Pforzheim


Pforzheim is a city of over 135,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany.
It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the nickname Goldstadt. With an area of, it is situated about halfway between the cities of Stuttgart and Karlsruhe at the confluence of three rivers. It lies on the border of Baden and Württemberg, on the Baden side. From 1535 to 1565, it was the home to the Margraves of Baden-Durlach.
The City of Pforzheim is a Stadtkreis, meaning it is both a municipality and a district at the same time. Also, it hosts the administrative offices of the Enz district that surrounds the city.
During World War II, Pforzheim was bombed by the Allies a number of times. The largest raid, and one of the most devastating area bombardments of World War II, was carried out by the Royal Air Force on the evening of 23 February 1945. Nearly one third of the town's population, 17,600 people, were killed in the air raid, and about 83% of the town's buildings were destroyed. The Allies believed that precision instruments were being produced here for use in the German war effort and that the town was a transport centre for the movement of German troops.
From 1945 to 1948, Pforzheim was administered by the United States military and was part of the short-lived state of Württemberg-Baden. In the 20 years following the end of the war, Pforzheim was gradually rebuilt. The town reflects the architecture of the postwar period and has some landmark buildings of the 1950s.

Geography

Pforzheim is located at the northern rim of the eastern part of the Black Forest and the rim of the hilly country of the Kraichgau, in an open valley at the confluences of the rivers Würm and Nagold, as well as the rivers Nagold and Enz. Due to its location, this city is also called the "three-valleys town" or the "Gateway to the Black Forest".
Pforzheim and its surrounding area belongs to the "Densely Populated Area Karlsruhe/Pforzheim". Pforzheim has the functions of a regional center for the towns and municipalities Birkenfeld, Eisingen, Engelsbrand, Friolzheim, Heimsheim, Ispringen, Kämpfelbach, Keltern, Kieselbronn, Königsbach-Stein, Mönsheim, Neuenbürg, Neuhausen, Neulingen, Niefern-Öschelbronn, Ölbronn-Dürrn, Remchingen, Straubenhardt, Tiefenbronn, Wiernsheim, Wimsheim and Wurmberg.

Neighbouring communities

The following towns and communities share borderlines with the City of Pforzheim. Below they are mentioned in clockwise order, beginning to the north of the city. Except for Unterreichenbach, which belongs to the district of Calw, all of them are part of the Enz district.
Ispringen, Neulingen, Kieselbronn, Niefern-Öschelbronn, Wurmberg, Wimsheim, Friolzheim, Tiefenbronn, Neuhausen, Unterreichenbach, Engelsbrand, Birkenfeld, Keltern and Kämpfelbach.

City wards

The city of Pforzheim consists of 16 city wards. The communities Büchenbronn, Eutingen an der Enz, Hohenwart, Huchenfeld and Würm, which by way of the latest regional administrative reform during the 1970s were incorporated into Pforzheim's administration, are represented by independent community councils and community administrations. In important matters concerning any of these communities the opinions of the respective community councils must be taken into consideration. However, final decisions on the matter will be made by the Pforzheim city council.
  • City center
  • Northern ward
  • Eastern ward
  • Southeastern ward
  • Southwestern ward
  • Western ward
  • Arlinger
  • Brötzingen
  • Buckenberg and Hagenschieß; including Altgefäll, Haidach and Wald-Siedlung
  • Büchenbronn including Sonnenberg
  • Sonnenhof
  • Dillweißenstein
  • Eutingen an der Enz including Mäuerach
  • Hohenwart
  • Huchenfeld
  • Würm

