Wörth am Main

Wörth am Main (officially Wörth a.Main) is a town in the Miltenberg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany.

Geography

Location

Wörth am Main lies on the left bank of the Main, nestled between the hills of the Odenwald and Spessart (range), 13 km northwest of Miltenberg, and 19 km south of Aschaffenburg.

History

It is believed that Roman soldiers built a simple earthen-wooden castrum in Wörth as early as Roman Emperor Domitian’s time (AD 81–96), and later a massive stone castrum.

In Frankish times, beginning in the 6th century, Wörth was a centre of royal power and with Saint Martin’s Chapel, in today’s graveyard, it was a jumping-off point for Christian missionary work in the depths of the Odenwald.

The town was refounded on its current site in the latter half of the 13th century by the Lords of Breuberg under the overlordship of the Archbishops of Mainz. In 1291, it had its first documentary mention as the town of Werde (“Island”). An important political change was the town’s cession to Bavaria in 1816.

Culture and sightseeing

• The Old Town is characterized by the mediaeval town fortifications and many historic monuments and timber-frame houses. From the former Electoral Mainz castle, the tower with its Renaissance portal is still preserved (today used by businesses).
• Worth seeing is the old Town Hall with its Renaissance portal (1600)
• Wörth lies on the Deutsche Limesstraße (“German Limes Road”). In Wörth is found the archaeological monument that was once a Roman castrum (specifically, a numerus^[2] castrum) at a spot where the older border, the Neckar-Odenwald Limes, met the Limes Germanicus coming along the Main.

Museums

There are the Schiffahrts- und Schiffbaumuseum Wörth (“Wörth Shipping and Shipbuilding Museum”) in the former Saint Wolfgang’s Church and a small branch office at the community centre with information about the Romans in Wörth.

Buildings

• Bürgerhaus (“community centre”, formerly the Town Hall) from 1600
• Wörth Shipping and Shipbuilding Museum in the former Saint Wolfgang’s Church (15th to 18th century)
• Main lands
• New Town with residential buildings made of bunter in numbers unique in Bavaria, 1883-85
• Town centre with Town Hall (1885, a former school), parish centre, railway station (1876), vocational college (1790, a former parish hall), Wendelinuskapelle (chapel, 1780) and estate (formerly the New Town Inn)
• St.-Nikolaus-Kirche, built in Romanesque Revival style from the year 1898, with a cross altar, Crucifixion group and Passion image
• ”Gallows” Monument, made out of two 7-metre-tall sandstone pillars, 1754
• Saint Martin’s Chapel in the graveyard, 14th century, founded, however, in the time when the Lower Main was Christianized
• Schlossturm (“Castle Tower”, today used by businesses), late 13th century
• Upper Gate, 15th century
• Tannenturm (tower), 15th century
• Wörth Castrum (1st-2nd century) and castrum bath, lying below the mill, only discernible by low humps in the ground

Sport and leisure

• Wörth town forest (1000 ha) with more than 50 km of signposted hiking trails
• Mainruh campsite
• Adomat campsite
• Wörth lies in the Bavarian section of the Naturpark Bergstraße-Odenwald

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

• Bundesstraße 469 to the Würzburg-Frankfurt Autobahn A 3
• Deutsche Bahn railway network
• Main Federal Waterway

Town partnerships

• Honfleur, Calvados, France since 16 June 2006

On 29 April 2007 came the countersigning of the partnership document in the Wörth Shipping and Shipbuilding Museum.

Further reading

Trost, Werner: Wörth am Main. Chronik einer fränkischen Kleinstadt. 4 Bände. Wörth 1987-1999

References

External links

• St.-Nikolaus-Kirche