Mespelbrunn

Mespelbrunn is a community in the Aschaffenburg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany and a member of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft (Administrative Community) of Mespelbrunn, whose seat is in Heimbuchenthal.

Geography

Location

The community lies in the middle of the Spessart (range).

Amalgamations

The community was formed out of the former communities of Hessenthal and Mespelbrunn

Politics

Community council

The council is made up of 14 council members, not counting the mayor.

(as at municipal election held on 3 March 2008)

Coat of arms

The community’s arms might be described thus: Gules the castle portal of Mespelbrunn argent surmounted above the lintel by an inescutcheon azure a bend of the second surmounted by three annulets of the third, from base issuant into the gateway arch a hazel twig growing palewise with two leaves and one nut of the second.

The arms were conferred in 1986 and show the castle entrance of the family Echter with their family coat of arms in the inescutcheon. The hazel twig stands for Hessenthal, whose name was once “Haseltal” (“Hazeldale”). The tinctures gules and argent (red and silver) are taken from the arms borne by the Electorate of Mainz.

Culture and sightseeing

Mespelbrunn earns its livelihood above all from tourism, and is known for its charming Mespelbrunn Castle (Wasserschloss Mespelbrunn), expanded beginning in 1551 by the family Echter. In Mespelbrunn and at the moated castle, several scenes of the 1950s German classic film Das Wirtshaus im Spessart were made.

A further very important point of interest is the three-naved pilgrimage church in the outlying centre of Hessenthal with:

• the Gothic pilgrimage chapel (family Echter’s burial ground with a Renaissance tomb for Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn’s parents and siblings)
• a Divine Grace Chapel with a Late Gothic Pietà as an image of divine grace
• a Crucifixion Group by Hans Backoffen and a Lamentation of Christ attributed to Tilman Riemenschneider in a wing by Hans Schädel from the 1950s.

Famous people

Sons and daughters of the town

• Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn (1545–1617), Prince-Bishop of Würzburg and Duke of Franconia.
• Jakob Brand (1776–1833), first Bishop of Limburg

References

External links

• Mespelbrunn Castle (German)

This article incorporates information from the German Wikipedia.