Hohenpeißenberg
Encyclopedia
Hohenpeißenberg is a municipality
Municipalities of Germany
Municipalities are the lowest level of territorial division in Germany. This may be the fourth level of territorial division in Germany, apart from those states which include Regierungsbezirke , where municipalities then become the fifth level.-Overview:With more than 3,400,000 inhabitants, the...

 in the Weilheim-Schongau
Weilheim-Schongau
Weilheim-Schongau is a Kreis in the south of Bavaria, Germany. Neighboring districts are Landsberg, Starnberg, Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Ostallgäu.-Geography:...

 district, in Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

, 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...

. Hohenpeißenberg is situated in the Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

n Oberland, in the alpine
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....

 uplan.

It exists only as a local subdistrict.

Geography

The highest point is the peak of the 988 meter high Hoher Peißenberg
Hoher Peißenberg
Hoher Peißenberg is a mountain of Bavaria, Germany....

 (high Peißenberg).

Because of the breathtaking panoramic view from it, it also called the Bavarian Mount Parnassus
Mount Parnassus
Mount Parnassus, also Parnassos , is a mountain of limestone in central Greece that towers above Delphi, north of the Gulf of Corinth, and offers scenic views of the surrounding olive groves and countryside. According to Greek mythology, this mountain was sacred to Apollo and the Corycian nymphs,...

 or the Bavarian Mount Rigi
Rigi
- Mt. Rigi in Art:Mt. Rigi has been featured in many works of art, including both paintings and literary publications. Perhaps the most famous paintings of the Rigi were by JMW Turner, including "The Blue Rigi, Lake of Lucerne, Sunrise"...

. It is regarded as the most beautiful panoramic mountain of Bavaria and it is also a favourite destination for excursions.

Formerly it was referred to as the Mount Doctus, due to the scholarliness of the meteorological research taking place at its peak.

The largest part of the areas population is found on the south side of the mountain, a smaller part on the west side (districts of Hetten and Buchschorn); a yet smaller part of the population is found on the north and the east side.

The region is situated on the left bank of the Ammer
Amper
The Amper is a river located in southern Bavaria, Germany and is the largest tributary to the Isar river. The Amper flows into the Isar in Moosburg, 185 km from the headwater of the river and at a speed of 45 m³/s. It runs out of the Ammersee and its upper course, upstream from the...

. The Ammer flows south of the local center in a small ravine called the "Schnalz".

Local History

In 1514 a chapel was built on the Hohen Peißenberg. A carved image of the Mother of God was brought there from the castle chapel in Schongau
Schongau, Bavaria
Schongau is a small town in Bavaria, near the Alps. It is located along the Lech, between Landsberg am Lech and Füssen. It has about 12,000 inhabitants...

. The figure soon became renowned as being a figure of mercy and pilgrimage to it began. Because of this, a second church, the Pilgrims church, was added to the chapel. Thus the two churches we know today came to be.

The chapel lies west of the church tower, the pilgrims church lies east. The ensemble lends the peak its unique silhouette.
In the year 1525, during the farmers uprising
German Peasants' War
The German Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt was a widespread popular revolt in the German-speaking areas of Central Europe, 1524–1526. At its height in the spring and summer of 1525, the conflict involved an estimated 300,000 peasants: contemporary estimates put the dead at 100,000...

, the Hohen Peißenberg was the site where the farmers laid down a vow of fidelity for their duke and their belief. Thousands from the population gathered on the mountain, thus preventing further harm. During the preceding uprising of the part of the subjects of the Swabia
Swabia
Swabia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.-Geography:Like many cultural regions of Europe, Swabia's borders are not clearly defined...

n Oberland, hordes had combed the land, plundering and burning gentry- and cloister good. The rebelling farmers had gathered at Nesselwang
Nesselwang
Nesselwang is a municipality in the district of Ostallgäu in Bavaria in Germany. It is an oft photographed market town and tourist resort at the foot of the Alps in Allgäu...

 in order to enter the bavarian territory via the town of Füssen
Füssen
Füssen is a town in Bavaria, Germany, in the district of Ostallgäu situated from the Austrian border. It is located on the banks of the Lech river. The River Lech flows into the Forggensee...

