlands near Venlo in the northwest to the interchange with A 6 near Hockenheim. In 1965, this required a re-design of the Hockenheimring....
, which can be reached by heavy vehicles and those hauling hazardous goods over Landesstraße (State Road) 210 (Simmerner Straße) and by vehicles up to 10.5 t and long-distance buses over Landesstraße 209 (Buchholzer Straße) from the main centre. The Hunsrückhöhenstraße (“Hunsrück Heights Road”, a scenic road across the Hunsrück built originally as a military road on Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
’s orders) also runs through Buchholz.
Public institutions
Education
Boppard has three primary schools located in the three biggest Ortsbezirke. SecondarySecondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
and tertiary schools are all in the main centre of Boppard. These are the Fritz-Straßmann-Schule (Realschule plus), the Bischöfliche Realschule
Realschule
The Realschule is a type of secondary school in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia , Denmark , Sweden , Hungary and in the Russian Empire .-History:The Realschule was an outgrowth of the rationalism and empiricism of the seventeenth and...
Marienberg, the Kant-Gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
Boppard, the berufsbildende Schule (“professional training school”) and the Janusz-Korczak-Erzieherschule.
Other educational institutions in Boppard are the Bundesakademie für öffentliche Verwaltung (“Federal Academy for Public Administration”), the Institut für Schulische Fortbildung und Schulpsychologische Beratung (“Institute for Advanced Scholastic Training and Educational-Psychological Counselling”) and the medical college.
Hospital
The Hospital zum Heiligen Geist (“Hospital to the Holy Ghost”) is Boppard’s oldest social institution. It has two roots, which stretch back to the Middle Ages. One goes back to a donation made by knightly and noble families in Boppard in the mid 13th century, and the other goes back to 1349 when the Boppard Schöffen (roughly “lay jurists”) families founded the church brotherhood, or Schöffen brotherhood with the Kleines Hospital (“Little Hospital”). After the French RevolutionFrench Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, both institutions were merged. In 1855, the Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo
Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo
The Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo are a number of female Catholic religious congregations sharing one rule and tradition.-History:They were originally a Roman Catholic pious association of ladies formed in 1626 for the care of the sick in the hospital of St...
were called to work at the hospital.
In 1956 and 1957, the hospital foundation acquired some buildings right near the hospital that were on the Rhine and on Niederstadtstraße, and in the years that followed, until 1962, the hospital was thoroughly renovated and also expanded. The expansion claimed the Hospitalsgasse (“Hospital Lane”) as a victim; this no longer exists. The gynaecology
Gynaecology
Gynaecology or gynecology is the medical practice dealing with the health of the female reproductive system . Literally, outside medicine, it means "the science of women"...
department was housed in the new building on the Rhine and new operating rooms were built on the main floor at the old building. Moreover, the hospital acquired new two- and three-bed rooms. A further expansion building was begun in 1975 and dedicated two years later. Since then, it has been used as a nursing home for seniors.
In January 1999, the focus on psychosomatic medicine was instituted. Four years later in 2003, the Boppard hospital joined together with the Gesundheitszentrum Evangelisches Stift St. Martin Koblenz (“health centre”) and the Diakoniezentrum Paulinenstift Nastätten
Nastätten
Nastätten is a municipality in the Rhein-Lahn-Kreis, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Taunus, approx. 25 km southeast of Koblenz, and 35 km northwest of Wiesbaden....
and founded the Verbundklinikum Stiftungsklinikum Mittelrhein, another hospital in Koblenz.
Today, the Hospital zum Heiligen Geist has at its disposal 152 beds. In 2009, work began, funded by the hospital foundation, on a seniors’ home at the Villa Belgrano.
