ASCHAFFENBURG

'Aschaffenburg' (; dialect: [ˈaʒəˌbɜːʃ]) is a large town in north west Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the right bank of the Main at the foot of the Spessart. The town of Aschaffenburg is not considered part of the district of Aschaffenburg, but is the administrative seat. It is also known as the ''Tor zum Spessart'' or "gate to the Spessart." Although it is within Bavaria, the town inhabitants claim to be Franconians, not Bavarians. This can be doubted as well as the town never was part of historical Franconia, it belonged to the Archbishopric of Mainz and therefore the inhabitants neither speak bavarian nor franconian but hessian dialect.

Contents

History

Etymology

Brief history

Sights

Population

Town twinning

References

External links

History

Etymology

The name ''Aschaffenburg'' (''Ascaffaburc, Ascapha'' or ''Ascaphaburg'' in the middle-ages) originally means "castle at the ash tree river" deriving from the river ''Aschaff'' that runs through parts of the town.

Brief history

The earliest remains of settlements in the area of Aschaffenburg go back to the Stone Age. Aschaffenburg, called in the Middle Ages ''Ascaffaburc, Ascapha'' or ''Ascaphaburg'', was originally a settlement of the Alamanni. Roman legions also had their station here, and on the ruins of their ''castra'' the Frankish mayors of the palace built a castle. Saint Boniface erected a chapel to Saint Martin, and founded a Benedictine monastery. A stone bridge over the Main was built by Archbishop Willigis in 989. Adalbert increased the importance the town in various ways about 1122. In 1292 a synod was held here, and in 1474 an imperial diet, preliminary to that of Vienna, in which the concordat was decided which has therefore sometimes called the ''Aschaffenburg Concordat''.
The town suffered greatly during the Thirty Years' War, being held in turn by the various belligerents. In 1842-1849, King Ludwig I of Bavaria built himself to the west of the town a country house, ''Pompejanum'', so called from its being an imitation of the house of Castor and Pollux at Pompeii. In 1866 the Prussians inflicted a severe defeat on the Austrians in the neighbourhood during the Austro-Prussian War.
In the World War II Aschaffenburg was heavily damaged by allied area bombing, including Schloss Johannisburg.
The county district of Aschaffenburg, deriving its name from the town, consisted an area of 1694 km². It formed part of the electorate of the Archbishop of Mainz, and in 1803 was made over to the chancellor, Archbishop Charles of Dalberg. In 1806 it was annexed to the grand duchy of Frankfurt; and in 1814 was transferred to Bavaria, in virtue of a treaty concluded between that power and Austria. Within Unterfranken, it now forms a part of the Bundesland of Bavaria.

Sights

Its chief buildings are the Schloss Johannisburg, built (1605-1614) by Archbishop Schweikard von Kronberg, which contains a library with a number of incunabula, a collection of engravings and paintings; the Stiftskirche basilica, founded in 974 by Otto of Swabia, duke of Bavaria, but dating in the main from the early 12th century on, in which are preserved various monuments by the Vischers, a sarcophagus with the relics of Saint Margaret, and a famous painting by Matthias Grünewald; the Capuchin hospital; a theatre, which was formerly a house of the Teutonic Order; and several mansions of the nobility.
The graves of Clemens Brentano and his brother Christian Brentano (died 1851) and that of Wilhelm Heinse are on the ''Altstadtfriedhof''.^[1]



Aschaffenburg was the location of several United States Army installations throughout the cold war. The US Army occupied facilities formerly used and controlled by the Wehrmacht. The installation sites were known as Ready Kaserne, Smith Kaserne, Graves Kaserne, Fiori Kaserne, Engineer Kaserne and Jaeger Kasern, housing armour, infantry, engineer, maintenance and artillery elements of the US Army 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division and various VII Corps elements including the 9th Engineer Brigade. Much of the US Army presence in Aschaffenburg ended in 1992 with the ending of the cold war. The last bases will be handed back in 2007.

Population

'Historical population
of Aschaffenburg'

Year Population 1939 48,042 1950 48,947 1961 58,433 1970 59,838 1987 60,964 2002 68,682 2004 68,703 2006 69,863

Town twinning

Aschaffenburg is twinned with:

★ Perth, Scotland^[2][3]

★ Miskolc, Hungary

★ Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France

References

1. http://www.1911encyclopedia.org http://www.1911encyclopedia.org
2.
"Am Ufer des Flusses Tay, im Herzen Schottlands und nicht weit entfernt von den Highlands, liegt Perth, die Fair City. Einstmals Schottlands Hauptstadt" , Stadt Aschaffenburg official website, accessed 24 May 2007
3. "Perth is situated in the heart of Scotland", Perth City official website, accessed 24 May 2007

External links

★ Official Website (German, English, French, Italian, Hebrew)

★ Webcam Aschaffenburg Beautiful live view on Schloss Johannisburg, Pompeiianum and the river Main