Bruchsal
Encyclopedia
Bruchsal is a city at the western edge of the Kraichgau
, approximately 20 km northeast of Karlsruhe
in the state of Baden-Württemberg
, Germany. It is located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route
.
Bruchsal is the largest city in the district of Karlsruhe
and is known for being Europe's largest asparagus
producer and one of the economic centers of the region of Karlsruhe
. The Bruchsal area also includes the cities and towns of Bad Schönborn
, Forst
, Hambrücken
, Karlsdorf-Neuthard
, Kraichtal
, Kronau
, Oberhausen-Rheinhausen
, Östringen
, Philippsburg
, Ubstadt-Weiher
and Waghäusel
. Until 1972 Bruchsal was the seat of the district of Bruchsal, which was merged into the district of Karlsruhe
as a result of the district reform, effective January 1, 1973.
Bruchsal's population passed the 20,000 mark around 1955. When the new Body of Municipal Law for Baden-Württemberg went into effect on April 1, 1956, the city was therefore immediately awarded Große Kreisstadt status. In addition, Bruchsal cooperates with the neighboring communities of Forst
, Hambrücken
and Karlsdorf-Neuthard
in administrative matters.
along the Saalbach
, which is a small tributary of the Rhine that joins it between Philippsburg
and Oberhausen
.
, Ubstadt-Weiher
, Kraichtal
, Bretten
, Gondelsheim
, Walzbachtal
, Weingarten (Baden)
, Stutensee
and Karlsdorf-Neuthard
. In addition the incontiguous land North of Karlsdorf-Neuthard, that is part of the City of Bruchsal, shares borders with the towns of Graben-Neudorf
, Waghäusel
und Hambrücken
.
A few neighborhoods within the city limits are known by their own name, but their limits are not precisely documented. Furthermore, former homesteads are located inside today's city limits. These often only consist of one or several buildings, such as Langental, Rohrbacher Hof, Scheckenbronnerhof, Staighof, Talmühle and Auf dem Michaelsberg in the borough of Untergrombach.
during the Neolithic
. In the core of Bruchsal the oldest settlement discovered was dated back to 640 AD. It is located near the present Peterskirche. The first mention of Bruchsal in official documents occurred in 976 when the King came to town. During October of the year 980, Otto II
and his Court stayed at the King's palace in Bruchsal for several days.
became ruler of Bruchsal in 1002 following the subjugation of his rival Herrmann of Swabia
. In 1056 Henry III
presented the settlement to the bishop of Speyer (Konrad I)
as a gift. The city remained part the diocese until the German Mediatisation
in 1802. It also was the seat of an administrative district that originally only consisted of the core of Bruchsal (i.e., the city as it existed prior to the various district reforms). In 1067 Henry IV
resided in Bruchsal from time to time. 1248 was the first time Bruchsal was referred to as a city, and in 1278 St. Peter's Church is mentioned for the first time. After extensive damage to both, the Palace and the Peterskirch were reconstructed in 1320. The Bergfried (an outlook and defensive tower bastion) was erected in 1358, and the city wall was completed in 1452. In 1460 the first coin was minted in Bruchsal.
), led by Joß Fritz of Untergrombach, chose Bruchsal as its target. Traitors to the rebellion allowed the authorities to take the revolt's leaders into custody. Ten were decapitated in the Bruchsal Palace courtyard. Joß Fritz got away and went into hiding in the Southern Black Forest
. In 1525 the peasant revolts peaked. Inflation, hunger and the Plague
added to the desperation, and the revolts were forcibly put down by the Prince. The known peasant leaders Hall, Wurm and the Minister Eisenhut were captured and decapitated in the Palace courtyard. During the 30 Years War in 1622 Bruchsal was completely destroyed, and in 1644 the French garrison in Philippsburg raided the city. In 1676 the French again destroyed parts of Bruchsal, and on August 10, 1689 the city was bombarded by the French general Duras and was completely destroyed. After that Bruchsal counted only 130 residents.
By April 24, 1711 Bruchsal had recovered sufficiently to play host to Prince Eugene of Savoy
of the Habsburg
Court in Vienna
. Then in 1716 the Bishop of Speyer, Heinrich von Rollingen, moved his residence into the Bruchsal Palace. This move elevated the city's status to that of an official residence of the Diocese of Speyer
. At the same time, Bruchsal became the seat of the "Vizedomamt", the most important office held by the Diocese on the West bank of the Rhine. In 1719 Cardinal Damian Hugo von Schönborn became the new Bishop, and after settling in he commissioned in (1722), among others, the new baroque
château and the new Peter's Church (from 1742). Both were built and, in part, designed by Balthasar Neumann
. In the Bishop's honor, the Southern gate out of the château grounds is referred to as Damian's Gate to this day. In 1743 Franz Christof von Hutten, Schönborn's successor, completed the extensive construction of the baroque city of Bruchsal, by adding Damian's Gate, the military barracks and the Water Château (home to one of the city's two regional, college track high schools, the Schönborn Gymnasium).
, took up office. Bruchsal now counted 6,000 residents. In 1796 French troops occupied the city. German Mediatisation turned all property owned by the Diocese of Speyer over to the House of Baden
, and Bruchsal became the seat of the district court. The district then was divided and reunited several times through 1819.
In 1806 the Marquess Amalie of Baden, widowed since 1801, took up residence in Bruchsal's baroque château and lived there until 1823. She had 8 children of whom 6 were daughters, and she was known as Europe's mother-in-law. Amalie's son, the later Grand Duke Karl
, was married to Stéphanie de Beauharnais
, a niece of Napoleon
's wife Josephine
per orders given by Napoleon himself. In 1812 Stephanie gave birth to a son, who died after 14 days. This was the origin of the legend of Kaspar Hauser
's nobility. Amalie's daughter Louise was married to Alexander I of Russia
and became the Russian Tsarina Elisabeth Alexeievna
. Amalie's daughter Friedericke
wed Gustaf IV Adolf
to become Queen of Sweden (though she asked for and received asylum in Bruchsal after 1807 due to the coup d'état
of her husband's government). Amalie's daughter Maria was married to the Duke of Braunschweig, and two other daughters were married to the regents of Bavaria
and of Hessen-Darmstadt
.
In 1815, after Napoleon's reign was over, Bruchsal and Amalie entertained the following company in the baroque château at Bruchsal until the dust settled: The Russian Tsar
, Prince Metternich
, the King of Prussia
, as well as his son, the later Emperor
of Germany.
