Bechtolsheim - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Bechtolsheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality

Municipalities of Germany

Municipalities are the lowest level of territorial division in Germany. This may be the fourth level of territorial division in Germany, apart from those states which include Regierungsbezirke , where municipalities then become the fifth level.-Overview:With more than 3,400,000 inhabitants, the...

belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
Verbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde is an administrative unit in the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt.-Rhineland-Palatinate:...

, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms

Alzey-Worms

Alzey-Worms is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the district Groß-Gerau , the city of Worms and the districts of Bad Dürkheim, Donnersbergkreis, Bad Kreuznach and Mainz-Bingen.- History :...

district in Rhineland-Palatinate

Rhineland-Palatinate

Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....

, 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 belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Alzey-Land

Alzey-Land

Alzey-Land is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Alzey-Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is located around the town Alzey, which is the seat of Alzey-Land, but not part of the Verbandsgemeinde....

, whose seat is in Alzey

Alzey

Alzey is a Verband-free town – one belonging to no Verbandsgemeinde – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the fourth-largest town in Rhenish Hesse, after Mainz, Worms, and Bingen....

Location

The municipality lies on the Selz

Selz

The Selz is a river in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, a left tributary to the Rhine. It flows through the biggest German wine region, which is called Rheinhessen....

, which here snakes along the Petersberg (mountain), at whose foot the municipality is found. The nearest towns are Alzey

Alzey

, with its dual administrative functions of district and Verbandsgemeinde seat, and Wörrstadt

Wörrstadt

Wörrstadt is a town in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :The town lies in Rhenish Hesse on the northwest edge of the Upper Rhine Plain...

, roughly 10 km away. The state

States of Germany

Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...

capital of Mainz

Mainz

Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...

, 30 km away, can be reached most quickly on Autobahn A 63

Bundesautobahn 63

is an autobahn in southwestern Germany. It connects the Mainz area to Kaiserslautern and the A 6 and is therefore an important connection between the Rhine/Main and the Saar areas...

.

As a winegrowing centre, Bechtolsheim lies in Germany’s biggest winegrowing district and in the middle of the Rheinhessen

Rheinhessen (wine region)

Rheinhessen is the largest of 13 German wine regions for quality wines with under cultivation in 2008. Named for the traditional region of Rhenish Hesse, it lies on the left bank of the River Rhine between Worms and Bingen in the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate...

(Rhenish Hesse) wine region.

The municipal area covers 1 065 ha, of which 300 ha is planted with grapevines.

Neighbouring municipalities

The municipality’s nearest neighbours are Biebelnheim

Biebelnheim

Biebelnheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...

(1 km) and Gau-Odernheim

Gau-Odernheim

Gau-Odernheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...

(1.5 km). After these come Gabsheim

Gabsheim

Gabsheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Wörrstadt, whose seat is in the like-named municipality.- Location :The municipality...

and Undenheim

Undenheim

Undenheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...

. With Weinolsheim

Weinolsheim

Weinolsheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.-Location:The municipality lies in Rhenish Hesse...

there is a common municipal limit, but aside from paths across the countryside, there is no road link.

New Stone Age

In the early 20th century, at what are now Bechtolsheim’s limits with Biebelnheim and Gabsheim, a stone axehead from the New Stone Age was found. On 7 February 1962, a skeleton was discovered in the form of a seated burial.

Roman times

Four Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

villas

Villa rustica

Villa rustica was the term used by the ancient Romans to denote a villa set in the open countryside, often as the hub of a large agricultural estate . The adjective rusticum was used to distinguish it from an urban or resort villa...

have been unearthed. Coins from Marcus Aurelius’s and Constantine the Great’s

Constantine I

Constantine the Great , also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was Roman Emperor from 306 to 337. Well known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, Constantine and co-Emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious tolerance of all...

time with Emperor Licinius

Licinius

Licinius I , was Roman Emperor from 308 to 324. Co-author of the Edict of Milan that granted official toleration to Christians in the Roman Empire, for the majority of his reign he was the rival of Constantine I...