Stadthalle
In November 2008, a new Stadthalle – literally “town hall”, but actually an event venue – was opened in Boppard, right on the marketplace. This new hall offers considerably more room than what was available at the old Hotel Römer, which had had to be torn down owing to fears that it would collapse. The hall is used for both conventions and municipal gatherings on the one hand, and theatrical productions, concerts and comedian acts on the other, and it is also here that CarnivalCarnival
Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...
sessions are staged by KG Bälzer Knorrköpp and KG Schwarz-Gold Baudobriga.
Swimming pool
In Boppard-Buchenau were once found municipal indoor and outdoor swimming pools. The outdoor pool was completed in 1962 and the indoor in 1973. Owing to acute demand for renovation, the outdoor pool ceased to be opened in 2009. For the same reason, the same was done with the indoor pool the following year. With the investor monte mare, the town of Boppard has negotiated a plan to build a new swimming poolSwimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
. The new complex, if built, is to be called Römer-Therme Monte Mare and is to be fed with hot mineral water
Hot spring
A hot spring is a spring that is produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater from the Earth's crust. There are geothermal hot springs in many locations all over the crust of the earth.-Definitions:...
, which has already been successfully tapped. The town council, however, postponed the date for the onset of construction indefinitely in early December 2009.
Museum
The museumMuseum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
is housed in the old Electoral castle. On permanent display there are exhibits about the town’s history, Michael Thonet
Michael Thonet
Michael Thonet was a German-Austrian cabinet maker.Thonet was the son of master tanner Franz Anton Thonet of Boppard. Following a carpenter's apprenticeship, Thonet set himself up as an independent cabinetmaker in 1819. A year later, he married Anna Grahs, with whom he had seven sons and six...
and his bentwood
Bentwood
Bentwood is a term used to describe furniture made by steaming wood, bending it, and letting it harden into curved shapes and patterns, and is most often used in the production of rocking chairs, cafe chairs, and other light furniture. The iconic No...
furniture
Furniture
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...
, the composer Engelbert Humperdinck
Engelbert Humperdinck
Engelbert Humperdinck was a German composer, best known for his opera, Hänsel und Gretel. Humperdinck was born at Siegburg in the Rhine Province; at the age of 67 he died in Neustrelitz, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.-Life:After receiving piano lessons, Humperdinck produced his first composition...
and other people somehow linked with the town. In November 2009, the museum was closed for four years for a thorough €9,000,000 renovation. This work on the castle building will be financed mainly by the Federal world heritage programme.
Sons and daughters of the town
- Nikolaus Lauxen (1722-1791), Late BaroqueBaroque architectureBaroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
architect. - Ernst Heinrich Wilhelm Fier (1792-1884), Member of the Reichstag (Centre PartyCentre Party (Germany)The German Centre Party was a Catholic political party in Germany during the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic. Formed in 1870, it battled the Kulturkampf which the Prussian government launched to reduce the power of the Catholic Church...
) - Michael ThonetMichael ThonetMichael Thonet was a German-Austrian cabinet maker.Thonet was the son of master tanner Franz Anton Thonet of Boppard. Following a carpenter's apprenticeship, Thonet set himself up as an independent cabinetmaker in 1819. A year later, he married Anna Grahs, with whom he had seven sons and six...
(1796-1871), master cabinetmakerCabinet makingCabinet making is the practice of using various woodworking skills to create cabinets, shelving and furniture.Cabinet making involves techniques such as creating appropriate joints, dados, bevels, chamfers and shelving systems, the use of finishing tools such as routers to create decorative...
, industrialist, held worldwide to be a pioneer in furniture design. - Franz Peter KnoodtFranz Peter KnoodtFranz Peter Knoodt was a German Catholic theologian who was a native of Boppard.He studied theology in Bonn und Tübingen, and later worked as a chaplain and teacher in Trier. In 1841-43 he furthered his studies in Vienna, where he was a student of Anton Günther...