, Bruchsal, and Karlsruhe
. In 1848/1849 the Baden Revolution
did manage to stray into Bruchsal a bit. While the revolutionaries (Gustav Struve
, Lorenz Brentano, Amand Goegg and others) met in the château, the burgers freed prisoners from the just-completed prison. This prison, the Old Palace, was the scene of executions well into World War II and even later. On June 23, 1849, the revolution was quelled by Crown Prince Wilhelm at the battle of Ubstadt. 1856 brought gas lighting
to Bruchsal, and the city received Baden's Guillotine
. In 1864 the district of Philippsburg was merged WITH the Bruchsal district, which now belonged to the newly formed "Greater Karlsruhe." On June 1, 1869 the first German railway signal
factory, Schnabel-Henning, was founded in Bruchsal. Later it was merged with Siemens AG
, and the Franco-Prussian War
of 1870 and 1871 made Bruchsal an important rail hub
for the provisioning of German troops.
was built. The Industrial Revolution
brought economic growth, mostly with the help of the railway and the area's tobacco
and hops
production. 1889 gave residents in Bruchsal their first telephone
s, and in 1906 the Prince-Styrum Hospital was built. The city's slaughterhouse
opened in 1908, and World War I again turned Bruchsal into a major hub on the supply line for the troops. Immediately after the war, in 1919 and 1920 the city was wired for electricity
. When the Nazis came to power in 1933 the city's residents took it in their stride. In 1934 the Autobahn was built between Heidelberg
and Bruchsal, and in 1936 the Bretten
district was merged with the Bruchsal district. In 1938 the Nazis destroyed the synagogue (in its place stands a fire station today), and the Jewish part of the population was deported. In 1939 the District Bruchsal became the district of Bruchsal, which included 38 towns and cities until it was merged into Karlsruhe (district) during the district reform of 1970. On the afternoon of March 1, 1945, Bruchsal was bombed by the Allies. At the time of the attack, the war was essentially over, with the front lines only 20 km from the city limits and nearly no one left to defend it. To this day, that particular attack upsets residents as the consensus is that it had been staged even though unnecessary and inconsequential to the outcome of the war. There are allegations that the attack by U.S. bombers was conducted in retaliation for the killing of a parachuted pilot by farmers.http://www.aoshs.org/memories/Memorydetail.asp?MemoryID=59&VolumeID=1 In addition to the 1,000 lives that perished that day, the entire inner city and the baroque château were destroyed. On April 2, 1945, allied forces took Bruchsal without resistance.
. As a result, Bruchsal lost its district seat status, though it still remains a major economic centre of the region.
Figures reflect the city limits at the time and are estimates or Census data (¹), or official extensions thereof, counting only primary residences.
¹ Census data
were amended to introduce borough councils. Residents of each borough elect their Borough Council at each municipal election. The Borough Council must be consulted on issues that significantly affect the respective borough. The Borough President also leads the Borough Council.
{| border="0"
| valign="top" |
{| class="wikitable"
! Party
! Seats
|-
| align="left" | CDU
|| align="right" | 18
|-
| align="left" | SPD
|| align="right" | 8
|-
| align="left" | Independents || align="right" | 6
|-
| align="left" | Bündnis 90/Green Party
|| align="right" | 4
|-
| align="left" | FDP
|| align="right" | 2
|}
Mayors since 1900
features a solid, polished silver cross on blue background, with a silver ball in the top left quadrant. The official city colors are white and blue. The Coat of Arms symbolized the Cross of Speyer, referring to the fact that Bruchsal was the official residence of the Bishop until 1803, and has been in use for many centuries. There is some uncertainty as to how the ball came into the picture. It is possible that the ball became part of the Coat of Arms by accident, in that an engraving fault may have been misinterpreted in an older print. Residents refer to it commonly as the Taint ("Schandfleck") of the city.
of Bruchsal was built in the baroque
style of the mid 18th century starting around 1720 and served as the official residence of the bishops of Speyer
. Its centre was a three-winged building that was based on the plans of Maximilian von Welsch
. After the plans had been modified several times, the central staircase was built by Balthasar Neumann
, who had taken over and filled the role of Chief Engineer since 1731. It is generally regarded as one of the most successful design solutions for a baroque staircase. The Château complex includes numerous other buildings, among them Damian's Gate and the Church of the Court. In the closing days of World War II the Château was badly damaged as a result of the air raid aimed at Bruchsal, and it burned out completely. The famous staircase largely survived (though it was badly damaged), but the dome did not.
After lengthy discussions about whether and how it should be done, the large central part of the building (Corps de Logis
) was reconstructed (well into the 1970s) as a museum, while the Church wing design was changed to a modern design.
The Belvedere was originally designed as a Manor for fun and games, to which a shooting house was added for use in the shooting competitions often held by the Court. As time went by, the Manor was nicknamed Belvedere by the city's residents, as it enjoyed the best view of the city. The Belvedere is part of the City Gardens.
The most significant church in Bruchsal is St. Peter's Church, where the last of the Bishops of Speyer were laid to rest. Another important church structure is the City Church of Our Lady and the Martin-Luther-Church (the main Protestant church of the city). City Hall adjacent to the Market Place is a modern building erected in the 1950s which has since been protected by law as an important historic structure.
The prison, constructed ca. 1848, is nicknamed the Cafe with Eight Corners or "Cafe Achteck". Today it is a high security institution and predominantly houses individuals convicted of violent crimes and convicted terrorists, such as members of the Red Army Faction
.
Additionally, the boroughs of Heidelsheim and Untergrombach each maintain a museum of local history, and a Kindergartenmuseum displays items showing the history and development of preschools and includes games, dolls, and preschool furnishings. Inside Damian's Gate at the southern exit of the château grounds, the local art society (Kunstverein Bruchsal e. V.) exhibits contemporary art.
Bruchsal also supports an amateur theater company called Die Koralle. Die Koralle has produced between two and four plays a year, both modern and of the classics, since approximately 1965.
Willi - die Bühne organizes independent arts events from time to time at the city slaughterhouse.
Although Bruchsal is a fairly small city it has a very active night life.
Bruchsal is located near the Autobahn A 5
(Karlsruhe
- Frankfurt) (Bruchsal Exit). In addition, the city is traversed by federal highways B 3 (Karlsruhe - Heidelberg
) and B 35 (Bretten
- Germersheim
).
Bruchsal station
, designed and built by Berthold Schweikert, is located at the intersection of the Karlsruhe–Heidelberg line, the line to Mühlacker
and the line to Germersheim
.
Light rail or "S-Bahn" Lines S 3 (Karlsruhe - Heidelberg - Speyer
) and S 4 (Bruchsal - Heidelberg - Speyer) of the S-Bahn RheinNeckar, and the S 31 (Karlsruhe - Bruchsal - Odenheim), S 32 (Karlsruhe - Bruchsal - Menzingen
) and S 9 (Bruchsal - Bretten
- Knittlingen
- Mühlacker
) lines of the Stadtbahn Karlsruhe
in the Karlsruher Verkehrsverbunds (KVV) also stop at the Bruchsal station. Furthermore, most of the boroughs have stops along these light rail lines.
Additional public transportation within the city and its immediate surroundings (ÖPNV) is offered by numerous bus lines.
Willi, a monthly magazine, is published and is also available online, at no charge, in .pdf form.
Stadtinfoplattform Bruchsal-XL offers facts, reports and up-to-date information on events in the city and region.
Cable TV's Channel S14 broadcasts the Bruchsal-Magazin BM-TV with weekly programs on news from Bruchsal and the region. These broadcasts are also available via live Internet-TV through the Stadtinfoplattform Bruchsal-XL.de site. Also available are online archives.