’s effigy, a coin of Roman Empress Faustina, a little clay lamp

Oil lamp

An oil lamp is an object used to produce light continuously for a period of time using an oil-based fuel source. The use of oil lamps began thousands of years ago and is continued to this day....

with the potter’s mark Attus-a and a waterpipe, which could be Roman, have been found. It is hence plain to see that settlements had arisen here by the time between AD 260 and 400.

First documentary mention

Bechtolsheim had its first documentary mention in 766 on the occasion of the donation of a vineyard to Lorsch Abbey

Lorsch Abbey

The Abbey of Lorsch is a former Imperial Abbey in Lorsch, Germany, about 10 km east of Worms, one of the most renowned monasteries of the Carolingian Empire. Even in its ruined state, its remains are among the most important pre-Romanesque–Carolingian style buildings in Germany...

. At that time, the village was variously named Bertolfsheim, Bertolvesheim and Bertolfesheim. In 793, it was called Beralfesheim, in 798 Beratwolfesheim and in 800 Badolfesheim.

On 25 December 1250, King William II of Holland moved into Bechtolsheim “with great magnificence” and took up positions with his troops against Conrad IV

Conrad IV of Germany

Conrad IV was king of Jerusalem , of Germany , and of Sicily .-Biography:...

, whose armies lay near Oppenheim. At the time, the place belonged to Werner IV of Bolanden, who had taken William’s side. He was, however, vanquished by Conrad, and could only avert the sacking of his villages by ceding Bechtolsheim and Mommenheim to the Hohenfels sideline.

Bechtolsheim Freedom Letter and the time of joint holding

The Lords of Bolanden ceded their economic estate to their Hohenfels sideline. A further mention of Bechtolsheim is to be found in the Bechtolsheimer Freiheitsbrief (“Bechtolsheim Freedom Letter”) from Philip of Hohenfels the Elder in the foundation certificate of the joint holding (Ganerbschaft in German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

) from 15 November 1270. Joint landholders in this arrangement, besides the Barons of Dalberg and the Chamberlains of Worms, were the Barons Knebel von Katzenelnbogen, Mauchenheim called Bechtolsheim, the Barons of Dienheim, the Counts of Hallberg, the Barons Sturmfeder von Oppenheim, the Barons of Wallbrunn and Count Beckers von Westerstetten. Appearing for the first time about 1407 was a Wilhelmum de Mauchenheim d[ictum] Bechtolsheim, that is to say a “Wilhelm from Mauchenheim called Bechtolsheim”.

Up to 17 knightly families were resident in the village. In the end it was ruled by fewer noble families, namely von Dalberg, Nebel, Knebel, Beckers, Dienheim, Nordeck, Wallbrunn, Partenheim and Quernheim. For the building of the Muttergotteskirche (“Mother of God Church”, the one mentioned earlier, used as a “simultaneous” church), Popes Nicholas IV

Pope Nicholas IV

Pope Nicholas IV , born Girolamo Masci, was Pope from February 22, 1288 to April 4, 1292. A Franciscan friar, he had been legate to the Greeks under Pope Gregory X in 1272, succeeded Bonaventure as Minister General of his religious order in 1274, was made Cardinal Priest of Santa Prassede and...

in 1292, Boniface VIII

Pope Boniface VIII

Pope Boniface VIII , born Benedetto Gaetani, was Pope of the Catholic Church from 1294 to 1303. Today, Boniface VIII is probably best remembered for his feuds with Dante, who placed him in the Eighth circle of Hell in his Divina Commedia, among the Simonists.- Biography :Gaetani was born in 1235 in...

in 1313 and Benedict XII

Pope Benedict XII

Pope Benedict XII , born Jacques Fournier, the third of the Avignon Popes, was Pope from 1334 to 1342.-Early life:...

in 1341 published letters of indulgence, which can still be found in the church archives, and which show that half a century was spent building the church.

