Wörth am Main
Encyclopedia
Wörth am Main is a town in the Miltenberg district
in the Regierungsbezirk
of Lower Franconia
(Unterfranken) in Bavaria
, Germany
.
and Spessart
(range), 13 km northwest of Miltenberg
, and 19 km south of Aschaffenburg
.
soldiers built a simple earthen-wooden castrum
in Wörth as early as Roman Emperor Domitian
’s time (AD 81–96), and later a massive stone castrum.
In Frankish
times, beginning in the 6th century, Wörth was a centre of royal power and with Saint Martin’s Chapel, in today’s graveyard, it was a jumping-off point for Christian
missionary work in the depths of the Odenwald.
The town was refounded on its current site in the latter half of the 13th century by the Lords of Breuberg under the overlordship of the Archbishops of Mainz. In 1291, it had its first documentary mention as the town of Werde (“Island”). An important political change was the town’s cession to Bavaria in 1816.
, Calvados
, France
since 16 June 2006
On 29 April 2007 came the countersigning of the partnership document in the Wörth Shipping and Shipbuilding Museum.
Miltenberg (district)
Miltenberg is an administrative district in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by the city of Aschaffenburg, the districts of Aschaffenburg and Main-Spessart, and the states of Baden-Württemberg and Hesse .-History:During the Middle Ages there was continuous...
in 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 Lower Franconia
Lower Franconia
Lower Franconia is one of the three administrative regions of Franconia in Bavaria , Germany ....
(Unterfranken) in Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Location
Wörth am Main lies on the left bank of the Main, nestled between the hills of the OdenwaldOdenwald
The Odenwald is a low mountain range in Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in Germany.- Location :The Odenwald lies between the Upper Rhine Rift Valley with the Bergstraße and the Hessisches Ried in the west, the Main and the Bauland in the east, the Hanau-Seligenstadt Basin – a subbasin of...
and Spessart
Spessart
The Spessart is a low mountain range in northwestern Bavaria and southern Hesse, Germany. It is bordered on three sides by the Main River. The two most important towns located at the foot of the Spessart are Aschaffenburg and Würzburg....
(range), 13 km northwest of Miltenberg
Miltenberg
Miltenberg is the seat of the like-named district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany.- Location :...
, and 19 km south of Aschaffenburg
Aschaffenburg
Aschaffenburg is a city in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg is not considered part of the district of Aschaffenburg, but is the administrative seat.Aschaffenburg is known as the Tor zum Spessart or "gate to the Spessart"...
.
History
It is believed that RomanAncient 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....
soldiers built a simple earthen-wooden castrum
Castra
The Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. The word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian as well as in Latin. It may have descended from Indo-European to Italic...
in Wörth as early as Roman Emperor Domitian
Domitian
Domitian was Roman Emperor from 81 to 96. Domitian was the third and last emperor of the Flavian dynasty.Domitian's youth and early career were largely spent in the shadow of his brother Titus, who gained military renown during the First Jewish-Roman War...
’s time (AD 81–96), and later a massive stone castrum.
In Frankish
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
times, beginning in the 6th century, Wörth was a centre of royal power and with Saint Martin’s Chapel, in today’s graveyard, it was a jumping-off point for 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...
missionary work in the depths of the Odenwald.
The town was refounded on its current site in the latter half of the 13th century by the Lords of Breuberg under the overlordship of the Archbishops of Mainz. In 1291, it had its first documentary mention as the town of Werde (“Island”). An important political change was the town’s cession to Bavaria in 1816.
Culture and sightseeing
- The Old Town is characterized by the mediaevalMiddle AgesThe 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...
town fortifications and many historic monuments and timber-frameTimber framingTimber 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...
houses. From the former Electoral MainzArchbishopric of MainzThe Archbishopric of Mainz or Electorate of Mainz was an influential ecclesiastic and secular prince-bishopric in the Holy Roman Empire between 780–82 and 1802. In the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, the Archbishop of Mainz was the primas Germaniae, the substitute of the Pope north of the Alps...
palace, the tower with its RenaissanceRenaissanceThe 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...
portal is still preserved (today used by businesses). - Worth seeing is the old Town Hall with its Renaissance portal (1600)
- Wörth lies on the Deutsche Limesstraße (“German LimesLimes GermanicusThe Limes Germanicus was a line of frontier fortifications that bounded the ancient Roman provinces of Germania Inferior, Germania Superior and Raetia, dividing the Roman Empire and the unsubdued Germanic tribes from the years 83 to about 260 AD...
Road”). In Wörth is found the archaeological monument that was once a Roman castrum (specifically, a numerus castrum) at a spot where the older border, the Neckar-Odenwald Limes, met the Limes Germanicus coming along the Main.
Museums
There are the Schiffahrts- und Schiffbaumuseum Wörth (“Wörth Shipping and Shipbuilding Museum”) in the former Saint Wolfgang’s Church and a small branch office at the community centre with information about the Romans in Wörth.Buildings
- Bürgerhaus (“community centre”, formerly the Town Hall) from 1600
- Wörth Shipping and Shipbuilding Museum in the former Saint Wolfgang’s Church (15th to 18th century)
- Main lands
- New Town with residential buildings made of bunterBunter (geology)Bunter beds are sandstone deposits containing rounded pebbles, such as can notably be found in Warwickshire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, Devon and Dorset in England...
in numbers unique in Bavaria, 1883-85 - Town centre with Town Hall (1885, a former school), parish centre, railway station (1876), vocational college (1790, a former parish hall), Wendelinuskapelle (chapelChapelA chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
, 1780) and estate (formerly the New Town Inn) - St.-Nikolaus-Kirche, built in Romanesque RevivalRomanesque Revival architectureRomanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque architecture...
style from the year 1898, with a cross altar, Crucifixion group and Passion image - ”Gallows” Monument, made out of two 7-metre-tall sandstone pillars, 1754
- Saint Martin’s Chapel in the graveyard, 14th century, founded, however, in the time when the Lower Main was ChristianizedChristianizationThe historical phenomenon of Christianization is the conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once...
- Schlossturm (“Palace Tower”, today used by businesses), late 13th century
- Upper Gate, 15th century
- Tannenturm (tower), 15th century
- Wörth Castrum (1st-2nd century) and castrum bath, lying below the mill, only discernible by low humps in the ground
Sport and leisure
- Wörth town forest (1000 ha) with more than 50 km of signposted hiking trails
- Mainruh campsite
- Adomat campsite
- Wörth lies in the Bavarian section of the Naturpark Bergstraße-Odenwald
Transport
- BundesstraßeBundesstraßeBundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
469 to the WürzburgWürzburgWürzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....
-FrankfurtFrankfurtFrankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
Autobahn A 3 - Deutsche BahnDeutsche BahnDeutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...
railway network - Main Federal Waterway
Town partnerships
HonfleurHonfleur
Honfleur is a commune in the Calvados department in northwestern France. It is located on the southern bank of the estuary of the Seine across from le Havre and very close to the exit of the Pont de Normandie...
, Calvados
Calvados
The French department of Calvados is part of the region of Basse-Normandie in Normandy. It takes its name from a cluster of rocks off the English Channel coast...
, 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...
since 16 June 2006
On 29 April 2007 came the countersigning of the partnership document in the Wörth Shipping and Shipbuilding Museum.