Finally, the Bruchsaler Wochenblatt, a weekly offered free of charge, and the Kurier, an advertising weekly published by the Badischen Neuesten Nachrichten and also offered free of charge, round out the picture.
Bruchsal also offers a wide variety of liberal arts schools, among them the Justus-Knecht-Gymnasium, the Schönborn-Gymnasium (both public college-track high schools), the St. Paulusheim
gymnasium, a private college-track high school that started out as a boys-only boarding school, and the Albert-Schweitzer-Realschule, a non-college track public high school (all in the core of Bruchsal).
The school system also operates the following grammar and middle schools: Burg School in the borough of Obergrombach, Dietrich-Bonhoeffer-School, Johann-Peter-Hebel-School (near the Château Gardens), Joss-Fritz-School in Untergrombach, Konrad-Adenauer-School in the southern core of the city and Stirum School in the centrum, as well as an independent grammar school each in the boroughs of Büchenau and Helmsheim.
Specialized schools are offered as well: Pestalozzi School for the learning disabled and, administered by the district of Karlsruhe, Karl-Berberich-School for the mentally disabled. The district also runs the four vocational schools located in Bruchsal. They are the Balthasar-Neumann-School I, Balthasar-Neumann-School II (teaching artisan, mechanics and other hands-on occupations), the merchant and bookkeeping school (teaching administrative and merchant professions) and Käthe-Kollwitz-School (teaching professions in the field of home economics).
The Abendrealschule Bruchsal allows students with middle school diplomas to achieve the first in a series of steps to gain college entrance prerequisites on a part-time basis after work. It is part of a structured program commonly referred to as the Alternate Path to Higher Education. Furthermore, three private schools, the nursing school attached to the Fürst-Stirum-Klinik Bruchsal and the College for Special Education of St. Maria complete Bruchsal's educational offers.
to the following cities: Sainte-Menehould
, France, since 1965 Cwmbran
, United Kingdom, since 1979 Sainte Marie-aux-Mines, France, since 1989 Tržič
, Slovenia
Kraichgau
The Kraichgau is a hilly region in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Odenwald and the Neckar to the North, the Black Forest to the South, and the Upper Rhine Plain to the West. To the east, its boundary is considered to be the Stromberg, the Hardt, and the...
, approximately 20 km northeast of Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
in the state 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. It is located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route
Bertha Benz Memorial Route
The Bertha Benz Memorial Route is a German tourist and theme route in Baden-Württemberg and member of the European Route of Industrial Heritage...
.
Bruchsal is the largest city in the district of Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe (district)
Karlsruhe is a rural district in the north-west of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Rhein-Neckar, Heilbronn,Enz, Calw, Rastatt, Germersheim, Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis and the district-free city Speyer...
and is known for being Europe's largest asparagus
Asparagus
Asparagus officinalis is a spring vegetable, a flowering perennialplant species in the genus Asparagus. It was once classified in the lily family, like its Allium cousins, onions and garlic, but the Liliaceae have been split and the onion-like plants are now in the family Amaryllidaceae and...
producer and one of the economic centers of the region of Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe (region)
Karlsruhe is one of the four administrative districts of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located in the north-west of the state. It is subdivided into the three regional associations : Mittlerer Oberrhein , Rhein-Neckar and Nordschwarzwald .- External links :*...
. The Bruchsal area also includes the cities and towns of Bad Schönborn
Bad Schönborn
Bad Schönborn is a municipality in northern Karlsruhe district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the Bertha Benz Memorial Route....
, Forst
Forst (Baden)
Forst is a town in the district of Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route 2 km north of Bruchsal and shares a direct border with that city....
, Hambrücken
Hambrücken
Hambrücken is a town in Northern Karlsruhe County in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route. It is twinned with the town and Commune of La Bouëxière, France.-External links:****...
, Karlsdorf-Neuthard
Karlsdorf-Neuthard
Karlsdorf-Neuthard is a municipality in the district of Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.-Location:Karlsdorf-Neuthard is located about 6 km to the west of Bruchsal and about 18 km to the northeast of Karlsruhe.-History:...
, Kraichtal
Kraichtal
Kraichtal is a town in the north-eastern part of the Karlsruhe district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was founded in 1971 by a merger of nine smaller municipalities.-Geography:...
, Kronau
Kronau (Baden)
Kronau is a town in Northern Karlsruhe County in Baden-Württemberg, Germany....
, Oberhausen-Rheinhausen
Oberhausen-Rheinhausen
Oberhausen-Rheinhausen is a town in Northern Karlsruhe County in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.-External links:*...
, Östringen
Östringen
Östringen is a town in Northern Karlsruhe district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Östringen is a sister city with Abergavenny, South Wales.-References:...
, Philippsburg
Philippsburg
Philippsburg is a town in Germany, in the district of Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg.-History:Before 1632, Philippsburg was known as "Udenheim".The city was a possession of the Bishop of Speyer from 1371–1718...
, Ubstadt-Weiher
Ubstadt-Weiher
Ubstadt-Weiher is a municipality in northern Karlsruhe district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route.The four villages that make up the municipality are : Ubstadt, Weiher, Zeutern, and Stettfeld. The area in between and around these villages is numbered with...
and Waghäusel
Waghäusel
Waghäusel is a German town located in the Rhine valley in the south-western state of Baden-Württemberg. Waghäusel consists of 3 townships which are the core city , Kirrlach , and Wiesental [as of March 31, 2006]...
. Until 1972 Bruchsal was the seat of the district of Bruchsal, which was merged into the district of Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe (district)
Karlsruhe is a rural district in the north-west of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Rhein-Neckar, Heilbronn,Enz, Calw, Rastatt, Germersheim, Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis and the district-free city Speyer...
as a result of the district reform, effective January 1, 1973.
Bruchsal's population passed the 20,000 mark around 1955. When the new Body of Municipal Law for Baden-Württemberg went into effect on April 1, 1956, the city was therefore immediately awarded Große Kreisstadt status. In addition, Bruchsal cooperates with the neighboring communities of Forst
Forst (Baden)
Forst is a town in the district of Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route 2 km north of Bruchsal and shares a direct border with that city....
, Hambrücken
Hambrücken
Hambrücken is a town in Northern Karlsruhe County in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route. It is twinned with the town and Commune of La Bouëxière, France.-External links:****...
and Karlsdorf-Neuthard
Karlsdorf-Neuthard
Karlsdorf-Neuthard is a municipality in the district of Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.-Location:Karlsdorf-Neuthard is located about 6 km to the west of Bruchsal and about 18 km to the northeast of Karlsruhe.-History:...
in administrative matters.
Geography
Bruchsal is located at the edge of the Upper Rhine River Plains and the KraichgauKraichgau
The Kraichgau is a hilly region in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Odenwald and the Neckar to the North, the Black Forest to the South, and the Upper Rhine Plain to the West. To the east, its boundary is considered to be the Stromberg, the Hardt, and the...
along the Saalbach
Saalbach (river)
The Saalbach is a 50 km long right tributary of the Rhine River running through the German state of Baden-Württemberg. The river source is in the Kraichgau region near the city of Bretten, formed by the confluence of the Weißach und Salzach Rivers. It then flows through Gondelsheim to the...