It was given the name of the great Mother of God Church, Ecclesia Major, B. M. V. (for Beatae Mariae Virginis, or “of the Blessed Virgin Mary”). It had many endowed altars at which the nobles exercised the right of presentation. The resident and regional nobles chose it as their burial site.

French Republic to German Empire

Between 1792 and 1814 Bechtolsheim belonged to the Department of Mont-Tonnerre

Mont-Tonnerre

Mont-Tonnerre is the name of a département of the First French Empire in present Germany. It is named after the highest point in the Rhenish Palatinate, the Donnersberg. It was the southernmost of four départements formed in 1798, when the west bank of the Rhine was annexed by France...

(or Donnersberg in German

German language

). Thereafter it was briefly ruled by the “Imperial-Royal Austrian and Royal Bavarian Civil Administration of Kreuznach”, and then from 1815 by the Grand Duchy of Hesse

Grand Duchy of Hesse

The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine , or, between 1806 and 1816, Grand Duchy of Hesse —as it was also known after 1816—was a member state of the German Confederation from 1806, when the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was elevated to a Grand Duchy, until 1918, when all the German...

in the newly created province of Rhenish Hesse (Rheinhessen). On 28 September 1896 the railway station on the Alzey–Bodenheim line was opened. On the night of 1 August 1904, the village’s belltower next to the simultaneous church burnt down after a lightning strike. The permanent water supply through watermains was ensured in 1906 with the Wasserzweckverband Rhein-Selz-Gebiet (“Rhine-Selz Area Water Purpose Association”), founded with neighbouring municipalities. After the First World War, Bechtolsheim belonged to the People's State of Hesse beginning in 1918. In 1937, the Province of Rhenish Hesse was abolished, and until the end of the Second World War, the municipality belonged to the district of Oppenheim or Alzey. On 20 March 1945, towards 16:00, United States troops occupied the village.

Rhineland-Palatinate and Federal Republic of Germany

At first Bechtolsheim belonged to the French Zone of Occupation and there became, as part of the Regierungsbezirk
Regierungsbezirk
In Germany, a Government District, in German: Regierungsbezirk – is a subdivision of certain federal states .They are above the Kreise, Landkreise, and kreisfreie Städte...

of Rheinhessen (Rhenish Hesse), part of the new state

States of Germany

of Rhineland-Palatinate

Rhineland-Palatinate

in Alzey-Worms district. With the creation of Verbandsgemeinde
Verbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde is an administrative unit in the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt.-Rhineland-Palatinate:...

n in Rhineland-Palatinate in 1969 and 1970, some of the administration was yielded to the Verbandsgemeinde of Alzey-Land

Alzey-Land

Religion

As at 31 December 2008, among inhabitants whose main dwelling is in Bechtolsheim, more than 53% are Evangelical

Evangelical Church in Germany

The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...

Christians and more than 26% are Roman Catholic. More than 16% have no religious persuasion. The rest of the inhabitants, roughly 5%, are split among various religious affiliations.

Both Christian

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

denominations are equally entitled to use the simultaneous church. The Catholic parish belongs to the Catholic Deaconry of Alzey – Gau-Bickelheim, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mainz, while the Evangelical parish belongs to the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau. The Evangelical parish office in Bechtolsheim also oversees the parishes in Biebelnheim

Biebelnheim

Biebelnheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...

, Ensheim

Ensheim

Ensheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...

and Spiesheim

Spiesheim

Spiesheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...

. The Catholic parish belongs, together with Biebelnheim to the Gau-Odernheim

Gau-Odernheim

Gau-Odernheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...

parish office.

