Bürgstadt
Bürgstadt is a market municipality in the Miltenberg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany and the seat of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft of Erftal. Bürgstadt is a winegrowing community in the wine region of Franken. It has a population of around 4,300.
Geography
Location
Bürgstadt lies at the mouth of the river Erf where it empties into the Main and has grown together with the district seat of Miltenberg lying to the southwest. It lies at the northeast edge of the Odenwald hill, on the boundary with Baden-Württemberg.History
The Bürgstadter Berg was inhabited as early as 3,200 BC by members of the Michelsberg culture. During the Urnfield period a fortified settlement protected by a circular rampart was constructed on the hill. The ramparts stretched for a total length of 3.2 km, surrounding an area of ca. 40 hectares. Excavations found remains of a gate from around 900 BC.In 1181, Bürgstadt had its first documentary mention. Bürgstadt passed into Electoral Mainz's control early on.
Economy
In the past furniture making, the growing of tobacco and quarrying all played a role in the local economy.Winegrowing, which is still important in Bürgstadt today, was first mentioned in a document in 1248. With just under 60 ha of vineyards, the community is one of the biggest winegrowing communities on the Lower Main. In 1612, red wine from Bürgstadt had its first historical mention.
Notable buildings
The is a chapel originally erected about 950 and rebuilt on the earlier foundations ca. 1200, with its mural Bible paintings presented in 40 medallions. It also features Gothic doors and a Baroque altar. The late Romanesque old parish church was until 1522 the mother church of Miltenberg. There are also the historic town hall and the ruins of the Centgrafenkapelle from the 17th century on a nearby hill. Work on the latter ceased during the Thirty Years' War leaving the unfinished building a ruin. The modern Catholic parish church dates from 1961.Government
Community council
The council is made up of 17 council members, counting the mayor.Coat of arms
The community’s arms might be described thus: On a base vert gules a castle embattled argent with two round side towers likewise embattled and with door and windows open, in chief between the towers a wheel spoked of six of the last.Despite the market community’s importance, neither an old seal nor anything else like a coat of arms is known. The first evidence of such a thing came with the Mayor’s Medallion from about 1820 with the composition as it is known today. The wheel – the Wheel of Mainz – and the tinctures argent and gules refer to the former ownership by the Electoral state of Mainz. The castle is a canting charge for the community’s name.
The arms have been borne since the 19th century.
Notable people
- Ernst Heinrichsohn, mayor from 1978 to 1980, sentenced in 1980 in Cologne to six years in prison for having taken part in persecuting Jews in occupied France during the Second World War