Brackenheim
Encyclopedia
Brackenheim is a town in the district of Heilbronn
Heilbronn (district)
Heilbronn is a district in the north of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Neckar-Odenwald, Hohenlohe, Schwäbisch Hall, Rems-Murr, Ludwigsburg, Enz, Karlsruhe and Rhein-Neckar...

 in Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...

 in southern 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 situated 15 km southwest of Heilbronn
Heilbronn
Heilbronn is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is completely surrounded by Heilbronn County and with approximately 123.000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state....

.
With an area of 826 hectare of vineyards, it's the biggest grape-growing municipality of Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....

.

Geographical position

Brackenheim is situated on the river Zaber
Zaber
The Zaber is a minor tributary of the River Neckar in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is some 22 km in length and joins the Neckar from the west at Lauffen am Neckar...

 in the Zabergäu in southwestern district of Heilbronn
Heilbronn
Heilbronn is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is completely surrounded by Heilbronn County and with approximately 123.000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state....

, in the north of Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...

, 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...

. The landscape is characterized by extensive vineyard
Vineyard
A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...

s.

Neighbouring municipalities

Neighbouring towns and municipalities (clockwise): Cleebronn
Cleebronn
Cleebronn is a municipality in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany.- Geography :Cleebronn is situated in the Zabergäu in the south of the district of Heilbronn, directly in the north of the Stromberg mountain with an elevation of 220-260m. The landscape is...

, Güglingen
Güglingen
Güglingen is a town in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is situated 18 km southwest of Heilbronn.-Geography:Güglingen is situated in a valley called Zabergäu in the southwest district of Heilbronn....

, Eppingen
Eppingen
Eppingen is a town in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The town has the second-largest population in the district....

, Schwaigern
Schwaigern
Schwaigern is a town in the district of Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 12 km west of Heilbronn.-Neighbouring municipalities:...

, Nordheim
Nordheim, Baden-Württemberg
Nordheim is a town in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....

, Lauffen (Neckar) (all district of Heilbronn), Kirchheim (Neckar) and Bönnigheim
Bönnigheim
Bönnigheim is a town in the German administrative district of Ludwigsburg which lies at the edge of the areas known as Stromberg and Zabergäu. The nearest large towns are Ludwigsburg and Heilbronn.- Geography :Districts of the town...

(both Ludwigsburg (district)
Ludwigsburg (district)
Ludwigsburg is a district in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Heilbronn, Rems-Murr, the district-free city Stuttgart, and the districts Böblingen and Enz.-History:...

).

Town structure

Apart from Brackenheim itself, it consists of the following:
  • Botenheim
  • Dürrenzimmern
  • Hausen an der Zaber
  • Haberschlacht
  • Meimsheim
  • Neipperg
  • Stockheim.

History

The communal land of Brackenheim has been settled for 5,000-6,000 years. Botenheim and Meimsheim were mentioned in the 12th century; Brackenheim was mentioned in 1246. Brackenheim received its town rights by King Rudolf I. von Habsburg in 1280. After a big fire in 1691 burning down 112 houses, the town had to be rebuilt in many places.

Owing to the communal reform from 1971 to 1974, the previous independent communities now representing districts were incorporated. The active construction of building has filled in the spaces previously between the districts and led to a huge increase of the population in Brackenheim. During 1995-2004 the town increased by about 2,700 inhabitants.

Religions

Brackenheim is the seat of Church District Brackenheim (deanery
Deanery
A Deanery is an ecclesiastical entity in both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of a Dean.- Catholic usage :...

) of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg
Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg
The Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg is a Protestant church in the German former state of Württemberg, now the part of the state Baden-Württemberg. The seat of the church is in Stuttgart.It is a full member of the Evangelical Church in Germany , and is a Lutheran Church...

. In Brackenheim, Botenheim, Dürrenzimmern, Hausen, Meimsheim and Neipperg there are separate parishs of each of these districts.
In Stockheim there is the Catholic Parish St. Ulrich, which also contains Haberschlacht and a district of Eppingen
Eppingen
Eppingen is a town in the district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The town has the second-largest population in the district....

 called Kleingartach. Neipperg belongs to the Parish St. Martinus in Schwaigern
Schwaigern
Schwaigern is a town in the district of Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 12 km west of Heilbronn.-Neighbouring municipalities:...

, the parish of Brackenheim contains the remaining districts. Both a free church and a Methodistic church is represented.

District council

By the municipal election of June 13, 2004, the district council of Brackenheim got 30 seats.
The election result is as follows:
party amount
/-
seats
/-
CDU
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...

 
38.8% (−4.7) 12 (−2)
FWB 33.6% (-3.9) 10 (−1)
SPD
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...

 
17.8% (−1.2) 5 (−1)
Liste 21 9.8% (+9.8) 3 (+3)


Further member of the district council and its chairman is the mayor.

Arms

In red a silver hound with a black collar. The municipality colours are white and red.

Even the oldest preserved seal of the 13th century shows a hound. In the course of the centuries, the dog was employed in different positions - standing, striding, jumping and so on - and with different extras like a collar or a necklace. In 1953, the arms were laid down in the current form by the district council.

