Weinheim
Weinheim is a town with about 43,000 inhabitants in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is in the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region, approximately north of Heidelberg and northeast of Mannheim. Weinheim is known as the "Zwei-Burgen-Stadt", the "town of two castles", after two fortresses overlooking the town from the edge of the Odenwald in the east.
Geography
Weinheim is situated on the Bergstraße theme route on the western rim of the Odenwald. The old town lies in the valley, with the new part of town further to the west. The Market Square is filled with numerous cafes, as well as the old Rathaus. Further to the south is the Schlossgarten and the Exotenwald, which contains species of trees imported from around the world, but mostly from North America and Japan.History
Weinheim celebrated its 1250th anniversary in 2005.The earliest record of Weinheim dates back to 755 CE, when the name "Winenheim" was recorded in the Lorsch codex, the record book of Lorsch Abbey.
In 1000, Emperor Otto III bestowed on Weinheim the right to hold markets, and in 1065 the right to mint and issue coins. A new town developed next to the old town from 1250. In 1308, the old town was transferred to the Electorate of the Palatinate and from 1368 the whole town belonged to the Electorate. From the end of the 14th century, the whole town belonged to the Heidelberg Oberamt district. With the transfer to Baden in 1803, Weinheim became the seat of its own Amt, until unification with the Mannheim Landkreis in 1936. Weinheim has been within the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis since its formation on 1 January 1973.
A Jewish community in Weinheim is recorded from 1228. There are records of Jewish persecution in 1298 and 1348–49 before the Jews were expelled from Weinheim in 1391. The Weinheim Jewish community began to grow again during the Thirty Years' War. There was a synagogue, a beth midrash, and a mikveh, and, in the 19th century, a school for boys together with a teacher-training college. The synagogue was destroyed in the Kristallnacht and the last remaining Jews were sent to Gurs on 22 October 1940.
Local attractions
- Windeck Castle, originally built around 1100 to protect the Lorsch monastery; it was badly damaged in the Thirty Years' War and again by Louis XIV of France in the Nine Years' War.
- Wachenburg Castle, built between 1907 and 1928 by German Student Corps fraternities; the annual convention of the Weinheimer Senioren-Convent is held at the Wachenburg.
- The Market Square
- The Schloss, home of the town council
- Gerberbach Quarter, the former tanning district
- Schlosspark
- Waidsee Lido, swimming beach on the Waidsee artificial lake
- Miramar thermal spa and sauna complex, next to the Waidsee lake
- Exotenwald Weinheim, a forest arboretum
- Schau- und Sichtungsgarten Hermannshof, a botanical garden
Museum
Events
- February: High-jump Gala, with world class high-jumpers
- March: the Sommertagszug, a festival celebrating the coming of summer.
- May/June : day of the Weinheimer Senioren-Convents
- June–August: Weinheim's summer of culture
- June: Scheuerfest in Ritschweier
- July: the Weinheim road race
- May–September: Kerwes in Rippenweier, Sulzbach, Lützelsachsen, Oberflockenbach und Hohensachsen
- August : Weinheim's Kerwe
- September : Weinheimer UKW-Tagung, a three-day international amateur radio meeting held annually since 1956
- October: Bergsträßer Winzerfest in Lützelsachsen
Economy
- Freudenberg Group
- Wiley-VCH publishers
- SAP SE
Transport
Trains
Weinheim has two main train stations on the Main-Neckar Railway: Weinheim station and Lützelsachsen. These provide connections to Frankfurt, Hamburg and other destinations within Germany.Weinheim is also served by the OEG tramway, which visits the town on the journey between Mannheim and Heidelberg.
Air
The closest airports to Weinheim are:- Frankfurt Airport
- Baden Airpark
Twin towns – sister cities
- Anet, France
- Cavaillon, France
- Eisleben, Germany
- Imola, Italy
- Ramat Gan, Israel
- Varces-Allières-et-Risset, France
Population
¹ These are taken from a Volkszählungsergebnis. Notable people
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