Pettstadt
Encyclopedia
Pettstadt is a community in the Upper Franconia
Upper Franconia
Upper Franconia is a Regierungsbezirk of the state of Bavaria, southern Germany. It forms part of the historically significant region of Franconia , all now part of the German Federal State of Bayern .With more than 200 independent breweries which brew...

n district of Bamberg
Bamberg (district)
Bamberg Land is a district in Bavaria, Germany. It surrounds but does not include the town of Bamberg. The district is bounded by the districts of Lichtenfels, Bayreuth, Forchheim, Erlangen-Höchstadt, Neustadt -Bad Windsheim, Kitzingen, Schweinfurt and Haßberge.- History :The history of the...

 with about 1,900 inhabitants.

Geography

The community lies in the Regierungsbezirk of Oberfranken (Upper Franconia), roughly 8 km south of Bamberg
Bamberg
Bamberg is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in Upper Franconia on the river Regnitz, close to its confluence with the river Main. Bamberg is one of the few cities in Germany that was not destroyed by World War II bombings because of a nearby Artillery Factory that prevented planes from...

 where the Rauhe Ebrach empties into the Regnitz
Regnitz
The Regnitz is a river in Bavaria, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Main and is in length.The river is formed by the confluence of the rivers Rednitz and Pegnitz, which meet in the city of Fürth. From there the Regnitz runs northwards through the cities of Erlangen and Forchheim...

.

Constituent communities

Pettstadt’s main and namesake centre is by far the biggest of its Gemeindeteile with a population of 1,914. The community furthermore has these outlying centres, each given here with its own population figure:
  • Eichenhof: 25
  • Neuhaus: 24
  • Schadlos: 17


The community also has one of the traditional rural land units known in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 as Gemarkungen, named Pettstadt, the same name as the main centre (it is traditional for a Gemarkung to be named after a town or village lying nearby).

History

The community had its first documentary mention in 1070 as Betestat. The placename goes back to a personal name, Petto, which around the year 1000 was quite common in the Frankish-Thuringia
Thuringia
The 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....

n area. In 1399 came the establishment of the parish of Pettstadt. In 1754, the Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 church was built under architect Johann Jakob Michael Küchel. The community belonged to the Cathedral Chapter of Bamberg of the High Monastery at Bamberg, and with the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1803, the community passed to 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...

. In the course of administrative reform in Bavaria, today’s community came into being under the Gemeindeedikt (“Community Edict”) of 1818. In 2002, the administrative community (Verwaltungsgemeinschaft) with Frensdorf
Frensdorf
Frensdorf is a community in the Upper Franconian district of Bamberg.-Geography:The community lies in Upper Franconia south of Bamberg on the lower reaches of the Rauhe Ebrach.-Constituent communities:...

, which had been instituted in the course of later administrative reform, was dissolved.

Population development

Within municipal limits, 1,041 inhabitants were counted in 1970, 1,411 in 1987 and 1,829 in 2000. On 30 June 2007 it was 1,923.

Politics

The mayor is Jürgen Schmitt (Freie Wählergemeinschaft). He succeeded Joseph Hack (Freie Wählergemeinschaft) in 2002.

The community council is made up of 12 members, listed here by party or voter community affiliation, and also with the number of seats that each holds:
  • FWG (Freie Wählergemeinschaft) 5
  • CSU
    Christian Social Union of Bavaria
    The Christian Social Union in Bavaria is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It operates only in the state of Bavaria, while its sister party, the Christian Democratic Union , operates in the other 15 states of Germany...

     (Christlich-Soziale Union) 3
  • BNL (Bürgernahe Liste) 2
  • SPD
    Social Democratic Party of Germany
    The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

     (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands) 2


In 1999, municipal tax revenue, converted to euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...

s, amounted to €708,000 of which business taxes (net) amounted to €127,000.

Culture and sightseeing

Pettstadt has something rather remarkable for a place of its size, namely a Baroque church by the famous master builder Michael Küchel, the parish church Mariä Geburt.

One curiosity in Pettstadt is the Pettstadter Schmied, Upper Franconia’s only reaction ferry
Reaction ferry
A reaction ferry is a cable ferry that uses the reaction of the current of a river against a fixed tether to propel the vessel across the river...

, which crosses the Regnitz not far west of the village and is used mainly by cyclists.
The original Pettstadter Schmied (German for “Pettstadt smith”) is the main character in a story that is well known throughout the region. It tells of master smith
Smith (metalwork)
A metalsmith, often shortened to smith, is a person involved in making metal objects. In contemporary use a metalsmith is a person who uses metal as a material, uses traditional metalsmithing techniques , whose work thematically relates to the practice or history of the practice, or who engages in...

 Sebastian Schubert, who died in 1910. About the turn of the 20th century, it is said that, at a very late hour at an inn
INN
InterNetNews is a Usenet news server package, originally released by Rich Salz in 1991, and presented at the Summer 1992 USENIX conference in San Antonio, Texas...

, he would not comply with a gendarmerie
Gendarmerie
A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as...

 patrol’s order to leave the inn. Instead, he said “Des mach ich, wie ich mooch” (dialectal German for “I do whatever I like”). The incident led to charges. The judge at the Royal Bavarian Amt Court, however, acquitted the accused citing an apparent lack of abusive or rebellious attitude. From this developed a well known Upper Franconian expression: Mach' es wie der Pettstadter Schmied (“Do it like the Pettstadt smith”), which is taken as a demand to decide on one’s own authority.

Sport and clubs

From the local club life have grown many events such as the Pettstadt Street Festival (Straßenfest) on the third weekend in July, which is attended by citizens from all over the district.

The three biggest clubs, the Sportverein Pettstadt (SVP, a sport club), the Freihand Schützenverein Pettstadt (FSV, a shooting club) and the Rauhe Ebrach angling club are successful even beyond the local region.
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