Kulmbach


Kulmbach is the capital of the district of Kulmbach in Bavaria in Germany. The town, once a stronghold of the Principality of Bayreuth, is renowned for its University of Life Sciences, a branch of the University of Bayreuth, the massive Plassenburg Castle, which houses the largest tin soldier museum in the world, for its brewery, its vivid food industry, which hosts some of the world's biggest food businesses, and for its sausages, or Bratwürste.

Geography

Location

Kulmbach is located in the middle of the Bavarian province of Upper Franconia, about northwest of the city of Bayreuth. To the south of Kulmbach, the River Main begins at the confluence of its headstreams, the White Main and Red Main.

Town districts

Kulmbach is divided into the following districts :
  • Innenstadt
  • Am Galgenberg
  • Industriegebiet
  • Pörbitsch
  • Blaich
  • Kauernburg/Aichig
  • Weiher
  • Herlas
  • Forstlahm
  • Leuchau
  • Wickenreuth
  • Mangersreuth
  • Donnersreuth/Gössmannsreuth
  • Ober-/Unterzettlitz
  • Windischenhaig/Hitzmain/Affalterhof
  • Katschenreuth
  • Melkendorf
  • Seidenhof
  • Burghaig
  • Petzmannsberg
  • Metzdorf
  • Ziegelhütten
  • Niederndobrach
  • Höferänger
  • Lehenthal
  • Baumgarten
  • Grafendobrach
  • Lösau
  • Kirchleus
  • Ober-/Unterdornlach
  • Altenreuth/Höfstetten

    History

From about 900 AD there was a small settlement in what is now the district of Spiegel, which consisted of a forest lodge and a fortified tenant farm to protect the river Main crossing at Grünwehr. The area later passed into the hands of the Count of Schweinfurt, whose power was usually exercised through the office of the walpode.
Kulmbach was first mentioned as Kulma in a deed of gift in the Alcuin Bible between 1028 and 1040. The name comes from a stream that comes descends the mountain. This stream was later renamed Kohlenbach due to a misunderstanding.
When the male line of the Schweinfurt counts died out, Kulmbach passed to the Dießen line of the Andechs family through the marriage of the Schweinfurts' daughter and heiress, Gisela, to Count Arnold of Dießen.
The counts acquired other lands around Kulmbach, built the first fort, the Plassenburg, in the first third of the twelfth century and founded a market town and a church in today's upper town. In 1180 the House of Andechs was elevated to an imperial princedom by the Emperor Barbarossa and given the title of Duke of Merania after the town of Marano between Venice and Trieste.
Around 1231 Kulmbach was granted town rights. In place of the old Plassenburg, the site of which is unclear, the dukes built a new castle on a hill spur above Kulmbach. The rule of the Meranian family ended with the last Duke of Merania, Otto II, who died childless in 1248.
After years of inheritance disputes the castle of Plassenburg and hence rule over Kulmbach went in 1260 to the Thuringian counts of Orlamünde. The Orlamündes finished the new Plassenburg castle and founded the monastery of Himmelkron. Later, they pledged the castle and town. In 1340, after the death of the last Orlamünde, pursuant to an agreement, the burggraves of Nuremberg, members of the Hohenzollern family, took over Kulmbach and Plassenburg.
Until the 17th century, Plassenburg was the residence of the burggrave office or Amt. Later it was the Amt for the Hohenzollern Principality of Kulmbach. As a result of its favourable location on the historic and 'escorted' roads to Bamberg, Nuremberg, Eger, Hof and Leipzig trade in the town flourished - guilds were formed for the weavers, dyers and silk embroiderers. In 1398, 1500 to 2000 inhabitants lived in Kulmbach; this can be seen from a burggraviate inventory of land, houses and taxes. The town was ruled by a lordly Vogt or sheriff, the mayor and a council of prominent citizens.
As a result of the transfer of the princely privilege in 1363, and the electorate and the March of Brandenburg in 1415, all subsequent Franconian Hohenzollerns called themselves Margraves of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. From 1411 to 1529 Kulmbach townsfolk stood as chancellors at the head of the administration for the March of Brandenburg.
On 31 January 1430 the Hussites sacked the town.
In the course of rebuilding the town, which had been largely destroyed, St. Peter's Church was rebuilt in late Gothic style. It was here that the first Protestant church service was celebrated under Margrave George the Pious in 1528.
The belligerent margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach, Albert Alcibiades, wanted to bring all Franconians under his rule and set up a reconstituted Duchy of Franconia. After the abortive First Margrave War, Albert instigated the Second Margrave War and left a path of destruction throughout Franconia and other parts of the Holy Roman Empire. Eventually, a league against him formed, which ultimately invaded Kulmbach on St. Conrad's Day, 26 November 1553, and sacked the city. Many of its citizens were massacred or fled, and the town itself was burned to the ground. On 21 October 1554 the Plassenburg, whose garrison had hitherto held out against their enemy, was also set on fire and destroyed. The sack is recreated in the German Tin Soldiers Museum at the Plassenburg, this diorama constitutes the largest of its kind in the world.
From 1557 the town was rebuilt under the new margrave, George Frederick. In 1559 the reconstruction of the Plassenburg, one of the most important Renaissance buildings in Germany, began. However, George Frederick's successor, Margrave Christian, moved the location of his Residenz in 1604 to neighbouring Bayreuth as the Plassenburg no longer fulfilled the ideas of courtly absolutism, and the expansion of the castle came to an end. Nevertheless, the margravial residence returned to Kulmbach several times, once, in 1605, due to a fire in the city of Bayreuth and then again, for safety, during the Thirty Years War. Kulmbach was also burned as a Protestant town by imperial troops, but the Plassenburg proved impregnable.
Finally, in 1642, the residence was moved permanently to Bayreuth, and Kulmbach lost its political importance. As a result, little of significance happened here in the years that followed.
When Margrave Charles Frederick Alexander sold the March of Brandenburg-Bayreuth to his cousin, the King of Prussia, on account of his lover, Lady Elizabeth Craven, Kulmbach, too, became Prussian, and the Plassenburg was used in the years that followed as a camp for French prisoners of war.
Since the Plassenburg represented an obstacle to French and Bavarian forces advancing against Prussia in 1806, the town of Kulmbach was occupied in October and November that year. After the capitulation of its Prussian garrison, the castle was slighted in order to render it militarily useless.
Finally, Kulmbach was granted to Bavaria in 1810.
In 1846 it was connected to the King Ludwig South-North Railway. This resulted in a tremendous economic boom - particularly for the breweries - as their products could now be readily exported. So the number of breweries grew to 26 in 1882.
In 1890 Kulmbach was elected as a free town.
In 1933, the NSDAP seized power in Kulmbach and the Imperial School of German Technology was established in the Plassenburg. As a result, Kulmbach was even given an additional motorway junction which is now the start of today's A 70 autobahn.
In early 1945, Kulmbach was captured by American troops without a fight.
In the local government reforms of 1972, the districts of Kulmbach and Stadtsteinach were merged and Kulmbach is now the county town.