(1811-1889), philosopher and theologian, Old CatholicOld Catholic ChurchThe term Old Catholic Church is commonly used to describe a number of Ultrajectine Christian churches that originated with groups that split from the Roman Catholic Church over certain doctrines, most importantly that of Papal Infallibility...
vicar-general. - Franz BrentanoFranz BrentanoFranz Clemens Honoratus Hermann Brentano was an influential German philosopher and psychologist whose influence was felt by other such luminaries as Sigmund Freud, Edmund Husserl, Kazimierz Twardowski and Alexius Meinong, who followed and adapted his views.-Life:Brentano was born at Marienberg am...
(1838-1917), philosopher, psychologist and founder of act psychology. - Heinrich von SieboldHeinrich von SieboldHeinrich Jonkheer von Siebold was a German anthropologist and translator in the service of the Austrian Embassy in Tokyo.-Life:...
(1852-1908), Philipp Franz von SieboldPhilipp Franz von SieboldPhilipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold was a German physician and traveller. He was the first European to teach Western medicine in Japan...
’s younger son, called himself “Henry von Siebold”, worked first at the Austro-HungarianAustria-HungaryAustria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
embassy in TokyoTokyo, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, later for the JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese government. Collected, like his brother Alexander von SieboldAlexander von SieboldAlexander George Gustav von Siebold was a German translator and interpreter active in Japan during the Bakumatsu period and early Meiji period...
Japanese cultural goods and in 1896 republished together with him Nippon. Archiv von Japan, his father’s work on the occasion of his 100th birthday. - Franz BüchnerFranz BuchnerFranz Büchner was one of the most successful German fighter aces of the First World War, shooting down 40 enemy aircraft.-Early career:...
(1895-1991), prominent pathologistPathologyPathology is the precise study and diagnosis of disease. The word pathology is from Ancient Greek , pathos, "feeling, suffering"; and , -logia, "the study of". Pathologization, to pathologize, refers to the process of defining a condition or behavior as pathological, e.g. pathological gambling....
. - Joachim Caesar (1901-1974), agricultural scientistAgricultural scienceAgricultural science is a broad multidisciplinary field that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. -Agriculture and agricultural science:The two terms are often confused...
, politician (NSDAP), leader of the agricultural works at Auschwitz concentration campAuschwitz concentration campConcentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
. - Fritz Straßmann (1902-1980), chemist and codiscoverer of nuclear fissionNuclear fissionIn nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, nuclear fission is a nuclear reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts , often producing free neutrons and photons , and releasing a tremendous amount of energy...
. - Maria TerwielMaria TerwielMaria Terwiel was a German resistance fighter in the Third Reich. She belonged to the Red Orchestra resistance group.- Life :...
(1910-1943, executed), German resistanceGerman ResistanceThe German resistance was the opposition by individuals and groups in Germany to Adolf Hitler or the National Socialist regime between 1933 and 1945. Some of these engaged in active plans to remove Adolf Hitler from power and overthrow his regime...
fighter in the Third ReichNazi GermanyNazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
; she belonged to the group known as the Rote Kapelle. - Heinz Maurer (1921- ), entrepreneur, inventor of Sebamed.
- Gunter Berger (1943- ), actor.
- Wolfgang Gipp (1944- ), politician.
- Martin Kämpchen (1948- ), author, translator and journalist.
- Norbert Neuser (1949- ), politician.
- Aloys Rump (1949- ), visual artistVisual artsThe visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...
. - Hermann-Josef LambertiHermann-Josef LambertiHermann-Josef Lamberti is a German banker and current Chief Operating Officer of Deutsche Bank.Lamberti holds a Diplom degree in business administration from the University of Cologne. He worked with Deloitte & Touche and IBM before joining Deutsche Bank in 1999. Since 2002 he holds the position...
(1956- ), financial manager. - Dieter-Georg Hartenfels (1973- ), dartDartsDarts is a form of throwing game where darts are thrown at a circular target fixed to a wall. Though various boards and games have been used in the past, the term "darts" usually now refers to a standardised game involving a specific board design and set of rules...
player (1991 German and European champion). - Daniel ToshDaniel ToshDaniel Dwight Tosh is an American stand-up comedian and host of the Comedy Central television show, Tosh.0.-Personal life:...