From the 18th century through to the mid 1930s there was a small Jewish community. For institutions the Jews had a synagogue

Synagogue

A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...

or prayer room which is believed to have been set up in an existing building in 1845, and which served as the Jewish community’s religious centre until some time between 1900 and 1910. Owing to the sharp drop in the Jewish population the synagogue was closed, and in 1925, the run down building was torn down in 1925. As well as a synagogue, there were a yeshiva

Yeshiva

Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...

and a mikveh. The dead were buried in the Jewish graveyard within Gau-Odernheim’s municipal limits on a ridge at the Petersberg (mountain).

1804 39 Jewish inhabitants
1808 12 Jewish households
1824 66 Jewish inhabitants
1830 66 Jewish inhabitants
1855 80 Jewish inhabitants
1861 46 Jewish inhabitants
1900 19 Jewish inhabitants
1905 19–20 Jewish inhabitants (1.8 % of a total population of 1134)
1924 16 Jewish inhabitants
1933 10 Jewish inhabitants

After 1933, almost all the Jewish inhabitants either pulled out or emigrated in the face of systematic stripping of their rights and reprisals.

Population development

The figures for the number of inhabitants whose main residence is in Bechtolsheim, each time at 31 December unless otherwise stated, is as follows:

1815:		879
1835:		1,383
1871:		1,174
1905:		1,134
1939:		1,185
1950:		1,432
1961:		1,385
1970:		1,407
1972:		1,426
1987:		1,394
1991:		1,396
30 June 2005:		1,480
2005:		1,462
2006:		1,501
2007:		1,543
30 June 2008:		1,551

Municipal council

From the first election on 15 September 1946, the council was made up of 15 council members. Since 1989, that number was raised by one. Moreover, there is also an honorary mayor who serves as chairman.

The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:

Municipal election of	SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...	CDU	FWG Free Voters Free Voters is a German concept in which an association of persons participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party. Usually it is a locally organized group of voters in the form of a registered association . In most cases, Free Voters are active only at the...	Total
7 June 2009	6	3	7 (FWG Bechtolsheim)	16 seats
2004	5	2	9 (FWG Bechtolsheim)	16 seats
1999	?	?	?	16 seats
1994	?	?	?	16 seats
1989	?	?	? (WG Oehlhof)	16 seats
1984	?	?	? (WG Oehlhof)	15 seats
1979	?	?	? (WG Oehlhof)	15 seats
1974	?	?	? (WG Oehlhof)	15 seats
1969	4	3	8 (WG Oehlhof)	15 seats
1964	?	?	?	15 seats
1960	?	?	?	15 seats
1956	?	?	?	15 seats
1952	?	?	?	15 seats
1948	?	?	?	15 seats
15 September 1946	?	?	?	15 seats

The number of council members between 1919 and 1946 was as follows

1919–1922: 12 members
1923–1926: 11 members
1926–1929: 12 members
1929–1933: 11 members
1933–1945: 14 members (two members were excluded in July 1933 and replaced by others)
1945–1946: 9 members (as municipal committee)

Between 1919 and 1936, there was each time one municipal deputy, whereafter there were always two.

Mayors

In the time of joint holding (Ganerbschaft), there was a so-called Schultheiß
Schultheiß
In medieval Germany, the Schultheiß was the head of a municipality , a Vogt or an executive official of the ruler.As official it was...

(roughly, “reeve” or “sheriff”). The following list is incomplete:

Nichel Radan and Conrad Stantharte, about 1300
Johann von Bechtolsheim and his brother Wilderich, about 1350
Thomas Kempe, 1487
Thomas Cemppe, 1488
Groll, 1593 and 1595
Wilhelm Ungeradt, 1610
Joh. Schumann, 1628
Philipp Nau, 1699
Johann Fischer, 1705
? Schmidt, 18th century
? Theis, 18th century

From 1798, Bechtolsheim belonged to the French First Republic

French First Republic

The French First Republic was founded on 22 September 1792, by the newly established National Convention. The First Republic lasted until the declaration of the First French Empire in 1804 under Napoleon I...

and more specifically to the Canton de Wörrstadt in the Arrondissement communal de Mayence (Mayence is the French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

name for Mainz

Mainz

Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...

