Bernau am Chiemsee

Bernau am Chiemsee is a municipality in the district of Rosenheim in Germany on the Lake Chiemsee, and a Luftkurort.

Geography

Topography

The Luftkurort Bernau lies in the Chiemgau area at the southwestern bank of the lake Chiemsee.
Bernau is close to the Bundesautobahn 8 Munich – Salzburg and the Rosenheim–Salzburg railway. In the south are the Chiemgau Alps with the prominent summit, the Kampenwand. In the east is vast bogland, where peat used to be harvested in large quantities. An old rail station for the transportation of peat in the bog area Kendlmühlfilzen reminds of these times. Rosenheim is 24 km away, Munich 83 km, Kufstein 35 km, Traunstein 26 km, Salzburg 58 km, and Reit im Winkl 25 km.
Bernau has a bathing beach, boat hire, and mooring for the Chiemsee-Schifffahrt at its shore. It is possible to reach the island Herreninsel directly from here.
The cycling route around the lake Chiemsee also passes through one of Bernau's districts called Felden.

Neighbouring municipality

Neighbouring municipalities clockwise are Übersee, Grassau, Aschau, Frasdorf, and Prien.

Community organisation

There are the following land plots of the municipality, also called Gemarkungen: Bernau a. Chiemsee, Hittenkirchen. The municipality Bernau am Chiemsee has 38 districts:

History

Before the establishment of the municipality

Bernau am Chiemsee belonged to the count Grafen von Preysing. However, it was also part of the Electorate of Bavaria. Bernau was a part of the rule of Hohenaschau, which was equipped with the right of Blutgerichtsbarkeit. Today's municipality came into being in the course of the administrative reforms in Bavaria by the edict of 1818.
During the time of ancient Rome, Bernau was a popular resort for soldiers because of its convenient and healthy location. The outlines of a villa rustica were found here. This indicates the existence of a Roman bath. A Roman tombstone was also found.
The emperor Maximilian I. stayed in Bernau during his campaign against the castle Burg Marquartstein in October 1504. This has been noted on a board at the guesthouse Gasthof zum alten Wirt.

Incorporation

On 1 May 1978, parts of the dissolved municipality Hittenkirchen were incorporated.

Population development

Between 1988 and 2018, the municipality grew from 5,073 to 6,980 by 1,907 inhabitants or alternatively by 37.6%.
file:Bernau St. Laurentius Okt. 2011.JPG|thumb|Interior view of the church
St. Laurentius during Sunday mass
file:Bernau Okt.2011.JPG|thumb|Road in the centre of the village. The church St. Laurentius can be seen in the background

Religion

The majority of the population in Bernau is Catholic. Service takes place in the church St. Laurentius which belongs to the Catholic parish of Bernau. The district Hittenkirchen has its own village church.

Politics

Municipal council

20 honorary council members, together with the full-time mayor, make up the municipal council of Bernau am Chiemsee. The composition of this council following the local elections in 2014 is as follows:

	2014	2008	2002
Total of seats	20	20	20
CSU	8	10	10
Bernauer Liste	3	3	3
SPD	2	2	3
Greens	4	2	-
Wählergruppe ÜWG	2	2	2
Wählergruppe WMG	1	1	2

Mayor

Local authority finances

In 2010, the municipal tax revenue was 4,745,000 euros, 1,676,000 euros of which were trade tax revenues.

Coat of arms and flag

The house mark belongs to the innkeeper family Seiser, who have played an important role in the municipality since the end of the 15th century. The green colour has been freely selected. The trimount alludes to the Aschauer coat of arms, which Bernau used to belong to; however, it also stands for the mountains in the Chiemgau area. The waves stand for the position of the town close to Lake Chiemsee. The coat of arms was designed by the engineer and designer Hugo Decker and was approved by the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior in 1956.
The flag is striped green, white, and blue.

Economy and infrastructure

Economy

In 2010, according to government statistics, there were 281 employees who were subject to social insurance in the manufacturing industry and 338 employees subject to social insurance in the trade and traffic industry in Bernau. 590 employees subject to social insurance were employed in other economic sectors. Altogether, there were 1856 employees subject to social insurance. In the manufacturing sector, there were three businesses, and in the building industry proper, eight. Furthermore, there were 57 farms with an agricultural land of altogether 1394 hectares, of which 1250 hectares were fields not used for agriculture.
A branch of the company Bavaria Yachts is located in Bernau.