, which is a small tributary of the Rhine that joins it between Philippsburg
Philippsburg
Philippsburg is a town in Germany, in the district of Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg.-History:Before 1632, Philippsburg was known as "Udenheim".The city was a possession of the Bishop of Speyer from 1371–1718...
and Oberhausen
Oberhausen-Rheinhausen
Oberhausen-Rheinhausen is a town in Northern Karlsruhe County in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.-External links:*...
.
Neighboring communities
The following cities and towns share a border with Bruchsal. They all belong to the district of Karlsruhe and are listed clockwise, starting in the North: Forst (Baden)Forst (Baden)
Forst is a town in the district of Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route 2 km north of Bruchsal and shares a direct border with that city....
, Ubstadt-Weiher
Ubstadt-Weiher
Ubstadt-Weiher is a municipality in northern Karlsruhe district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route.The four villages that make up the municipality are : Ubstadt, Weiher, Zeutern, and Stettfeld. The area in between and around these villages is numbered with...
, Kraichtal
Kraichtal
Kraichtal is a town in the north-eastern part of the Karlsruhe district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was founded in 1971 by a merger of nine smaller municipalities.-Geography:...
, Bretten
Bretten
Bretten is a town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route.-Geography:Bretten lies in the centre of a rectangle that is formed by Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, Heilbronn and Stuttgart as corners. It has a population of approximately 28,000. The centre of...
, Gondelsheim
Gondelsheim
Gondelsheim is a town in Northern Karlsruhe County in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route 3 km southeast of Bruchsal and shares a direct border with that city....
, Walzbachtal
Walzbachtal
Walzbachtal is a town in northwestern Karlsruhe district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany....
, Weingarten (Baden)
Weingarten (Baden)
Weingarten is a municipality in the district of Karlsruhe in southwestern Germany, situated at the transition from the Kraichgau to the Rhine valley. Its name means vine garden in German...
, Stutensee
Stutensee
Stutensee is a town in northern Karlsruhe district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.It was founded in 1975 by the voluntary connection of the four villages of Blankenloch with Büchig, Friedrichstal, Spöck and Staffort...
and Karlsdorf-Neuthard
Karlsdorf-Neuthard
Karlsdorf-Neuthard is a municipality in the district of Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.-Location:Karlsdorf-Neuthard is located about 6 km to the west of Bruchsal and about 18 km to the northeast of Karlsruhe.-History:...
. In addition the incontiguous land North of Karlsdorf-Neuthard, that is part of the City of Bruchsal, shares borders with the towns of Graben-Neudorf
Graben-Neudorf
Graben-Neudorf is a town in Northern Karlsruhe County in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.-Early history:The village of Graben was probably created between the 5th and 7th Century, though this isn't entirely certain. An ancient Roman road connecting Kehl, Mühlburg, Heidelberg, and Neuenheim runs...
, Waghäusel
Waghäusel
Waghäusel is a German town located in the Rhine valley in the south-western state of Baden-Württemberg. Waghäusel consists of 3 townships which are the core city , Kirrlach , and Wiesental [as of March 31, 2006]...
und Hambrücken
Hambrücken
Hambrücken is a town in Northern Karlsruhe County in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route. It is twinned with the town and Commune of La Bouëxière, France.-External links:****...
.
Boroughs
The city of Bruchsal is made up of Bruchsal proper along with the boroughs of Büchenau, Heidelsheim, Helmsheim, Obergrombach and Untergrombach.A few neighborhoods within the city limits are known by their own name, but their limits are not precisely documented. Furthermore, former homesteads are located inside today's city limits. These often only consist of one or several buildings, such as Langental, Rohrbacher Hof, Scheckenbronnerhof, Staighof, Talmühle and Auf dem Michaelsberg in the borough of Untergrombach.
Ancient era and early Middle Ages
Excavations and artifacts provide evidence of a settlement on the Michelsberg (Untergrombach) as early as 4000 BC4th millennium BC
The 4th millennium BC saw major changes in human culture. It marked the beginning of the Bronze Age and of writing.The city states of Sumer and the kingdom of Egypt were established and grew to prominence. Agriculture spread widely across Eurasia...
during the Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
. In the core of Bruchsal the oldest settlement discovered was dated back to 640 AD. It is located near the present Peterskirche. The first mention of Bruchsal in official documents occurred in 976 when the King came to town. During October of the year 980, Otto II
Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor
Otto II , called the Red, was the third ruler of the Saxon or Ottonian dynasty, the son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Italy.-Early years and co-ruler with Otto I:...
and his Court stayed at the King's palace in Bruchsal for several days.
Middle Ages
Henry IIHenry II, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry II , also referred to as Saint Henry, Obl.S.B., was the fifth and last Holy Roman Emperor of the Ottonian dynasty, from his coronation in Rome in 1014 until his death a decade later. He was crowned King of the Germans in 1002 and King of Italy in 1004...
became ruler of Bruchsal in 1002 following the subjugation of his rival Herrmann of Swabia
Herman II, Duke of Swabia
Herman II was the Conradine duke of Swabia from 997 to his death, as the son of and successor Conrad I.Herman opposed the election of Henry IV, Duke of Bavaria, as king of Germany because he himself had been a contender...
. In 1056 Henry III
Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry III , called the Black or the Pious, was a member of the Salian Dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors...
presented the settlement to the bishop of Speyer (Konrad I)
Bishopric of Speyer
The Bishopric of Speyer was a state, ruled by Prince-Bishops, in what is today the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It was secularized in 1803...
as a gift. The city remained part the diocese until the German Mediatisation
German Mediatisation
The German Mediatisation was the series of mediatisations and secularisations that occurred in Germany between 1795 and 1814, during the latter part of the era of the French Revolution and then the Napoleonic Era....
in 1802. It also was the seat of an administrative district that originally only consisted of the core of Bruchsal (i.e., the city as it existed prior to the various district reforms). In 1067 Henry IV
Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry IV was King of the Romans from 1056 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 until his forced abdication in 1105. He was the third emperor of the Salian dynasty and one of the most powerful and important figures of the 11th century...
resided in Bruchsal from time to time. 1248 was the first time Bruchsal was referred to as a city, and in 1278 St. Peter's Church is mentioned for the first time. After extensive damage to both, the Palace and the Peterskirch were reconstructed in 1320. The Bergfried (an outlook and defensive tower bastion) was erected in 1358, and the city wall was completed in 1452. In 1460 the first coin was minted in Bruchsal.
1501 - 1750
In 1502 the first peasant revolt (BundschuhBundschuh movement
The Bundschuh movement was a loosely linked series of localized peasant rebellions in southwestern Germany. It played an important part in the German Peasants' War of the early 15th and 16th centuries. It was so called because of the peasant shoe the peasants displayed on their flag – symbolizing...