) in the Department of Mont-Tonnerre

Mont-Tonnerre

(or Donnersberg in German

German language

). Between 1798 and 1814 there was therefore a maire (French for “mayor”). After being assigned to the Grand Duchy of Hesse

Grand Duchy of Hesse

, the municipal head was ever after a Bürgermeister (German for “mayor”).

Jean Böhm (1798–1812), likewise responsible for Biebelnheim
Pierre/Peter Baum (1812–1822), likewise responsible for Biebelnheim
? Schuckmann (1822–1831), beginning here responsible only for Bechtolsheim
Baltasar Oehlhof (1831–1843)
Johann Best (1843–1849)
Baltasar Oehlhof (1849–1853)
Michael Köhler (1853–1874)
Peter Wirth (1874–1902)
Friedrich Schuckmann (1902–1933)
Johann Eger (1933–1934)
Heinrich Diel (1934–1945)
Johann Menges (1945–1951)
Theo Bretz (1951–1952)
Franz Mann (1952–1956)
Adam Schneider (1956–1960)
Erich Oehlhof (1960–1994) (Oehlhof Free Voters’ group)
Harald Kemptner (since 1994) (SPD)

Former coat of arms used until 1984

Blazon (German): Gespalten von Silber und Schwarz, belegt mit einem roten Balken.

In English heraldic

Heraldry

Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...

language, this might be rendered: Per pale argent and sable, a fess gules.

This escutcheon was handed down from a village court seal from 1590, two armorial reliefs at the town hall and a hand-drawn, official armorial page that came into being between 1790 and 1797.

Argent and sable (silver and black) were also the tincture

Tincture (heraldry)

In heraldry, tinctures are the colours used to emblazon a coat of arms. These can be divided into several categories including light tinctures called metals, dark tinctures called colours, nonstandard colours called stains, furs, and "proper". A charge tinctured proper is coloured as it would be...

s seen in the arms borne by the joint landholders, from 1270 the Barons of Dalberg, who built the church, the Barons of Sickingen and the Counts of Katzenelnbogen, and they thereby show the municipality’s link with the old Ganerbenschaft quite clearly. The fess gules (red horizontal stripe) might clearly and vividly express, among other things, the link with the Ganerbschaft, and also the villagers’ oneness.

This coat of arms was, however, unapproved, and logos of varying shapes were used in the decades that were to come. A coat of arms was published in 1905 by Karl Johann Brilmayer. This was recorded thus: The village bore two coats of arms, the Rhenish Knighthood’s and its own. This latter coat was party per pale (parted vertically down the middle) with the von Dalberg arms on the dexter (armsbearer’s right, viewer’s left) side and the von Knebel arms on the sinister (armsbearer’s left, viewer’s right) side. The Rhenish Knighthood’s arms, charge

Charge (heraldry)

In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon . This may be a geometric design or a symbolic representation of a person, animal, plant, object or other device...

d with an eagle, a dragonslayer, a castle and a lion surmounted by a bend (with a diagonal stripe superimposed on him) on a quarterly escutcheon, was never Bechtolsheim’s municipal coat of arms. The second coat of arms contains in simplified form on the dexter side the lilies of the Barons of Dalberg or Chaimberlains Knebel von Katzenelnbogen. Both families belonged to the Bechtolsheim Ganerbschaft, and along with the Barons of Mauchenheim, were the most important of the families belonging to it.

The divided shield with the Dalberg lilies and the Knebel von Katzenelnbogen insignia was commonly regarded in Bechtolsheim as the municipality’s arms..

Approved coat of arms used since 1984

On 31 January 1984, the municipality was granted a coat of arms, whose German blazon reads as follows: Von Blau, darin je eine silberne Lilie, und Silber, darin je ein schwarzer Ring, geviert, belegt mit einem schwarzen Balken.

