Augsburg-Bärenkeller
Encyclopedia
Bärenkeller is one of the seventeen highest level civic divisions, or Planungsräume (Singular: Planungsraum, English: planning district), of the city of Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...

, Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. It is located in the northwestern portion of the city and consists of only one Stadtbezirk, or ward, 23 Bärenkeller, with which it is coterminous. As of January 1, 2006, 7,360 people reside in Bärenkeller, which has an area of 2.99 km² (1.15 mi²).

Location

Bärenkeller is located in the northwestern portion of Augsburg. To the east, it borders the 21st and 22nd wards of the second Planungsraum, Oberhausen
Augsburg-Oberhausen
Oberhausen is one of the seventeen Planungsräume of Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany. Located in the northwestern portion of the city, it is home to 23,510 residents as of January 1, 2006, making it one of the larger planning districts in terms of population...

. To the south it borders the single-ward seventh Planungsraum, Kriegshaber. To the north it borders the city of Neusäß
Neusäß
Neusäß is a municipality in the district Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany. The town lies on the Schmutter river and borders the city of Augsburg. , the city had 21,914 inhabitants.-Town districts:* Alt-Neusäß* Hainhofen* Hamel* Westheim* Schlipsheim...

, and to the west the district borders the city of Gersthofen
Gersthofen
Gersthofen is a municipality in the district of Augsburg, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the west bank of the Lech River, approx. north of Augsburg....

.

History

The name Bärenkeller, which means "Bear Basement" in English, is derived from a hotel where medieval jesters gave accommodation to trained dancing bears. Bärenkeller was designated as a district of Augsburg, with its current name, in 1932. When it was originally developed, Bärenkeller was subdivided into blocks of small houses and apartment buildings. This spacious arrangement was meant to attract a more affluent class of residents, which was achieved to some extent with a small population of doctors
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

 and entrepreneurs occupying the blocks, but rather this setup reflected the social decline
Urban decay
Urban decay is the process whereby a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude...

 of the neighborhood as a large transient population of late-coming settlers and itinerant workers contributed to a strong and continual fluctuation in the neighborhood's population. For the most part, the apartment blocks
Tower block
A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, office tower, apartment block, or block of flats, is a tall building or structure used as a residential and/or office building...

 of Bärenkeller are very old, many do not possess bathrooms in the individual apartments, but rather contain shared facilities in the basement. However, Bärenkeller contains three of the oldest parks in Augsburg, which are collectively known as Am Viehmarkt.

Landmarks

On Hirblinger Street in Bärenkeller one can find the "zum Bärenkeller," an inn dating from the 14th century. The inn, which is the same inn which gave its name to the district, has five basement levels. It was a Gasthof vor den Toren (English: Hotel before the gates), tasked with caring for any travelers who had arrived at Augsburg after the city gates had been shut for a particular night. The inn is a protected historical location. Besides this, the district also contains two old churches, the catholic Saint Conrad, which provides social services for the local community, as well as the evangelical
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....

 Church of the Redeemer. The district contains a plaza used to hold festivals, and neighborhood celebrations take place there. The district is also home to its own sports association, SV Bärenkeller, which participates in local soccer
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

.

Transportation

Bärenkeller is connected to the greater Augsburg public transportation network via Augsburg bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...

lines 21 and 27, as well as the Regionalbus line 502. A small train station used to be located on Hirblinger Street, but today it is only used for local train transportation within the greater Augsburg area.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK