Freiberg am Neckar
| Freiberg am Neckar | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
  Freiberg am Neckar | ||
| Coordinates: 48°56′0″N 9°12′0″E / 48.93333°N 9.20000°ECoordinates: 48°56′0″N 9°12′0″E / 48.93333°N 9.20000°E | ||
| Country | Germany | |
| State | Baden-Württemberg | |
| Admin. region | Stuttgart | |
| District | Ludwigsburg | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor | Dirk Schaible | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 13.14 km2 (5.07 sq mi) | |
| Elevation | 240 m (790 ft) | |
| Population (2012-12-31)[1] | ||
| • Total | 15,508 | |
| • Density | 1,200/km2 (3,100/sq mi) | |
| Time zone | CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) | |
| Postal codes | 71691 | |
| Dialling codes | 07141 | |
| Vehicle registration | LB | |
| Website | www.freiberg-an.de | |
Freiberg am Neckar is a town in the district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the left bank of the Neckar, 18 km north of Stuttgart, and 4 km north of Ludwigsburg.
Municipal structure
The town of Freiberg am Neckar consists of the three former independent villages Beihingen am Neckar, Geisingen am Neckar, and Heutingsheim. The former municipality Beihingen am Neckar comprised Beihingen am Neckar village and the abandoned village Bruderhaus. The former municipality Heutingsheim consists of Heutingsheim village and Haus Rosenau as well as the abandoned castle Kasteneck.[2][2]
Geographical situation
Freiberg am Neckar is extended from a Neckar river bend to the north of the town to the mountain ranges in the south and west. It is a typical provincial town within the prosperous easily accessible periphery of a city region. The townscape shows residential areas with detached houses and small blocks of flats as well as traffic areas and commercial areas. It is cut by the A 81 motorway.
The fertile silt soils in the hills around the town lend themselves to intensive agricultural exploitation. The farms are situated within their fields and fruit growing areas outside the urban areas. From the hills above the town one has wide panoramic views into the Neckar region, towards Hohenasperg and Stromberg, and the valleys and mountains of the Murr and Bottwar region. They are, however, somewhat spoiled by the electricity pylons covering the landscape radially departing from the electrical substation Ludwigsburg-Hoheneck.
Municipal history
Freiberg am Neckar was created on 1. January 1972 by the voluntary association of the three originally agricultural communities of Beihingen am Neckar, Geisingen am Neckar, and Heutingsheim. On 1. January 1982 the town of Freiberg am Neckar was chartered.
The new township’s name and its coat of arms was taken from the family name of the hereditary knights von Freyberg, who from 1534 until 1569 held the castle and the larger part of the village of Beihingen.
Religions
After the Reformation the population within the area of the modern town of Freiberg adhered mostly to the Protestant faith as decreed by the rulers of Württemberg at the time. Thus in each of the three boroughs there still exists a Protestant congregation. Since 1954 there is also a Roman Catholic congregation. Furthermore, there exist a Methodist, a Mormon, and a new apostolic community. These days, about 25,5 % of the population are Catholics, while 44,5 % are Protestants.
Population statistics
In 1810 Beihingen had a population of 692, Heutingsheim 566, and Geisingen 438, adding up to a total of 1.696. In 1900 total population numbered already 2.298 inhabitants, growing steadily from 3.322 in 1939 through 4.516 in 1950 and 11.749 in 1970 to more than 15.600 in 2007.
Twin cities
• Soisy-sous-Montmorency (France)
• Erzin(Turkey)
• Roßwein (Saxony/Germany)
• Újhartyán (Hungary)
Local firms
About 600 small and medium-sized businesses are located at Freiberg am Neckar, among them a SAP branch office with 275 employees and a Porsche subsidiary with 475 employees.
Viticulture
Freiberg am Neckar is a wine-growing town whose vineyards belong to the vineyard region of Schalkstein within the district „Württembergisch Unterland“ („Württemberg lowlands“) in the wine region Württemberg.
Museums
Businessman Arthur Benseler (1925 - 2010) took a lifelong enthusiastic and active interest in African art and culture. He drafted his private home from the beginning as a center for African art, music, and literature, such that over the years it became known as the Africa House. He willed it to the town as a museum. In and around it about 150 sculptures and pictures can be found, part of which Arthur Benseler collected on his voyages during 30 years, while the other part was added by the town of Stadt Freiberg.
The museum in Geisingen manor („Museum im Schlössle“) documents the historical development of Freiberg. The exhibits show early history form the first evidence of human settlements, the history of the local lords, the development of crafts, agriculture and industry as well as the local effects of war and other times of distress. During Christmas time there is always an exhibition on springerle (type of anise biscuit with an embossed design).
Notable Buildings
Beihingen borough
The Amandus Church dating from the 16. century was originally built as a fortress church. It is situated an a hill above the old village centre. It is remarkable for its architectural variety with elements from many epochs, its paintings, and the valuable organ from 1766.
Within sight of Amandus church lies the Old Castle of Beihingen, built by the hereditary knights von Nothaft and von Gemmingen. The oldest part of the castle are the ruins of a keep from the 13. century. The buildings still extant today were for the main part erected in 1480 and 1680. It is nowadays occupied by archives and club houses.
The New Castle on the other side of the road was built in 1573 by Friedrich von Breitenbach and ever since used as residence by a string of noble families. Today it is owned by the von Graevenitz family. Beside the three storey main building from Ludwigsburger Straße can be seen the old tithe barn built in 1591; both buildings have been restored to the colouring at the time of their construction.