), led by Joß Fritz of Untergrombach, chose Bruchsal as its target. Traitors to the rebellion allowed the authorities to take the revolt's leaders into custody. Ten were decapitated in the Bruchsal Palace courtyard. Joß Fritz got away and went into hiding in the Southern Black Forest
Black Forest
The Black Forest is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres ....
. In 1525 the peasant revolts peaked. Inflation, hunger and the Plague
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
added to the desperation, and the revolts were forcibly put down by the Prince. The known peasant leaders Hall, Wurm and the Minister Eisenhut were captured and decapitated in the Palace courtyard. During the 30 Years War in 1622 Bruchsal was completely destroyed, and in 1644 the French garrison in Philippsburg raided the city. In 1676 the French again destroyed parts of Bruchsal, and on August 10, 1689 the city was bombarded by the French general Duras and was completely destroyed. After that Bruchsal counted only 130 residents.
By April 24, 1711 Bruchsal had recovered sufficiently to play host to Prince Eugene of Savoy
Prince Eugene of Savoy
Prince Eugene of Savoy , was one of the most successful military commanders in modern European history, rising to the highest offices of state at the Imperial court in Vienna. Born in Paris to aristocratic Italian parents, Eugene grew up around the French court of King Louis XIV...
of the Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
Court in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. Then in 1716 the Bishop of Speyer, Heinrich von Rollingen, moved his residence into the Bruchsal Palace. This move elevated the city's status to that of an official residence of the Diocese of Speyer
Diocese of Speyer
The Diocese of Speyer is a diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. The diocese is located in the South of the Rhineland-Palatinate and comprises also the Saarpfalz district in the east of the Saarland. The bishop's see is in the Palatinate city of Speyer.The current bishop is Karl-Heinz...
. At the same time, Bruchsal became the seat of the "Vizedomamt", the most important office held by the Diocese on the West bank of the Rhine. In 1719 Cardinal Damian Hugo von Schönborn became the new Bishop, and after settling in he commissioned in (1722), among others, the new baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
château and the new Peter's Church (from 1742). Both were built and, in part, designed by Balthasar Neumann
Balthasar Neumann
Johann Balthasar Neumann , also known as Balthasar Neumann, was a [German] military artillery engineer and architect who developed a refined brand of Baroque architecture, fusing Austrian, Bohemian, Italian, and French elements to design some of the most impressive buildings of the period,...
. In the Bishop's honor, the Southern gate out of the château grounds is referred to as Damian's Gate to this day. In 1743 Franz Christof von Hutten, Schönborn's successor, completed the extensive construction of the baroque city of Bruchsal, by adding Damian's Gate, the military barracks and the Water Château (home to one of the city's two regional, college track high schools, the Schönborn Gymnasium).
1751 - 1815
In 1753 the Schönborn Gymnasium was founded by Bishop von Hutten. In 1770 the new Bishop, Count August von Limburg-StirumAugust Philip of Limburg Stirum
August Philipp Karl of Limburg Stirum, count of Limburg Stirum and Bronckhorst, was born in 1721, son of Otto Leopold Count von Limburg Styrum und Bronckhorst, Lord of Gemen and Raesfeld and Anna Elisabeth countess of Schönborn .August Philipp was Prince-Bishop of Speyer and sovereign Lord zu...
, took up office. Bruchsal now counted 6,000 residents. In 1796 French troops occupied the city. German Mediatisation turned all property owned by the Diocese of Speyer over to the House of Baden
Baden
Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
, and Bruchsal became the seat of the district court. The district then was divided and reunited several times through 1819.
In 1806 the Marquess Amalie of Baden, widowed since 1801, took up residence in Bruchsal's baroque château and lived there until 1823. She had 8 children of whom 6 were daughters, and she was known as Europe's mother-in-law. Amalie's son, the later Grand Duke Karl
Karl, Grand Duke of Baden
Charles, Grand Duke of Baden became ruler of Baden on June 11, 1811 and ruled until his death. He was born in Karlsruhe....
, was married to Stéphanie de Beauharnais
Stéphanie de Beauharnais
Stéphanie, Grand Duchess of Baden was the consort of Karl, Grand Duke of Baden.-Biography:...
, a niece of Napoleon
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
's wife Josephine
Joséphine de Beauharnais
Joséphine de Beauharnais was the first wife of Napoléon Bonaparte, and thus the first Empress of the French. Her first husband Alexandre de Beauharnais had been guillotined during the Reign of Terror, and she had been imprisoned in the Carmes prison until her release five days after Alexandre's...
per orders given by Napoleon himself. In 1812 Stephanie gave birth to a son, who died after 14 days. This was the origin of the legend of Kaspar Hauser
Kaspar Hauser
Kaspar Hauser was a German youth who claimed to have grown up in the total isolation of a darkened cell. Hauser's claims, and his subsequent death by stabbing, sparked much debate and controversy....
's nobility. Amalie's daughter Louise was married to Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....
and became the Russian Tsarina Elisabeth Alexeievna
Louise of Baden
Elizabeth Alexeievna was the wife of Emperor Alexander I of Russia.-Princess of Baden:...
. Amalie's daughter Friedericke
Frederica of Baden
Friederike Dorothea Wilhelmina of Baden was Queen consort of Sweden from 1797 to 1809. Daughter of Karl Ludwig of Baden and Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt, she was the younger sister of Empress Elisabeth Alexeievna , wife of Tsar Alexander I of Russia.-Biography:She was born in Karlsruhe...
wed Gustaf IV Adolf
Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden
Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden also Gustav Adolph was King of Sweden from 1792 until his abdication in 1809. He was the son of Gustav III of Sweden and his queen consort Sophia Magdalena, eldest daughter of Frederick V of Denmark and his first wife Louise of Great Britain. He was the last Swedish...
to become Queen of Sweden (though she asked for and received asylum in Bruchsal after 1807 due to the coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
of her husband's government). Amalie's daughter Maria was married to the Duke of Braunschweig, and two other daughters were married to the regents of 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...
and of Hessen-Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
.
In 1815, after Napoleon's reign was over, Bruchsal and Amalie entertained the following company in the baroque château at Bruchsal until the dust settled: The Russian Tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
, Prince Metternich
Klemens Wenzel von Metternich
Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich was a German-born Austrian politician and statesman and was one of the most important diplomats of his era...
, the King of Prussia
Frederick William III of Prussia
Frederick William III was king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel .-Early life:...
, as well as his son, the later Emperor
Kaiser
Kaiser is the German title meaning "Emperor", with Kaiserin being the female equivalent, "Empress". Like the Russian Czar it is directly derived from the Latin Emperors' title of Caesar, which in turn is derived from the personal name of a branch of the gens Julia, to which Gaius Julius Caesar,...
of Germany.