. Approximations of their number lie between 2,500 and 20,000 men. Upon reaching the area, we now know as Hohenpeißenberg, the locals vowed fidelity to the duke. Thus the uprising came to an end. A bronze placard on the outer southern wall of the pilgrimage church, which is part of a soldiers commemoration tablet, reminds us of this vow of fidelity.

From 1604 until the secularization
Secularization
Secularization is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions...

 in 1803, the augustinian canons regulars
Canons Regular
Canons Regular are members of certain bodies of Canons living in community under the Augustinian Rule , and sharing their property in common...

 in charge of the cloister Rottenbuch
Rottenbuch Abbey
Rottenbuch Abbey was founded as an Augustinian monastery in 1073 on land granted by Duke Welf I of Bavaria. The Abbey church was constructed between 1085 and 1125 in the Romanesque style. The design of a crossing transept and free-standing tower is unusual for a Bavarian church. Rottenbuch was a...

 also supervised the pilgrimage to the Hohen Peißenberg. The large ceiling fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...

 by Matthäus Günther
Matthäus Günther
Matthäus Günther was an important German painter and artist of the Baroque and Rococo era....

 inside the chapel of Mercy also depicts the committal of the pilgrimage site to the cloister Rottenbuch.

It was the Augustinian monks who also carried out the first meteorological observations on the site and these have been carried out continuously since 1781, making Hohenpeißenberg the oldest meteorological station in the world. Following the secularization, it was initially the priests and the school teachers who carried on recording and observing meteorological conditions; after World War II the German Meteorological Service took over this duty.

Traditionally, the monks also ran a school on the mountain. The Volksschule was founded by the Augustinian regular Primus Koch (1752-1812) an in April 1802 it first opened its doors to students.

In lieu of the bavarian administrative reform, the community edict gave rise to the local centres as we now know them. Formerly, the district belonged to Peiting
Peiting
Peiting is a municipality in the Weilheim-Schongau district, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Lech, 3 km southeast of Schongau, and 17 km west of Weilheim in Oberbayern.- References :...

. Hohenpeißenberg belonged to the reformation of Munich and to the district of Schongau which in turn is part of the electorate of Bavaria.

The first building section of the former school was built after the monks time there from 1882 until 1883.

Mining

The discovery of pitch coal as the 1600s gave rise to mining activity in the area, mostly on a small scale. State-owned mining began on the 8th of May 1837 with the inset of the so called Hauptstollen (main adit
Adit
An adit is an entrance to an underground mine which is horizontal or nearly horizontal, by which the mine can be entered, drained of water, and ventilated.-Construction:...

) in the area of Brandach, whereby the initial sinking of the Unterbauschacht (Unterbau shaft
Shaft mining
Shaft mining or shaft sinking refers to the method of excavating a vertical or near-vertical tunnel from the top down, where there is initially no access to the bottom....

) took place from the first of July 1889 onwards. A 3.6-kilometer-long cable car, operating from 1898 to 1928, transported coal from the coal washing plant to the Tiefstollen (deep adit) in Peißenberg.

Old adits exist in the region, the Hauptstollen is open to guided tours several times a year. The air shaft at the Hohenpeißenberg train station was sunk from 1937 to 1939. From mid-October 1960 onwards it was the deepest shaft in Bavaria, measuring a depth of 1150 meters. There was also an air shaft in the district of Klausen. Mining in the Peißenberg basin discontinued first in Peiting (in 1968) and in 1971 in Peißenberg
Peißenberg
Peißenberg is a municipality in the Weilheim-Schongau district, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated 7 km southwest of Weilheim in Oberbayern.-Sports:...

. The closure of the Peißenberg pit also marked the end of mining activities in the area.

Until 1972, the border of the administrative districts Schongau and Weilheims ran through the village; the Eierbach steam marked a part of this border. Now Hohenpeißenberg is the local center of the new administrative district of Weilheim-Schongau
Weilheim-Schongau
Weilheim-Schongau is a Kreis in the south of Bavaria, Germany. Neighboring districts are Landsberg, Starnberg, Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Ostallgäu.-Geography:...

. In 1978 a large part of the former community of Ammerhöfe was added to the area of Hohenpeißenberg, because of the restructuring of the administrative district of Weilheim-Schongau of April 12, 1976.
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