In the vicinity of both castles lies the castle wine press house. It was rebuilt in 1730 on the place of an older press house from 1577. Since 1964 it is owned by the town and used for cultural events.
Within the old village center lies the old town hall from the 16. and 17. centuries, where Johann Friedrich Flattich was born. Also the old school house from 1776 still exists.
In the Neckar river lies the Beihingen weir, where the Neckar channel branches away from the abandoned course of the river.
Geisingen borough
St. Nicolas church and outbuilding of the upper castle
In Geisingen is found the St. Nicolas church built in the late Gothic style. At first in 1474 a chapel was built, which today serves as chancel. The main nave and the tower were added in 1521 and 1522. In 1900 the tower received its pointed roof replacing the former cap. In the interior of the church are the 16. century tombstones of the former lords of the manor, the von Stammheim and Schertlin von Burtenbach families.
Immediately below the church lies the upper Geisingen castle or Kniestedt castle first mentioned near the end of the 16. century and rebuilt in 1723. Still a further 200 m further down, at the valley floor, lies the lower castle, the ancestral seat of the von Stammheim noble family, a former moated castle from 1486. The buildings as seen today, however, are all much younger; some have only been rebuilt in the 20. century modelled on their predecessor buildings on their former place. An extension building of the moated castle is the socalled „Schlössle“ („little castle“ in the Swabian dialect), dated 1671. Further buildings from the 17. century within the farmyard of the lower castle are the old oil mill and the former wine press house.
Heutingsheim borough
At the town’s exit towards Ludwigsburg-Eglosheim lies the largest original Chinese house in Europe. It is surrounded by a garden open to the public designed following taoist principles. House and garden were built following the terrain improvement in 1994 by the Chinese Dashi-Enterprise Group by Chinese builders and craftsmen. All building material was specially brought in from China. After opening in 1995 it served as German-Chinese centre as well as restaurant. In 2007 the house was abandoned after the operator had filed for bankruptcy in summer 2006 and remained unoccupied. In 2008 building and garden were closed to the public due to risk of collapse. In November 2008 the district court at Stuttgart decided that the bankrupt operator had to return the property to the town.[3] In May 2010 the restoration works began. The new owner, Ming Ze Schaumann, again had specifically employed Chinese craftsmen.[4] At 15. May 2011 the renovated China House was officially reopened.[5]
At the centre of the former village of Heutingsheim was the townhall built in 1781 in the classicistic style within a warren of narrow alleys and side streets. The Protestant parrochial church St. Simon and Jude, a late gothic west tower church from 1487, has a beautifully sculpted chancel with a ribbed vaulting. The headstones show the biblical apostles Simon and Jude (Thaddeus) and Mary with the Child as Queen of Heaven. The pulpit rests on a stone sculpture: the pulpit bearer, a kneeling man, created by Anton Pilgram, bears it upon his shoulders. The big clock in the tower inscribed Osanna dates from 1492.
Heutingsheim too has its castle. The building complex erected around 1700 with its manor and triple-winged outhouse is delimited towards the street by a castle wall. It is a typical example of a country manor of a minor noble family from that time. Untypical for the region, however, are the Low German elements in the timber-framed gables of the outhouse as seen from the road.
Nature preservation
The nature reserve Altneckar with its riparian forest and the adjacent grassland valley is an idyllic local recreational area and ecological oasis between the townships of Freiberg, Pleidelsheim, and Ingersheim. On the near side of the A 81 motorway the high railway embankment of the former railway line from Backnang to Bietigheim is protected and cared for by the town and the local committee of the BUND ("Union for the environment and nature conservation Germany") as a dry biotope. On the far side of A 81 the railway line cut a deep rut into the landscape. By the joint efforts of the town and the BUND there too a protective area was created, in the occurrence a dark moist wood biotope. The railway bridge crossing the A 81 had been destroyed on 20. April 1945 by retreating German forces. After World War II the bridge was not rebuilt and the railway line abandoned.
Notable residents
• Johann Friedrich Flattich (1713–1797), Protestant minister and educator, born at the borough of Beihingen
• Oscar Paret, (1889–1972), archeologist and local historian, grew up in the borough of Heutingsheim
Literature
- Ulrich Gräf (1986) (in German), Kunst- und Kulturdenkmale im Kreis Ludwigsburg, Stuttgart: Theiss, pp. 102–114, ISBN 3-8062-0466-7
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Freiberg am Neckar. |
Notes
- ↑ [Statistisches Bundesamt – Gemeinden in Deutschland mit Bevölkerung am 31.12.2012 (XLS-Datei; 4,0 MB) (Einwohnerzahlen auf Grundlage des Zensus 2011) "Gemeinden in Deutschland mit Bevölkerung am 31.12.2012"]. Statistisches Bundesamt (in German). 12 November 2013.
- ↑ (in German) Das Land Baden-Württemberg. Amtliche Beschreibung nach Kreisen und Gemeinden, Band III: Regierungsbezirk Stuttgart, Regionalverband Mittlerer Neckar, Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1978, pp. 405–408, ISBN 3-17-004758-2
- ↑ Kristina Winter: Weg für Sanierung des Chinahauses geebnet, Ludwigsburger Kreiszeitung, 26. November 2008
- ↑ Kristina Winter: Endlich: Am Chinahaus tut sich was. Ludwigsburger Kreiszeitung, 1. Juni 2010, Seite 12
- ↑ Freiberger Nachrichten, 12. Mai 2011