1816 - 1880
In 1841 the Rhine Valley Railway was completed between HeidelbergHeidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
, Bruchsal, and Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
. In 1848/1849 the Baden Revolution
History of Baden
The history of Baden as a state began in the 12th century, as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire. A fairly inconsequential margraviate that was divided between various branches of its ruling family for much of its history, it gained both status and territory during the Napoleonic era, when it was...
did manage to stray into Bruchsal a bit. While the revolutionaries (Gustav Struve
Gustav Struve
Gustav Struve, known as Gustav von Struve until he gave up his title, , was a German politician, lawyer and publicist, and a revolutionary during the German revolution of 1848-1849 in Baden...
, Lorenz Brentano, Amand Goegg and others) met in the château, the burgers freed prisoners from the just-completed prison. This prison, the Old Palace, was the scene of executions well into World War II and even later. On June 23, 1849, the revolution was quelled by Crown Prince Wilhelm at the battle of Ubstadt. 1856 brought gas lighting
Gas lighting
Gas lighting is production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, including hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, or natural gas. Before electricity became sufficiently widespread and economical to allow for general public use, gas was the most...
to Bruchsal, and the city received Baden's Guillotine
Guillotine
The guillotine is a device used for carrying out :executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which an angled blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the head from the body...
. In 1864 the district of Philippsburg was merged WITH the Bruchsal district, which now belonged to the newly formed "Greater Karlsruhe." On June 1, 1869 the first German railway signal
Railway signal
A signal is a mechanical or electrical device erected beside a railway line to pass information relating to the state of the line ahead to train/engine drivers. The driver interprets the signal's indication and acts accordingly...
factory, Schnabel-Henning, was founded in Bruchsal. Later it was merged with Siemens AG
Siemens AG
Siemens AG is a German multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Munich, Germany. It is the largest Europe-based electronics and electrical engineering company....
, and the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
of 1870 and 1871 made Bruchsal an important rail hub
Rail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...
for the provisioning of German troops.
1881 - 1945
In 1881 a Jewish synagogueSynagogue
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...
was built. The Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
brought economic growth, mostly with the help of the railway and the area's tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
and hops
Hop (plant)
Humulus, Hop, is a small genus of flowering plants native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The female flowers of H. lupulus are known as hops, and are used as a culinary flavoring and stabilizer, especially in the brewing of beer...
production. 1889 gave residents in Bruchsal their first telephone
Telephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
s, and in 1906 the Prince-Styrum Hospital was built. The city's slaughterhouse
Meat packing industry
The meat packing industry handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock...
opened in 1908, and World War I again turned Bruchsal into a major hub on the supply line for the troops. Immediately after the war, in 1919 and 1920 the city was wired for electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
. When the Nazis came to power in 1933 the city's residents took it in their stride. In 1934 the Autobahn was built between Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
and Bruchsal, and in 1936 the Bretten
Bretten
Bretten is a town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route.-Geography:Bretten lies in the centre of a rectangle that is formed by Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, Heilbronn and Stuttgart as corners. It has a population of approximately 28,000. The centre of...
district was merged with the Bruchsal district. In 1938 the Nazis destroyed the synagogue (in its place stands a fire station today), and the Jewish part of the population was deported. In 1939 the District Bruchsal became the district of Bruchsal, which included 38 towns and cities until it was merged into Karlsruhe (district) during the district reform of 1970. On the afternoon of March 1, 1945, Bruchsal was bombed by the Allies. At the time of the attack, the war was essentially over, with the front lines only 20 km from the city limits and nearly no one left to defend it. To this day, that particular attack upsets residents as the consensus is that it had been staged even though unnecessary and inconsequential to the outcome of the war. There are allegations that the attack by U.S. bombers was conducted in retaliation for the killing of a parachuted pilot by farmers.http://www.aoshs.org/memories/Memorydetail.asp?MemoryID=59&VolumeID=1 In addition to the 1,000 lives that perished that day, the entire inner city and the baroque château were destroyed. On April 2, 1945, allied forces took Bruchsal without resistance.
1946 to the present
Starting from 1 April 1956 Bruchsal was awarded the Große Kreisstadt status, as its population had passed the 20,000 mark in 1955. Between 1971 and 1974 the district reform incorporated 5 neighbouring communities into the city of Bruchsal, including the cities of Heidelsheim and Obergrombach. The district reform in 1973 also effected the incorporation of the district of Bruchsal into the Karlsruhe (district)Karlsruhe (district)
Karlsruhe is a rural district in the north-west of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are Rhein-Neckar, Heilbronn,Enz, Calw, Rastatt, Germersheim, Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis and the district-free city Speyer...
. As a result, Bruchsal lost its district seat status, though it still remains a major economic centre of the region.
District reform
During the district reform in the early 1970s the following cities and towns became part of the City of Bruchsal. Before the district reform these all were part of Bruchsal (district).- July 1, 1971: Obergrombach and Untergrombach
- July 1, 1972: Büchenau and Helmsheim
- October 1, 1974: Heidelsheim
Demographics
|
|
|
¹ Census data
Government
In connection with the district reform in the 1970s the municipal laws of Baden-WürttembergBaden-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...
were amended to introduce borough councils. Residents of each borough elect their Borough Council at each municipal election. The Borough Council must be consulted on issues that significantly affect the respective borough. The Borough President also leads the Borough Council.
City council
Since the last municipal elections on June 13, 2004, the City Council of Bruchsal consists of 39 members whose official title is "Stadtrat" (City Advisor). They belong to political parties as follows:{| border="0"
| valign="top" |
{| class="wikitable"
! Party
! Seats
|-
| align="left" | 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...
|| align="right" | 18
|-
| align="left" | SPD
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
|| align="right" | 8
|-
| align="left" | Independents || align="right" | 6
|-
| align="left" | Bündnis 90/Green Party
Alliance '90/The Greens
Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir...
|| align="right" | 4
|-
| align="left" | FDP
Free Democratic Party (Germany)
The Free Democratic Party , abbreviated to FDP, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Germany. It is led by Philipp Rösler and currently serves as the junior coalition partner to the Union in the German federal government...
|| align="right" | 2
|}
Mayor
The head of the city is the Mayor, who is elected by registered voters for a term of 8 years. His permanent Deputy is the City Council President.Mayors since 1900
- 1898 - 1913: Karl Stritt
- 1913 - 1933: Dr. Karl Meister
- 1945 - 1963: Franz Bläsi
- 1964 - 1985: Adolf BieringerAdolf BieringerAdolf Bieringer was a German politician, representative of the German Christian Democratic Union.In March 1945 Bieringer was Luftwaffenhelfer in Rastatt.After he finished Abitur in 1948 he studied jurisprudence until 1956...
- 1985 - 2009: Bernd Doll
- 2009–present: Cornelia Petzold-Schick
Coat of arms
Bruchsal's Coat of ArmsCoat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
features a solid, polished silver cross on blue background, with a silver ball in the top left quadrant. The official city colors are white and blue. The Coat of Arms symbolized the Cross of Speyer, referring to the fact that Bruchsal was the official residence of the Bishop until 1803, and has been in use for many centuries. There is some uncertainty as to how the ball came into the picture. It is possible that the ball became part of the Coat of Arms by accident, in that an engraving fault may have been misinterpreted in an older print. Residents refer to it commonly as the Taint ("Schandfleck") of the city.