In English heraldic

Heraldry

language, this might be rendered: Quarterly surmounted by a fess sable, first and fourth azure a fleur-de-lis argent, second and third argent an annulet of the first.

Theatre

Theater- und Carnevalverein Bechtolsheim e.V. (theatre and carnival club), since 1892

Music

Musikzug der Freiwilligen Feuerwehr (volunteer fire brigade’s musical parade), since 1962

Buildings

In the Nachrichtliches Verzeichnis der Kulturdenkmäler Rheinland-Pfalz für den Landkreis Alzey-Worms (“News Directory of Rhineland-Palatinate Cultural Monuments for the District of Alzey-Worms”) from the Generaldirektion Kulturelles Erbe (“General Directorate of Cultural Heritage”), the following buildings and monuments in Bechtolsheim are listed:

Fortifications
- A piece of the former village fortification, remnants of wall and double ditch, the typical impenetrable hedgerows (Gebück), today converted into a pedestrian bypass around the village centre. Remnants of the mediaeval
  Middle Ages
  The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
  
  wall ditch fortification with Gebück.
- former village fortification, mediaeval wall ditch fortification on the village’s southeast outskirts.
Village centre
- Langgasse (“Long Lane”) between the intersection with Dolgesheimer Straße in the north and Sulzheimer Straße in the south, typical Rhenish-Hessian house and farm types from the 17th to the 20th century, including the street itself with historic paving. Called Denkmalzone Langgasse (“Long Lane Monument Zone”).
  - Three-naved Late Gothic “Shared church” church, Saint Mary’s and Saint Christopher’s (Simultankirche St. Maria und St. Christopherus) with Late Gothic decorated pews and a Stumm organ
    Organ (music)
    The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
    
    .
  - Bechtolsheim Belltower, at the simultaneous church.
  - Late Baroque
    Baroque architecture
    Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
    
    graveyard cross with Christ’s body, 1755, at the simultaneous church.
  - Langgasse 11: former Evangelical
    Evangelical Church in Germany
    The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
    
    school, late Classicist
    Classicism
    Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...
    
    plastered building, 1854.
  - Langgasse 17: former Catholic school, late Classicist plastered building, mid 19th century.
  - Langgasse 18: Evangelical parsonage, from the 18th century with memorial plaque to the Reverend Wilhelm Hoffmann, who became well known for his contributions to Rhenish-Hessian folklore.
  - Langgasse 28: Baroque timber-frame
    Timber framing
    Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
    
    house, partly solid, early 18th century.
  - Langgasse 29: Baroque timber-frame house, partly solid, 18th century, gateway from early half of 19th century.
  - Langgasse 44: Town hall from 1592 with arcades on the south side and a half-hipped roof, partly timber framing, works from the Renaissance
    Renaissance
    The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
    
    , spolia
    Spolia
    Spolia is a modern art-historical term used to describe the re-use of earlier building material or decorative sculpture on new monuments...
    
    from the 12th and 16th to 18th centuries.
  - Langgasse 53: Late Baroque house, partly timber framing, 1795
  - Langgasse 61: former keystone, 1610
  - (opposite) Langgasse 93: wayside cross, Baroque, 1740
- Section of an old graveyard, gravestones, about 1870-1940, veterans’ graves 1912 on.
- Bahnhofstraße: former railway station, two-part Late Gründerzeit
  Gründerzeit
  ' refers to the economic phase in 19th century Germany and Austria before the great stock market crash of 1873. At this time in Central Europe the age of industrialisation was taking place, whose beginnings were found in the 1840s...
  
