Weißenhorn

Weißenhorn
Weißenhorn
Location of the town of Weißenhorn within Neu-Ulm district
Coordinates	48°18′N 10°10′E
Administration
Country	Germany
State	Bavaria
Admin. region	Swabia
District	Neu-Ulm
Town subdivisions	10 Stadtteile
Mayor	Dr. Wolfgang Fendt (Ind.)
Basic statistics
Area	53.69 km2 (20.73 sq mi)
Elevation	501 m  (1644 ft)
Population	13,248 (31 December 2011)
- Density	247 /km2 (639 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	NU
Postal code	89264
Area codes	07309, 07306 (Emershofen)
Website	www.weissenhorn.de

Neuffen- and Fugger châteaux in 2005

Weißenhorn is a town in the district of Neu-Ulm in Bavaria. Weissenhorn lies about 22 km southeast of Ulm at the river "Roth".

History

Archaeologic finds prove that the area of Weißenhorn was once a settlement of the Alamanni. Also Roman artifacts and artifacts from the Stone Age have been found.

Weißenhorn was first mentioned in 1160 as villa Wizzenhorn. Starting from the thirteenth century Weißenhorn was seat of a line from the aristocratic house of the Neuffen. When it expired in 1342, Weißenhorn came into possession of the dukes of Bavaria, which had pawned Weißenhorn during the most time. 1473 Louis IX of Bavaria held court in Weißenhorn. During the Landshut War of Succession Weißenhorn came into possession of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I and became a provincial city of Further Austria. Maximilian transferred the possession to Jacob Fugger in 1507, due to Weißenhorns delivered and reconfirmed privileges the sovereignty rights however remained with Austria. The Fugger family, which held rule over centuries, promoted the local barchent weaving mill and made Weißenhorn into a flourishing commercial town. Besides Augsburg Weißenhorn is the only town, which is allowed to carry the title of "Fuggerstadt".

In the German Peasants' War the town was attacked at 1 April 1525 by 12,000 farmers, led by their Captain Jörg von Ingstetten ("Bauern-Jörgl"), which spared the town after successful defense of the citizen and attacked the neighbouring Roggenburg Abbey.

The known bandit and murderer Matthias Klostermayr alias "The Bavarian Hiasl", who was up to mischief in the 18th century, was nearly imprisoned by the police of Roggenburg.

After the Peace of Pressburg in 1805 Weißenhorn was mediatised back to Bavaria.

The gothic and later in the baroque style expanded church collapsed during the Wednesday liturgy on 22 February 1859, which resulted in eleven deaths. The cause for that was a too heavy basin for holy water, which was mounted on one of the main pillars. The discussion about the building of a new church lasted until 1872. On recommendation of Ludwig II of Bavaria the head of the municipal planning and building control office of Munich, Knight August von Voith, became the task to plan the building. The parish church, sacred to the Assumption of Mary, was built in the Romanesque Revival architecture style. The city wall has been broken off for this.

1862 the district court of Roggenburg and the police of Illertissen were moved to Weißenhorn in order to the establishment of the Bezirksamt (district office) of Illertissen, which improved the central position of the city in the Roth valley. With the opening of the secondary train line through Senden in 1880 an active structural and economic development began.

Weißenhorn was - except for two airstrikes at the Wehrmacht's gasoline depot in the Eschach forest - mostly spared from the Second World War. It escaped the destruction through the U.S. Army by a non-official capitulation, which was shown by a white banner at the church tower. Therefore the historic city is mostly preserved.

Religions

• Roman Catholics: 88%
• Protestants: 11%
• Other (Islamic, newapostolic and others): <= 1%

Politics

Parties present in the town council:

• CSU (Christian-social Union in Bavaria)
• SPD (Social-democratic Party of Germany)
• WüW (Weißenhorn non-partisan electors)
• B90/Grüne (Alliance 90/The Greens)

The parliament has 24 seats, the CSU is the biggest faction (45%).

Economics

The economic life was until after 1945 shaped by smallurban structure relating to crafts. After 1945 big industry companies settled in Weissenhorn. The today biggest employer, the company PERI GmbH (Formwork and Scaffolding), today world market leader, began in 1969.

Also there is the aluminium fusion work "Oettinger" and several medium-size and small companies.