Traffic

Rail traffic: Bernau am Chiemsee is one of the stops on the Rosenheim–Salzburg railway route, which is part of the main route Munich–Salzburg–Vienna. The train station has two train tracks and two side platforms, and was opened together with the railway route on 7 May 1860. In 2003, the train station building was modernized and now also includes a kiosk. There is also the Chiemseeringlinie, a bus service with a cycle compartment that drives to designated stops in towns and villages around Lake Chiemsee during the summer. During this time, the Chiemsee-Schifffahrt also moors in Felden.
Bus traffic: Bernau am Chiemsee is serviced by two bus links that are part of the regional traffic company Regionalverkehr Oberbayern. There is a connection to Aschau im Chiemgau, Sachrang, Prien am Chiemsee, Marquartstein, and Reit im Winkl via the bus routes 9502 and 9505.
Road traffic: In the northwest lies the Autobahn access point Autobahnanschlussstelle 106 ''Bernau of the Autobahn A 8 that crosses here with the main road Bundesstraße 305''.
Education

In 2010, there were the following educational institutions:

Three nurseries with 200 places that were visited by 171 children.
A primary school with 10 teachers that teach 178 pupils in eight school classes.

The school teaches grades 1-4, and there are two school classes for each grade.

Sport

There are many sports facilities in Bernau for many disciplines. These include football, basketball, tennis, paddleball, volleyball, boccia, beach volleyball, beach soccer, ballooning, biking in the mountains, downhill, skiing, snowboarding and other winter sports, as well as hiking, climbing, Nordic walking, ice skating, squash, windsurfing, surfing, sailing, and water sports. Furthermore, there are three shooting clubs, where it is possible to practice shooting with airguns and air pistols.
Bernau is home to one of the biggest indoor tennis courts in Germany, as well as one of two places in Germany for the new tennis discipline called Padel. There is also a DAV indoor climbing gym. DAV stands for . There are beach volleyball and beach soccer courts at the lake. The lake also offers many opportunities for different water disciplines. Ballooning is offered in the district of Hittenkirchen, as well as in Bernau itself.

Tourism

Bernau is a popular place for tourists due to its tranquility and its proximity to large cities such as Munich and Salzburg.
Popular tourist spots apart from the lake Chiemsee are the castle Bonnschlössl, the guesthouse Gasthof alter Wirt and the Torfbahnhof, an old rail station for the transportation of peat. There are also many typical Bavarian mountain pastures that still run.
There is a tourist information office in the Chiemseepark Bernau-Felden.

Wellness and rehabilitation clinic

Medical-Park Chiemsee. The clinic is housed in a building that used to be an old Autobahn service area building called Rasthaus am Chiemsee.
Special buildings
Parish Church St. Laurentius
Medieval church St. Bartholomäus im Ortsteil Hittenkirchen
Hotel Bonnschlössl
Water tower in Bergham
War memorial im Hittenkirchen
Statues "Griechische Weisen" in the schoolyard of the primary school in Bernau
Pillar "Seisersäule" at the entrance to the Catholic parish church St. Laurentius
Museum of the old peat train station Torfbahnhof
The prison in Bernau can accommodate about 850 inmates and is therefore one of the largest prisons in Bavaria
Wayside chapel in Aufing
Forest chapel near Hitzelsberg
Place of prayer Mariengrotte in Kraimoos
Chapel near ''Kalvarienberg/Hitzelsberg''
Well-known personalities born in Bernau
Hugo Decker, member of the German Bundestag MdB, Parliamentary leader of the Föderalistische Union
Raimund Eberle, jurist and chief administrator of Upper Bavaria from 1975 to 1994
Wilfried Klaus, actor
Well-known personalities buried in Bernau
Karl Chmielewski, German war criminal
Fritz Odemar, German actor
Elisabeth Flickenschildt, German actress
Hans Klein, German politician