Niedernberg
Niedernberg is a municipality in the Miltenberg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany.
Geography
Location
Niedernberg is just under 10 km from Aschaffenburg to the north, which itself lies some 50 km southeast of Frankfurt am Main. Niedernberg is the Miltenberg district's northernmost municipality and is found right on the Main’s left bank. In both the east and the west, it is hilly.Geology
Distinguishing the natural areas is the gradual downward slope of the eastern part of the municipal area from the west to the east. Niedernberg belongs to the Lower Main Plain and to the peripheral mountain zone of the Odenwald. The soil composition is what one would expect from this: throughout the even areas it is overwhelmingly sands and loamy layers. In the west are also found layers of loam at the surface, although these quickly yield to bunter.Particularly as of the mid 20th century, there was an extensive gravel quarrying operation.
Natural events
Owing to its geographical location, Niedernberg has since yore had to deal repeatedly with wintertime floods in which, in particular, land near the Main has been involved. Since this especially great danger from rising floods came about from icejams, in 1559, for protection, a cutwater was built at the southeast end of the fortifications, which, however, did not work as had been hoped.The highest ever flood reached Niedernberg in February 1784 during spring runoff as the Main flowed almost 10 m higher than normal through the valley. The flood tore away whole ships, huts and stables, sometimes along with the animals in them.
Municipal area’s extent
The municipal area stretches off mainly to the west, as in the north it is bounded by the water protection area, in the east by the Main and in the south by the lake plateau. Even its westward stretch, though, it is limited by Bundesstraße 469.Constituent communities
The municipality is subdivided into four parts.In the Ortskern, or municipal core, many old, and sometimes lovingly restored timber-frame houses are to be found. Moreover, this part of the municipality also contains the Catholic church, Saint Cyriacus’s, the Town Hall, two banks, a 15th-century fortification renovated in 2004, the Hauptschule and the Saint Cyriacus kindergarten.
The nördliche Neubaugebiet offers many Niedernberg dwellers a place for living and playing. North of the New Building Area are found the graveyard, the railway station and the sewage treatment plant.
In the so-called Gebiet Tafel are found the Tafel commercial area, the Tafeläcker New Building Area, which at this time is being built in four sections, and the watertower. Furthermore, the primary school is also here, as are the second kindergarten and the Niedernberg Musical Corps's clubhouse, the so-called “Musicum”.
The Seengebiet stretches south of the Hans-Herrmann-Halle, a multipurpose hall named after a former mayor. Here are the Seehotel, the HonischBeach – a bathing beach officially opened in 2005 – and a building area for holiday dwellings. Furthermore, there are three lakes adding to the area's makeup: the Silbersee, the former surfing lake and the angling lake.
Climate
With a yearly mean temperature of more than 9 °C, Niedernberg belongs to one of Germany's warmest regions. It is favoured by the sheltering afforded by the Spessart and Odenwald wooded ranges.History
The oldest finds that indicate human habitation in Niedernberg's municipal area come from the New Stone Age. Far-reaching changes in the landscape came along with Roman rule about the time of the onset of the Christian Era: In the first century, the Roman Empire reached all the way to the Main. To secure their Imperial border, Roman troops built castra at strategic spots.Niedernberg's beginnings go back to one such castrum, built between 83 and 150, at the so-called “Wet Limes”, which stood as the Empire's eastern border. The castrum, which measured 144 by 135 m, was built facing the east, towards the Main. Although the castrum was later overbuilt, the way the core of the community is laid out still goes back to the street layout in the castrum; Hauptstraße and Kirchgasse correspond with streets in the Roman camp. Niedernberg was the post of a 300-strong cohort, Cohors I Ligurum et Hispanorum, which drew its recruits from northern Italy and Spain.
Interesting finds such as the “Marcellus Stone” or a burying ground discovered in 1963 have yielded information about the lives of the Romans stationed in Niedernberg. In 1964, during building work on Hauptstraße, a bronze fountain mask was unearthed, today the only original such thing north of the Alps. This mask is today the showpiece of the Stiftsmuseum in Aschaffenburg, and at Roman exhibitions is found on loan among the very rarest exhibits.
In 1095, Niedernberg had its first documentary mention. It was then that “Diemar von Niderenburc” bequeathed half a Hube of land from his holdings at Pfungstadt to the Lorsch Abbey on the Bergstraße for the upkeep of its daughter monastery, Steinbach, in the Odenwald.