Traffic

The secondary train line Weißenhorn – Senden (9.6 km) was opened at 15 September 1878 and connected Weißenhorn to the primary line Ulm – Memmingen. The passenger traffic was stopped 1966.

Weißenhorn is connected to Ulm and the region through bus lines and has an exit (123) at the Bundesautobahn 7.

Education

• 2 elementary schools
• 1 primary school
• 1 promotion school
• 1 urban six-form high school
• The Nikolaus Kopernikus high school
• 1 urban music school
• 1 Catholic library in the Christopherus house
• 1 public library

Partnerships between cities

Weißenhorn has no official partnership, but maintains through the partnership of the district of Neu-Ulm good contacts to the market municipality Prad am Stilfser Joch in South Tyrol (Italy).

The Nikolaus-Kopernikus-Gymnasium in Weissenhorn participates in the German American Partnership Program with Denton High School in Denton, Texas. The exchange began in 2006. Students from the partner schools spend three weeks in each other's homes during the exchange.

Arrangement

Beside the center town Weißenhorn there are the following quarters:

• Attenhofen
• Biberachzell (with Asch)
• Bubenhausen
• Emershofen
• Grafertshofen
• Hegelhofen
• Oberhausen
• Oberreichenbach
• Unterreichenbach
• Wallenhausen (in the valley of the Osterbach brook)

Neighbour municipalities

• Vöhringen
• Senden, Bellenberg and Illertissen in the west
• Buch and Roggenburg in the south
• Bibertal and Ichenhausen in the east
• Pfaffenhofen an der Roth in the north

Culture and sightseeing objects

Theatre

• Historc town theatre, built in 1876 through the change of a tenth barn from the 16th century. It was reconditioned in 1922 and again in 1979 and is one of the few good kept smallurban citizen-theatres from the 19th century. With only 150 seats it is the smallest in historical condition kept theatre inb Bavaria and is used by groups of laymen and by the south-German chamber opera.

Museums

• Weißenhorner Heimatmuseum, (Local history museum) Collection for the town- and region history, founded 1908, 1992-1996 new conceived
• Archaeologic Museum[1], pre- and early-historical collection

Buildings

The old part of Weißenhorn is mostly kept in historical condition. Medieval citizen houses, some in framework construction, stately pubs and buildings from the 19th century show the tradition of a commercial town. The medieval wall was cleared away until 1837, the Oberes Tor (Upper Gate), the Unteres Tor (Lower Gate) and the Prügelturm (Flogging tower) were however kept.

• The church place is framed by many sightseeing objects:
  • Upper Gate with two round towers, built around 1470
  • City hall, built 1761
  • Neuffen Château (Old Château), built 1460
  • Fugger Château (New Château), built 1513
  • Fugger Brewing House, built 1565
  • City Parish Church Mariä Himmelfahrt, built around 1872 in the style of the neoromanic from

• Other worth seeing buildings are:
  • Schranne (Old City Hall), built around 1390, extended 1584
  • Heilig-Geist-Church, built around 1470
  • Lower Gate, built around 1470

Regularly events

• Leonhardi-Ride on 6 November, rider pro assignment in honours of the holy Leonhard of Limoges
• Parish party of the Catholic church community in June
• Protestantic Community party at the last Sunday before the summer holidays
• Carnival-Tuesday-Parade at Tuesday after Rose Monday

Personalities

• Nikolaus Thoman (* around 1457, † around 1545), kaplan and chronicle (Weißenhorn History)
• Sebastian Sailer (1714–1777), premonstratensian choir Leader, prayer and swabian dialect poet
• Franz Martin Kuen (1719–1771), painter
• Konrad Huber (1752–1831), painter
• Anton von Henle (1902–1927), bishop of Passau and Regensburg
• Wilfried Hiller (1941– ), composer

Literatur

• Joseph Holl: Geschichte der Stadt Weißenhorn. Kempten 1904. Reproduction: Konrad, Weißenhorn 1983
• Hans Burkhardt: Geschichte der Stadt Weissenhorn und ihrer Stadtteile. Weißenhorn 1988.
• Wolfgang Ott, Monika Kolb: Weissenhorn 1945 bis 1965, Die Reihe Archivbilder Erfurt 2006, Sutton Verlad GmbH

External links

• Homepage City of Weißenhorn
• Homepage of the Museum of local history in Weißenhorn