Town twinnings

  • 1962: The contemporary district Neipperg concluded a partnership with the French
    France
    The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

     municipality Marsan (département
    Départements of France
    The departments of France are French administrative divisions. The 101 departments form one of the three levels of local government, together with the 22 metropolitan and 5 overseas regions above them and more than 36 000 communes beneath them...

     Gers
    Gers
    The Gers is a department in the Midi-Pyrénées region in the southwest of France named after the Gers River.Inhabitants are called les Gersois or Gersoises.-History:...

    ).
  • 1978: Brackenheim concluded a partnership with the French town Charnay-lés-Mâcon (département Saône-et-Loire
    Saône-et-Loire
    Saône-et-Loire is a French department, named after the Saône and the Loire rivers between which it lies.-History:When it was formed during the French Revolution, as of March 4, 1790 in fulfillment of the law of December 22, 1789, the new department combined parts of the provinces of southern...

    ).
  • 1996: The town concluded a further partnership with the Italian
    Italy
    Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

     municipality Castagnole delle Lanze (Province Asti
    Asti
    Asti is a city and comune of about 75,000 inhabitants located in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy, about 55 kilometres east of Turin in the plain of the Tanaro River...

    ).
  • 2001: The town concluded a friendship treaty with the Polish
    Poland
    Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

     municipality Zbrosławice (Voivodship Upper Silesia
    Upper Silesia
    Upper Silesia is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia. Since the 9th century, Upper Silesia has been part of Greater Moravia, the Duchy of Bohemia, the Piast Kingdom of Poland, again of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown and the Holy Roman Empire, as well as of...

    ).


Besides there are friendly relationships with Le Lude
Le Lude
Le Lude is a commune in the Sarthe department in the region of Pays-de-la-Loire in north-western France.-External links:*...

 (France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

) and Port Talbot
Port Talbot
Port Talbot is a town in Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It had a population of 35,633 in 2001.-History:Port Talbot grew out of the original small port and market town of Aberafan , which belonged to the medieval Lords of Afan. The area of the parish of Margam lying on the west bank of the lower Afan...

 (Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

).

Culture and sights

By the chapel in the castle, the association Kulturforum Brackenheim e. V. has its own scene with 200 seats for its disposal since 1994. It's employed to show concert, cabaret and theatre games.

Museums

The 1968 created urban Theodor-Heuss-Museum shows the life of Theodor Heuss
Theodor Heuss
Theodor Heuss was a liberal German politician who served as the first President of the Federal Republic of Germany after World War II from 1949 to 1959...

, the considerable son of this town. There are also native country museums in Brackenheim and its district Botenheim.

Buildings

At the graveyard of Brackenheim stands the first parish church, today's Protestant Johanniskirche, a Romance church with Gothic choir contenting wall drawings of the 13. and 14. century. During the reformation the onetime Gothic Jakobus Chapel was held up to the town church, founded about 1200.

The Brackenheim Castle in the south of the old part of town was built 1556-1559 instead of an old castle. After a fire, parts of the castle were rebuilt in 1677-1685.
In Botenheim there are the Gothic Marienkirche built 1350 and the Gülthaus of 1605. Dürrenzimmern shows its church of the 12th century and the onetime town hall of 1731.
Apart from that there are many churches in the districts of Brackenheim, emphasizing the Stocksberg Castle of the 16th century near Stockheim.

Protection of nature

In Brackenheim there are the nature reserves Zaberauen (near Botenheim) and Haberschlachter Tal (near Dürrenzimmern and Haberschlacht).

Economy and infrastructure

Grape-growing began in Brackenheim in the 14th century. Today (2008), Brackenheim is the largest grape-growing municipality of Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....

, with many varieties being grown on 826 hectares. Apart from 3 wine-cellars having 1200 members there are more than 30 self-marketers taking care of their wine marketing for themselves.

Traffic

There are connections to the long-distance traffic in Lauffen (Neckar) (B27) and Schwaigern
Schwaigern
Schwaigern is a town in the district of Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 12 km west of Heilbronn.-Neighbouring municipalities:...

 (B293). Public transport is ensured by buses. There are connections to the rail network in Lauffen (Neckar) and Schwaigern, too.

Institutions and court

In the urban hospital built in the 1960s there are 130 beds and 240 employees. The district court of Brackenheim with one judge is one of the smallest in Baden-Württemberg. Brackenheim also has a swim hall.

Education

The Theodor-Heuss-Schule is an elementary and secondary school. There are elementary schools in Botenheim, Dürrenzimmern, Hausen an der Zaber, Meimsheim, Neipperg and Stockheim as well. The Zabergäu-Gymnasium Brackenheim
Zabergäu-Gymnasium Brackenheim
The Zabergäu-Gymnasium Brackenheim is a general-education grammar school in Brackenheim. It is attended by about 1000 students from all over Zabergäu and its tradition goes back to the 15. century.- History :...

 (grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...

) is visited by nearly 1000 students from all over the Zabergäu. The urban library having more than 13.000 media is open to the public.

External links

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