Politics

Mayors

  • 1946–1958: Georg Hagen, SPD
  • 1958–1970: Wilhelm Murrmann, FWG
  • 1970–1994: Dr. Erich Stammberger, Wählergemeinschaft Kulmbach
  • 1994–2007: Inge Aures, SPD
  • 2007-2020: Henry Schramm, CSU
  • since 2020: Ingo Lehmann, SPD

    Town council

The local elections of 2014 and 2020 resulted in the following representation on the town council:
20142020
CSU119
SPD98
Greens/Open list24
Voters' Association76
FDP11
AfD-2
Totals3030

Twin towns – sister cities

Kulmbach is twinned with:

Culinary specialities

Besides the usual Upper Franconian specialties, there is Kulmbacher Bratwurst sausage which consists of a very fine ground pork and is served in aniseed rolls, the so-called Stölla. These sausages may be eaten at one of the many sausage stalls in the town. Known far beyond the town itself is the strong beer known as EKU 28, brewed by the Kulmbacher Brauerei, which for years was regarded as the strongest beer in the world. Kulmbach has also earned a reputation as a food centre thanks to the Max Rubner Institute, which has come to prominence since the BSE scandal.

Sport and Recreation

  • The club, ATS Kulmbach 1861, is one of the oldest and largest sports clubs in Bavaria.
  • Kulmbach Airfield EDQK

    Museums

  • Plassenburg museums:
  • *German Tin Soldier Museum in the Plassenburg, with more than 300,000 tin figures
  • *Frederick the Great Army Museum
  • *Upper Main Landscape Museum with a replica of the Ebstorf Map, and displays covering the Reformation, the Destruction of Kulmbach in 1553 and the Reconstruction of the Old Residenz Town. In the Pörbitsch Treasure, discovered in 1912, during construction work, there are gold and silver dishes belonging to the wealthy merchant family, Gutteter that had it buried in their garden during the Thirty Years War.
  • The Public Bath House is one of eight scientifically researched public baths in Germany. The bathing hall, changing and rest rooms, pre-bath and boiler room have been restored and give an impression of bathing in the Middle Ages. On an open gallery on the upper floor works by young artists in the region are exhibited.
  • Bavarian Brewery and Bakery Museum. Beer has been brewed in Kulmbach's Mönchshof for over 600 years. On the site of the former Mönchshof Brewery, there is now the Mönchshof Restaurant with a large beer garden and the museum. Various information boards and historical machinery, bottles and other equipment give an insight into Bavarian brewing. The museum itself is in a small glass brewery. Visitors are given a small glass of museum beer at the end of their visit.
  • Alter Friedhof Open-Air Museum