Buildings
The ChâteauChâteau
A château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions...
of Bruchsal was built in the baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
style of the mid 18th century starting around 1720 and served as the official residence of the bishops of Speyer
Bishopric of Speyer
The Bishopric of Speyer was a state, ruled by Prince-Bishops, in what is today the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It was secularized in 1803...
. Its centre was a three-winged building that was based on the plans of Maximilian von Welsch
Maximilian von Welsch
Johann Maximilian von Welsch was a German architect, High Director of Building and fortress master builder.- Life :Maximilian von Welsch is regarded as a prominent representative of baroque fortress building in Germany. Besides this he got reputation with the construction of several...
. After the plans had been modified several times, the central staircase was built by Balthasar Neumann
Balthasar Neumann
Johann Balthasar Neumann , also known as Balthasar Neumann, was a [German] military artillery engineer and architect who developed a refined brand of Baroque architecture, fusing Austrian, Bohemian, Italian, and French elements to design some of the most impressive buildings of the period,...
, who had taken over and filled the role of Chief Engineer since 1731. It is generally regarded as one of the most successful design solutions for a baroque staircase. The Château complex includes numerous other buildings, among them Damian's Gate and the Church of the Court. In the closing days of World War II the Château was badly damaged as a result of the air raid aimed at Bruchsal, and it burned out completely. The famous staircase largely survived (though it was badly damaged), but the dome did not.
After lengthy discussions about whether and how it should be done, the large central part of the building (Corps de Logis
Corps de logis
Corps de logis is the architectural term which refers to the principal block of a large, usually classical, mansion or palace. It contains the principal rooms, state apartments and an entry. The grandest and finest rooms are often on the first floor above the ground level: this floor is the...
) was reconstructed (well into the 1970s) as a museum, while the Church wing design was changed to a modern design.
The Belvedere was originally designed as a Manor for fun and games, to which a shooting house was added for use in the shooting competitions often held by the Court. As time went by, the Manor was nicknamed Belvedere by the city's residents, as it enjoyed the best view of the city. The Belvedere is part of the City Gardens.
The most significant church in Bruchsal is St. Peter's Church, where the last of the Bishops of Speyer were laid to rest. Another important church structure is the City Church of Our Lady and the Martin-Luther-Church (the main Protestant church of the city). City Hall adjacent to the Market Place is a modern building erected in the 1950s which has since been protected by law as an important historic structure.
The prison, constructed ca. 1848, is nicknamed the Cafe with Eight Corners or "Cafe Achteck". Today it is a high security institution and predominantly houses individuals convicted of violent crimes and convicted terrorists, such as members of the Red Army Faction
Red Army Faction
The radicalized were, like many in the New Left, influenced by:* Sociological developments, pressure within the educational system in and outside Europe and the U.S...
.
Museums
The State Museum of Baden operates a branch in parts of the Château at Bruchsal. It features an art-historic collection and the German Music Box Museum.Additionally, the boroughs of Heidelsheim and Untergrombach each maintain a museum of local history, and a Kindergartenmuseum displays items showing the history and development of preschools and includes games, dolls, and preschool furnishings. Inside Damian's Gate at the southern exit of the château grounds, the local art society (Kunstverein Bruchsal e. V.) exhibits contemporary art.
Parks
The City Gardens near the Belvedere were constructed in 1901. Then there is the Bürgerpark around the Community Center and, last but not least, the Château Gardens, the largest park in the city. Its upper gardens were constructed at the same time the château was built, starting around 1721, while the middle and lower gardens were never completely finished. The railway to Heidelberg cuts through the lower gardens today and reduced them to a tree-lined avenue.Culture
The Badische Landesbühne theater company calls Bruchsal home, its home theater being the stage in the Community Center (built on the grounds of the former Psycha, which is today the Bürgerpark and intended to be Bruchsal's cultural center).Bruchsal also supports an amateur theater company called Die Koralle. Die Koralle has produced between two and four plays a year, both modern and of the classics, since approximately 1965.
Willi - die Bühne organizes independent arts events from time to time at the city slaughterhouse.
Although Bruchsal is a fairly small city it has a very active night life.
Transport
Bundesautobahn 5
is a 445 km long Autobahn in Germany. Its northern end is the Hattenbach triangle intersection is a 445 km (277 mi) long Autobahn in Germany. Its northern end is the Hattenbach triangle intersection is a 445 km (277 mi) long Autobahn in Germany. Its northern end is the...
(Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
- Frankfurt) (Bruchsal Exit). In addition, the city is traversed by federal highways B 3 (Karlsruhe - Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
) and B 35 (Bretten
Bretten
Bretten is a town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route.-Geography:Bretten lies in the centre of a rectangle that is formed by Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, Heilbronn and Stuttgart as corners. It has a population of approximately 28,000. The centre of...
- Germersheim
Germersheim
Germersheim is a town in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, of around 20,000 inhabitants. It is also the seat of the Germersheim district. The neighboring towns and cities are Speyer, Landau, Philippsburg, Karlsruhe and Wörth.-Coat of arms:...
).
Bruchsal station
Bruchsal station
Bruchsal station is the centre of the rail transport in the city of Bruchsal in the German state of Baden-Württemberg.-History :The original station of the baroque town of Bruchsal opened on 10 April 1843 as part of the Karlsruhe–Heidelberg section of the old Baden main line, which eventually...
, designed and built by Berthold Schweikert, is located at the intersection of the Karlsruhe–Heidelberg line, the line to Mühlacker
Württemberg Western Railway
The Western Railway in Württemberg was opened in 1853 and ran from Bietigheim-Bissingen to Bruchsal. It was the first railway link between the states of Württemberg and Baden in Germany and one of the oldest lines in Germany....
and the line to Germersheim
Bruhrain Railway
The Bruhrain Railway is a railway line running from Bruchsal to Germersheim in the German states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate...
.
Light rail or "S-Bahn" Lines S 3 (Karlsruhe - Heidelberg - Speyer
Speyer
Speyer is a city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located beside the river Rhine, Speyer is 25 km south of Ludwigshafen and Mannheim. Founded by the Romans, it is one of Germany's oldest cities...
) and S 4 (Bruchsal - Heidelberg - Speyer) of the S-Bahn RheinNeckar, and the S 31 (Karlsruhe - Bruchsal - Odenheim), S 32 (Karlsruhe - Bruchsal - Menzingen
Menzingen
Menzingen is a municipality in the canton of Zug in Switzerland.-Geography:Menzingen has an area, , of . Of this area, 62.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 28.3% is forested...
) and S 9 (Bruchsal - Bretten
Bretten
Bretten is a town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route.-Geography:Bretten lies in the centre of a rectangle that is formed by Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, Heilbronn and Stuttgart as corners. It has a population of approximately 28,000. The centre of...
- Knittlingen
Knittlingen
Knittlingen is a town in the Enz district in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany.It lies at the eastern edge of the Kraichgau in the centre of a rectangle that is formed byHeidelberg, Karlsruhe, Heilbronn, and Stuttgart....