As early as 1340 the Niedernberg Chapel, out of which it is generally believed grew today's parish church, Saint Cyriacus's, was conceived with small bequests. Both the tower and the “old quire” from 1461 are still preserved today. Extensive conversion and expansion measures were undertaken in 1897 and 1931 under Father Seubert. On the churchtower's south side is found Michael Groß's tomb slab, placed there in 1822. Groß was a jurist on the County bench. According to legend, he supposedly kept Niedernberg from destruction by the Swedes in the Thirty Years' War with his courage.
Northwest of what is today the village area – at the so-called Tannenwäldchen – was, in the Late Middle Ages, the hanging place of the tithing area of Bachgau, to which Niedernberg belonged. The tithe court itself sat in Großostheim, whence the delinquents took their last walk along the gallows path to the hanging place.
On into the 19th century, Niedernberg was ringed by a defensive wall, parts of which, along Turmgasse and Hintermauer – whose name means “Behind Wall” – are still standing today. It could not, however, shield the inhabitants from passing troops. In the wake of the Thirty Years' War alone, the population figure was reduced almost to a tenth of what it had been.
Many citizens left their homeland in the 19th century because of limited living space, various bad harvests and social upheavals and emigrated to the United States. Only towards the end of the century, when industrialized men's outerwear manufacture took hold in Aschaffenburg and the surrounding area was there a certain upswing in the level of wealth. To prepare for times of need, agriculture was also kept. This situation lasted until the 1970s.
From an ecclesiastical point of view, Niedernberg belonged from the early 8th century until Secularization in 1803 to the Archbishopric of Mainz. Thereafter, until 1820, Niedernberg was part of the Bishopric of Regensburg with its Archbishop Karl Theodor von Dalberg. Only in 1821 did Niedernberg become part of the Bishopric of Würzburg.
For many centuries, Niedernberg lay far from any main trade road and led a rather sheltered life. The only link between the Spessart and the Odenwald was the Main ferry, which was withdrawn in 1994. In the meantime, however, Niedernberg has undergone sweeping structural development and of the original pastoral idyll almost nothing is left. With the direct link to the Autobahn to the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region, the completion of a great industrial-commercial area and the Main Bridge, finished in 2001, the environment became conducive to attracting various employers to the municipality. Leaders among these are currently the electronics and computer field, and also concrete processing.
Niedernberg took a blow in 2002 from M+S Elektronik AG's bankruptcy; this company was listed on the stock exchange and for a long time was said to be a showcase company. Out of 1,800 laid-off workers, 600 at the Niedernberg location alone lost their jobs. The firm's downfall due to a business loan suddenly being withdrawn despite positive financial reports and high demand drew much attention from the news media with various reports. This led to one episode of the WDR series producing “the story” under the name Bankgeheimnisse, which is still being broadcast often on German television today.
Currently, the Tafeläcker building area is being developed in Niedernberg in four sections. There are to be sites for 200 dwellings. The first section has been completed; the demand has been unexpectedly high.
Religion
Some 70% of Niedernberg dwellers are Catholic and belong to St. Cyriacus's parish. The Christuskirche of the Evangelical Free Church community that has been in Niedernberg since 1999 is attended especially on weekends and higher church holidays by the faithful from the region and beyond. The nearest Evangelical Lutheran church is Saint Stephen's in Großostheim.Politics
Municipal council
Since the 2008 election, which saw a voter turnout of 56.97%, the 16-member municipal council has been made up of the following political parties, with seats apportioned as shown:- CSU: 7 seats
- Freie Wähler: 4 seats
- SPD: 3 seats
- IMUN : 2 seats
Mayors
In the 12 March 2006 mayoral election, Jürgen Reinhard was confirmed in office as the only candidate on the ballot with 97.53 of all valid votes, and with a voter turnout of 46.54%.
Town partnerships
From a sporting encounter in the town of Santes in the North of France in 1969 grew a friendly relationship, which on 3 May 1975 led to the signing of partnership documents between Santes and Niedernberg. In this way, both municipalities would like to make a contribution to international understanding.Subsequently, relations have been continually expanded and solidified through exchange visits. Since 1979 there have been student exchanges between the two places, which lie 580 km apart.