  clinker brick building, plank goods shed, about 1826
- Schlossgasse 8: Hakenhof; Late Baroque house, partly timber framing, about 1800
- Schlossgasse 10: Renaissance inscription plaque, 1580 (endower’s plaque for the moated castle of the Lords of Dalberg).
- Sulzheimer Straße 6: timber-frame house, partly solid, early half of 18th century, gateway from early half of 19th century.
- Sulzheimer Straße 20: timber-frame house, mid 18th century.
- Sulzheimer Straße 23: relief stone, 17th/18th century.
- Sulzheimer Straße 40: farmstead; Baroque timber-frame house, partly solid, 18th century.
Gemarkung Laimen
- Water cistern; Art Nouveau
  Art Nouveau
  Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
  
  -type building, bossed blocks made of Flonheim sandstone, 1906

Sport

Sportverein Bechtolsheim e.V. (SVB) (sport club)

At the municipality’s disposal are a so-called sport centre with two football pitches (one turf, the other hard) and a sport hall with a clubhouse, and two tennis courts with artificial turf in the club’s old new development area.

Schützenverein Petersberg Bechtolsheim e.V. (shooting club)

The club’s shooting facility can be found on the road from Gau-Odernheim to Undenheim.

Freizeitsportverein Bechtolsheim (sport club)

Moreover, the municipality also has the “Bechtolsheim Leisure Sport Club”, which split from the SVB in 1982.

Regular events

Yearly kermis (church consecration festival, locally known as the Kerb or Kerwe) on the last weekend in August

Since 1985, the kermis has been regularly held in Bechtolsheim. It is organized and run by the municipality’s 20-year-old Kerbeborsch and Kerbemäd (dialectal German for “kermis lads” and “kermis lasses”)

The Kerbeborsch put the kermis tree (Kerbebaum – rather like a Maypole) up with the kermis wreath (Kerbekranz), with the typical Rhenish-Hessian dishes Weck, Worscht un Woi (Brötchen, Wurst und Wein in Standard High German

German language

, or “buns, sausage and wine”), and also Brezel

Pretzel

A pretzel is a type of baked food made from dough in soft and hard varieties and savory or sweet flavors in a unique knot-like shape, originating in Europe...

. Then, the festival starts with the call Wem geheert die Kerb? (“To whom does the kermis belong?”), answered with UNSER (“Ours”), and with the kermis dance. The Kerbejahrgang (the 20-year-old “lads” and “lasses”) always gives the yearly kermis a particular motto.

Established businesses

The municipality’s economy is based mainly on winegrowing and agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

. There are at least 13 wineries as well as a winemaking cooperative

Winemaking cooperative

A winemaking cooperative is an agricultural cooperative which is involved in winemaking, and which in similarity to other cooperatives is owned by its members...

. Furthermore, the municipality is home to the kitchens of a medium-sized bakery business that supplies its own two shops in Bechtolsheim and Gau-Odernheim and also the travelling sales booths. The shop in Bechtolsheim is also a small supermarket, café and Toto Lotto centre. Through the café and the bakery, the Landmarkt (“country market”) is open the whole week.

Further businesses in town are three automotive workshops, a discount filling station

Filling station

A filling station, also known as a fueling station, garage, gasbar , gas station , petrol bunk , petrol pump , petrol garage, petrol kiosk , petrol station "'servo"' in Australia or service station, is a facility which sells fuel and lubricants...

, an agricultural supply dealership, a carpentry shop, a fruitgrowing operation, a beekeeper, three hairdresser’s shops, a dentistry practice and other, smaller service businesses.

Until the turn of the century, the Volksbank Wörrstadt e.G. (now known as the Volksbank Alzey e.G.) and the Kreissparkasse Alzey (district savings bank) each had a branch in Bechtolsheim. After they both closed, the savings bank’s premises were converted into a self-service kiosk with a transfer terminal for both banks including an account statement printer, and automated teller machine

Automated teller machine

An automated teller machine or automatic teller machine, also known as a Cashpoint , cash machine or sometimes a hole in the wall in British English, is a computerised telecommunications device that provides the clients of a financial institution with access to financial transactions in a public...

s. In the Volksbank’s building, flats are now to be found. Only the entrance door gives any hint that it was once a bank.