- Mühlacker
Mühlacker
Mühlacker is a town in the eastern part of the Enz district in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. Mühlacker station has direct rail connections with Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Heidelberg, Pforzheim and the Northern Black Forest....
) lines of the Stadtbahn Karlsruhe
Stadtbahn Karlsruhe
The Karlsruhe Stadtbahn is a German tram-train system combining tram lines in the city of Karlsruhe with railway lines in the surrounding countryside, serving the entire region of the middle upper Rhine valley and creating connections to neighbouring regions...
in the Karlsruher Verkehrsverbunds (KVV) also stop at the Bruchsal station. Furthermore, most of the boroughs have stops along these light rail lines.
Additional public transportation within the city and its immediate surroundings (ÖPNV) is offered by numerous bus lines.
Media
The Badischen Neuesten Nachrichten (BNN), a daily newspaper operating out of Karlsruhe, publishes a local edition by the name of Bruchsaler Rundschau.Willi, a monthly magazine, is published and is also available online, at no charge, in .pdf form.
Stadtinfoplattform Bruchsal-XL offers facts, reports and up-to-date information on events in the city and region.
Cable TV's Channel S14 broadcasts the Bruchsal-Magazin BM-TV with weekly programs on news from Bruchsal and the region. These broadcasts are also available via live Internet-TV through the Stadtinfoplattform Bruchsal-XL.de site. Also available are online archives.
Finally, the Bruchsaler Wochenblatt, a weekly offered free of charge, and the Kurier, an advertising weekly published by the Badischen Neuesten Nachrichten and also offered free of charge, round out the picture.
Education
Bruchsal was the home of the International University in Germany, one of the first private colleges in Germany. The university occupied the former military barracks complex in the Kasernenstraße before ceasing operations at the end of 2009.Bruchsal also offers a wide variety of liberal arts schools, among them the Justus-Knecht-Gymnasium, the Schönborn-Gymnasium (both public college-track high schools), the St. Paulusheim
Paulusheim
St. Paulusheim is a private gymnasium in Bruchsal, Germany with free sponsorship of the school foundation of the archdiocese of Freiburg.It was founded by the Pallottines, originally as a boys' boarding school. Paulusheim is rooted in a boarding school of the small Italian community of Masio near...
gymnasium, a private college-track high school that started out as a boys-only boarding school, and the Albert-Schweitzer-Realschule, a non-college track public high school (all in the core of Bruchsal).
The school system also operates the following grammar and middle schools: Burg School in the borough of Obergrombach, Dietrich-Bonhoeffer-School, Johann-Peter-Hebel-School (near the Château Gardens), Joss-Fritz-School in Untergrombach, Konrad-Adenauer-School in the southern core of the city and Stirum School in the centrum, as well as an independent grammar school each in the boroughs of Büchenau and Helmsheim.
Specialized schools are offered as well: Pestalozzi School for the learning disabled and, administered by the district of Karlsruhe, Karl-Berberich-School for the mentally disabled. The district also runs the four vocational schools located in Bruchsal. They are the Balthasar-Neumann-School I, Balthasar-Neumann-School II (teaching artisan, mechanics and other hands-on occupations), the merchant and bookkeeping school (teaching administrative and merchant professions) and Käthe-Kollwitz-School (teaching professions in the field of home economics).
The Abendrealschule Bruchsal allows students with middle school diplomas to achieve the first in a series of steps to gain college entrance prerequisites on a part-time basis after work. It is part of a structured program commonly referred to as the Alternate Path to Higher Education. Furthermore, three private schools, the nursing school attached to the Fürst-Stirum-Klinik Bruchsal and the College for Special Education of St. Maria complete Bruchsal's educational offers.
Famous people
- 1470 (approx.) in Untergrombach, Joß Fritz, leader during the peasant revolts, died after 1524
- 1882 Hugo Tröndle, artist, died 1955 in MunichMunichMunich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
- 1894 Leo KahnLeo KahnLeo Kahn was a German-Israeli painter,-Biography:Kahn was born in 1894 in Bruchsal, Germany. He served in the German army in 1914, then studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe between 1919-1920 under the tutelage of Albert Hueinsen. Kahn travelled to Berlin , Holland, and France in search...
, artist, died 1983 in SafedSafedSafed , is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and of Israel. Due to its high elevation, Safed experiences warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters...
, IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea... - 1896 Wilhelm Sauter, painter (paintings and drawings), died 1948 in GöppingenGöppingenGöppingen is a town in southern Germany, part of the Stuttgart Region of Baden-Württemberg. It is the capital of the district Göppingen. It is situated at the bottom of the Hohenstaufen mountain, in the valley of the river Fils....
- 1901 Emil Belzner, writer, died 1979 in HeidelbergHeidelberg-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
- 1923 Alexander Brändle, author of children's books, died in Bruchsal
- 1938 in Untergrombach, Franz AltFranz AltFranz Leopold Alt was an Austrian-born American mathematician who made major contributions to computer science in its early days...
, journalist and author - 1949 Brigitte MohnhauptBrigitte MohnhauptBrigitte Margret Ida Mohnhaupt is a German militant associated with the second generation of the Red Army Faction members. She was also part of the Socialist Patients' Collective...
, Red Army Faction member - 1971 Thomas HellriegelThomas HellriegelThomas Hellriegel a.k.a. "Hell on Wheels" is a German Ironman triathlete. His biggest achievement is winning the 1997 Ironman World Championship...
, triathlon athlete - 1974 Anke HuberAnke HuberAnke Huber is a German retired professional tennis player. She was the runner-up in women's singles at the 1996 Australian Open. Her career-high singles ranking was fourth, also in 1996.-Early life:...
, tennis player
International relations
Bruchsal is sister cityTown twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
to the following cities: Sainte-Menehould
Sainte-Menehould
Sainte-Menehould is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France.The town and its several restaurants pride themselves on serving a local specialty called pied de cochon or pig's trotters....
, France, since 1965 Cwmbran
Cwmbran
Cwmbrân is a new town in Wales. Today forming part of the county borough of Torfaen and lying within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, Cwmbrân was established in 1949 to provide new employment opportunities in the south eastern portion of the South Wales Coalfield. Cwmbrân means Crow...
, United Kingdom, since 1979 Sainte Marie-aux-Mines, France, since 1989 Tržič
Tržic
Tržič is a town and municipality in northern Slovenia near the Austrian border . The first settlement was founded near the road that connected Roman city of Emona with Virunum in present-day Carinthia...
, Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
External links
- Schönborn Gymnasium
- Justus Knecht Gymnasium
- Paulusheim
- Käthe-Kollwitz-Schule
- Official Website of the City of Bruchsal
- Events and websites for Bruchsal
- More on the baroque Bruchsal Château
- Official Château website
- Die Badische Landesbühne
- Bruchsal.org, the community's Internet newspaper
- German Music Box Museum
- Homepage of SEW-Eurodrive