    Climate

History

It was settled by the Romans earlier than the current centers of Stuttgart and Karlsruhe were. These colonists constructed a ford through the river, shortly past the confluence of the three rivers, for their military highway. Due to this strategic location, Pforzheim later became a center for the timber-rafting trade, which transported timber from the Black Forest via the rivers Wuerm, Nagold, Enz and down the Neckar and Rhine to, among other markets, the Netherlands for use in shipbuilding. Their timbers were also used to construct the foundations for Amsterdam, which was built in a swamp.
Since 90: A settlement was established by Roman citizens at the Enz River near the modern Altstädter Brücke. Archeological surveys have unearthed several artifacts of that period which are kept and displayed in the Kappelhof Museum. The settlement was located where the Roman military road connecting the military camp Argentoratum and the military camp at Cannstatt at the Upper Germanic Limes border line of the Roman Empire crossed the Enz river.
This place was known as Portus, which is believed to be the origin of the first part of the city's name "Pforzheim". A Roman milestone from the year 245 was excavated in modern times at present-day Friolzheim; it is marked with the exact distance to 'Portus' and is the first documented evidence of the settlement.
259/260: The Roman settlement 'Portus' was destroyed completely, as the Frank and Alemanni tribes overran the Upper Germanic Limes border line of the Roman Empire and conquered the Roman administered area west of the Rhine River. From then on, over an extended period of time, historical records about the settlement were not available.
6th/7th century: Graves from this period indicate that the settlement had been continued.
1067: The settlement was mentioned as "Phorzheim" for the first time, in a document by Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor. Visits to Pforzheim by Heinrich IV in 1067 and 1074 are documented.
Before 1080: The "old town" of Pforzheim was awarded market rights. At that time Pforzheim belonged to the estate of Hirsau Monastery, according to monastery documents.
From 1150: Establishment of the "new town" west of the "old town" at the foot of the Schlossberg under Margrave Hermann V.
1200: The town charter of the "new town" was mentioned for the first time in a document. The "old town" continued to exist as a legally independent entity.
1220: The Margraves of Baden selected Pforzheim as their residence. This resulted in the "new town" becoming prominent.
1240: A mayor of Pforzheim was mentioned in a document for the first time.
13th/14th century: Pforzheim enjoyed its first period of flourishing. A group of influential patricians emerged. They developed the financial markets of those days. The town drew its income from the wood trade, timber rafting, the tannery trade, textile manufacturing, and other crafts. Documents mention mayor, judge, council and citizens.
The town walls surrounding the new town were completed about 1290. During this era, three Roman Catholic orders established their convents in town. Outside the town wall and across the Enz river, the suburb Flösser Quarters was established. Next to the western town wall, the suburb of Brötzingen gradually developed.
The Margraves of Baden considered Pforzheim as their most important power base up to the first half of the 14th century. Under Margrave Bernard I, Pforzheim became one of the administrative centers of the margraviate.
1322: Holy Ghost Hospital was founded at Tränk Street.

15th century

Various fraternities, also known as guilds, among people working in the same trade were established: The fraternity of tailors in 1410, the fraternity of bakers on 14 May 1422, the fraternity of the weavers in 1469, the fraternity of the wine-growers in 1491, the fraternity of the skippers and timber raftsmen in 1501, and the fraternity of the carters in 1512. Members of the same fraternity assisted each other in various ways, for example with funerals and in cases of sickness. In a sense, the fraternities were early forms of health and life insurance.
8–9 August 1418: Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor visits Margrave Bernard I in Pforzheim. On this occasion the mint of the Margraves of Baden in Pforzheim was mentioned. Mint master was Jakob Broeglin between 1414 and 1431. The emperor appointed the master of the Pforzheim mint, Jakob Bröglin, and Bois von der Winterbach for five years as Royal Mint Masters of the mints of Frankfurt and Nördlingen. The Margrave was appointed as their patron.
1447: The wedding of Margrave Charles I of Baden with Catherine of Austria, the sister of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, was celebrated in Pforzheim with great pomp.
1455: Johannes Reuchlin, the great German humanist, was born in Pforzheim on 29 January. He attended the Latin School section of the monastery school run by the Dominican order of Pforzheim in the late 1460s. Later, partly due to Reuchlin's efforts, the Latin School of Pforzheim developed into one of the most prominent schools in southwestern Germany, named Reuchlin-Gymnasium. The school's teachers and pupils played an outstanding role in the dissemination of the ideas of humanism and the protestant reformation movement. The most famous pupils included Reuchlin himself, Reuchlin's nephew Philipp Melanchthon, and Simon Grynaeus.
1460: Margrave Charles I established a kind of monastery at the site of Schlosskirche St. Michael, turning the church into a collegiate church. There were also plans to establish a university in Pforzheim, but this plan had to be abandoned because Margrave Charles I lost the Battle of Seckenheim.
1463: Margrave Charles I was forced to transfer the palace and the town of Pforzheim as a fiefdom to the Elector Palatine after losing the Battle of Seckenheim. He then began to build a new palace in modern Baden-Baden. Christoph I, Margrave of Baden-Baden finally moved the residence of the margraves to Baden-Baden. This gradually ended the first period of Pforzheim's flourishment. The rich merchants gradually left the town, which declined to the status of a country town of mostly small traders.
1486: The Weavers Ordinance for the towns Pforzheim und Ettlingen was approved by Christoph I, Margrave of Baden-Baden. This was a contract concerning the town privileges of Pforzheim. This regulation of the weaving trade did not allow the formation of a regular guild.
1491: A contract between Christoph I, Margrave of Baden-Baden and the citizens of Pforzheim was concluded, granting the town of Pforzheim several privileges concerning taxes and business.
1496: Foundation of the first printer's shop by Thomas Anshelm. During the first half of the 16th century Pforzheim's printers contributed significantly to the establishment of this new medium.