Even the postal centre (Poststelle – not a full post office, but run by postal employees), in existence in 1995 and 1996 was first converted into a postal agency (Postagentur – an operation not run by postal employees) with two agents, and then a few years later it was dissolved altogether. The nearest postal agency can now be found in Gau-Odernheim.

Transport

Through the municipality runs a Kreisstraße
Kreisstraße
A Kreisstraße is a class of road in Germany. It carries traffic between the towns and villages within a Kreis or district or between two neighbouring districts. In terms of importance, the Kreisstraße ranks below a Landesstraße , but above a Gemeindestraße or "local road"...

(district road). The nearest Autobahn is the A 63

Bundesautobahn 63

is an autobahn in southwestern Germany. It connects the Mainz area to Kaiserslautern and the A 6 and is therefore an important connection between the Rhine/Main and the Saar areas...

about 5 km away, accessible through the Biebelnheim interchange

Interchange (road)

In the field of road transport, an interchange is a road junction that typically uses grade separation, and one or more ramps, to permit traffic on at least one highway to pass through the junction without directly crossing any other traffic stream. It differs from a standard intersection, at which...

. Local public transport is provided by bus links to Alzey and Mainz run by Omnibusverkehr Rhein-Nahe (ORN).

Between 1896 and 31 May 1985, there was a railway station in the municipality on the line running between Bodenheim and Alzey. Thereafter, the line was used only for goods transport, mainly for the sugar beet

Sugar beet

Sugar beet, a cultivated plant of Beta vulgaris, is a plant whose tuber contains a high concentration of sucrose. It is grown commercially for sugar production. Sugar beets and other B...

harvest. In 1995 came permanent closure, and work was begun to tear the tracks up.

Media

Since 1986, a small group has been publishing a newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

, the so-called Bechtolsheimer Ortsschelle. The paper appears monthly and contains mainly the protocols of past municipal council meetings, as well as club news and information on events. It is financed by advertising by local businesses. The circulation in 2008 was 350, and the price was €1.

Public institutions

Evangelical kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
Bechtolsheim Volunteer Fire Brigade, since 1872

Education

The municipality has one primary school, which also takes school-age children from the neighbouring municipality of Biebelnheim. Secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

s are to be found in Gau-Odernheim, Alzey and Wörrstadt.
The Evangelical
Evangelical Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...

church maintains a library at its youth centre.

Clubs

Heimatverein Bechtolsheim e.V. (local history)
Landfrauenverein (countrywomen)
Männerballett „Die Scheinheiligen Mönche“ (men’s ballet)
Motorradclub – MCB (motorcycles)
Theater- und Carnevalsverein Bechtolsheim – TCVB (theatre and carnival)

Famous people associated with the municipality

Wilhelm Hoffmann (Volkskundler) (1865–1942), Rhenish-Hessian folklore researcher, clergyman in Bechtolsheim from 1916 to 1934
Karl Oberle (1874–1942), deacon in Bechtolsheim

External links

Municipality’s official webpage
Bechtolsheim in the collective municipality’s Web pages
Der Streit um den Glockenturm ist längst Geschichte Article in the Rhein Main Presse 24 February 2004
Municipal statistics for Bechtolsheim from 30 June 2005 in the Web pages of KommWis

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Location

Neighbouring municipalities

New Stone Age

Roman times

First documentary mention

Bechtolsheim Freedom Letter and the time of joint holding

French Republic to German Empire

Rhineland-Palatinate and Federal Republic of Germany

Religion

Population development

Municipal council

Mayors

Former coat of arms used until 1984

Approved coat of arms used since 1984

Theatre

Music

Buildings

Sport

Regular events

Established businesses

Transport

Media

Public institutions

Education

Clubs

Famous people associated with the municipality

Further reading

External links