Wörth am Main


Wörth am Main is a town in the Miltenberg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It has a population of around 4,700.
WWW woerth-am-main.de

Geography

Location

Wörth am Main lies on the left bank of the Main, nestled between the hills of the Odenwald and Spessart, northwest of Miltenberg, and south of Aschaffenburg.
Wörth lies in the Bavarian section of the Naturpark Bergstraße-Odenwald.

History

It is believed that Roman soldiers built a simple earthen-wooden castrum in Wörth as early as Roman Emperor Domitian’s time, and later a massive stone castrum.
In Frankish times, beginning in the 6th century, Wörth was a centre of royal power and with Saint Martin’s Chapel, in today’s graveyard, it was a jumping-off point for Christian missionary work in the Odenwald.
The town was refounded on its current site in the latter half of the 13th century by the Lords of Breuberg under the overlordship of the Archbishops of Mainz. In 1291, it had its first documentary mention as the town of Werde. An important political change was the town's cession to the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1816.
Wörth has long been a site of ship and boat building. Inland navigation also was an important source of local income. From 1652 until 1918 up to three ship yards built wooden river boats and ships here. The last remaining yard eventually moved to Erlenbach across the river, where it still operates.

Arts and culture

The old town is characterized by the mediaeval town fortifications and many historic monuments and timber-frame houses. From the former Electoral Mainz castle, the tower with its Renaissance portal is still preserved.
Wörth lies on the Deutsche Limesstraße. In Wörth is found the archaeological monument that was once a Roman castrum at a spot where the older border, the Neckar-Odenwald Limes, met the Limes Germanicus following the Main river.
Wörth town forest offers more than of signposted hiking trails.

Museums

There are the Schiffahrts- und Schiffbaumuseum Wörth in the former St. Wolfgang-Kirche and a small branch office at the community centre with information about the Romans in Wörth.

Buildings

Bürgerhaus with Renaissance portal from 1600
  • Wörth Shipping and Shipbuilding Museum in the former St. Wolfgang-Kirche. The mostly Baroque building was used as a church until 1903.
  • New town with residential buildings made of bunter in numbers unique in Bavaria, 1883–85
  • Town centre with town hall, parish centre, railway station, vocational college, Wendelinuskapelle and estate St Nikolaus-Kirche, built in Romanesque Revival style from the year 1898, with a cross altar, Crucifixion group and Passion image
  • "Gallows" monument, made out of two 7-metre-tall sandstone pillars, 1754St Martin-Kapelle in the graveyard, 14th century, originally established, however, in the time when the Lower Main was ChristianizedSchlossturm, late 13th century
  • Upper gate, 15th centuryTannenturm, 15th century
  • Wörth castrum and castrum bath, lying below the mill, only discernible by low humps in the ground

Transport

Governance

Town twinning

Wörth am Main is twinned with:

Mayors

In March 2014 Andreas Fath was elected the new mayor. He is the successor of Erwin Dotzel, he was 30 years in office.