(1975- ), AmericanUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comedian and television presenter. - Michael Falkenmayer (1982- ), footballer.
Famous people associated with the town
- Ottokar I of BohemiaOttokar I of Bohemia-External links:...
(1155-1230), King of BohemiaBohemiaBohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
from the Přemyslid dynastyPremyslid dynastyThe Přemyslids , were a Czech royal dynasty which reigned in Bohemia and Moravia , and partly also in Hungary, Silesia, Austria and Poland.-Legendary rulers:...
, he was crowned in 1198 in Boppard. - Philipp Franz von SieboldPhilipp Franz von SieboldPhilipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold was a German physician and traveller. He was the first European to teach Western medicine in Japan...
(1796-1866), physician and Japan researcher, lived for some years at Saint Martin’s Convent and worked here on his great work Nippon. Archiv von Japan. - Luise HenselLuise HenselLuise Hensel was a German religious author and poet.- Life :Luise Hensel, the sister of Wilhelm Hensel and the sister-in-law of the composer of Fanny Mendelssohn was born on March 30, 1798 in the small town of Linum in the German Federal State of Brandenburg. After the death of her father in 1809,...
(1798-1876), teacher at the Marienberg Foundation. - Engelbert HumperdinckEngelbert HumperdinckEngelbert Humperdinck was a German composer, best known for his opera, Hänsel und Gretel. Humperdinck was born at Siegburg in the Rhine Province; at the age of 67 he died in Neustrelitz, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.-Life:After receiving piano lessons, Humperdinck produced his first composition...
(1854-1921), composer (fairytale opera Hänsel und Gretel), lived and worked for some years in Boppard; for this reason, Boppard citizens have erected a monument to him. - Helene Pagés (1863-1944); 1885-1913 teacher in Boppard, writer and publisher.
- Boris SkossyreffBoris SkossyreffBoris Skossyreff was an adventurer who attempted to seize power in the European state of Andorra during the early 1930s...
(1896-1989); RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n nobleman and diplomat and as Boris I, for a short while King of AndorraAndorraAndorra , officially the Principality of Andorra , also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra, , is a small landlocked country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe having an area of...
, lived from 1956 until his death in Boppard. - Martin EbbertzMartin EbbertzMartin Ebbertz is a German writer of children's books.He grew up in Pruem , and studied Germanistik, Philosophy, and History in Freiburg, Munster and Frankfurt. He lived and worked as a free-lance writer first in Frankfurt/Main, then five years in Thessaloniki, Greece...
(1962- ), writer and screenwriterScreenwriterScreenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, lives in Boppard.
Further reading
- Heinz E. Mißling: Boppard. Geschichte einer Stadt am Mittelrhein, 3 Bände; Boppard 1997.
Documents
- Bild des St.-Martinsklosters bei Boppard aus J. F. Dielmann, A. Fay, J. Becker (Zeichner): F. C. Vogels Panorama des Rheins, Bilder des rechten und linken Rheinufers, Lithographische Anstalt F. C. Vogel, Frankfurt 1833
- Bild von Boppard, dito
- Bild 2 von Boppard, dito
- Bild 3 von Boppard, dito
- Bild 4 von Boppard, dito
- Bild 5 von Boppard, dito
- Bild 6 von Boppard, dito
- Bild 7 von Boppard, dito
- Bild 8 von Boppard, dito
External links
- Town’s official webpage
- Illustration of the town in 1588 in Civitates orbis terrarum by Georg BraunGeorg BraunGeorg Braun was a topo-geographer. From 1572 to 1617 he edited the Civitates orbis terrarum, which contains 546 prospects, bird's-eye views, and maps of cities from all around the world....