Zell am Main is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the district of

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, situated on the river

Main Main may refer to: Geography *Main River (disambiguation), multiple rivers with the same name *Ma'in, an ancient kingdom in modern-day Yemen * Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province *Spanish Main, the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territ ...

History

The town of Zell was first mentioned as ''Cella'' in 1128, in relation to the still-extant Oberzell Abbey. The municipality's patron is St. Lawrence, who is also depicted in Zell's coat of arms, and to whom the Parish Church is dedicated. For much of its history, the town's main industry was winemaking. It attained market rights in 1833. The historic center of Zell houses several townhouses of wealthy

wine merchants Wine is an alcoholic drink made from fermented fruit. Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made from grapes, and the term "wine" generally refers ...

, including one designed by

Balthasar Neumann Johann Balthasar Neumann (; c. 27 January 1687 – 19 August 1753), usually known as Balthasar Neumann, was a German architect and military artillery engineer who developed a refined brand of Baroque architecture, fusing Austrian, Bohemian, Ita ...

. Along with Oberzell Abbey, the municipality is also the site of Unterzell Abbey, founded in 1230. Both abbeys were secularized in the

German mediatization German mediatisation (; ) was the major redistribution and reshaping of territorial holdings that took place between 1802 and 1814 in Germany by means of the subsumption and Secularization (church property), secularisation of a large number of ...

. Before being reconsecrated and restored by the Sisters of the Holy Childhood of Jesus in 1901, the profaned Oberzell Abbey was

Koenig & Bauer Koenig & Bauer AG (; ) is a German company that makes printing presses based in Würzburg. It was founded by Friedrich Koenig and Andreas Friedrich Bauer in Würzburg in 1817, making it the oldest printing press manufacturer in the world still ...

's first factory. Unterzell Abbey was used for a variety of purposes after its mediatization, notably, it hosted Zell's small

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

community, composed mostly of Jews from Würzburg displaced by the

Hep-Hep riots The Hep-Hep riots from August to October 1819 were pogroms against Jews, beginning in the Kingdom of Bavaria, during the period of Jewish emancipation in the German Confederation. The antisemitic communal violence began on August 2, 1819, in Würzbu ...

. Today, a restored

Sukkah A or succah (; ; plural, ' or ' or ', often translated as "booth") is a temporary hut constructed for use during the week-long Jewish festival of Sukkot. It is topped with branches and often well decorated with autumnal, harvest or Judaic ...

on the ''Klosterhof'' commemorates the Jewish presence in Zell. The monastery church was ruined in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, while the remaining buildings have been converted to housing. The historic center of Zell is laid out along a single narrow street between the ''Zeller Berg'' and the Main. It has become dilapidated as the town has expanded north in a suburban fashion since the postwar era. Recent developments include the restoration of Unterzell Abbey and the building of a new commercial center near the postwar-era ''Rathausplatz.'' Subprioress Renata Singer of Unterzell Abbey was burned at the stake for witchcraft in 1749, one of the last women in Europe to be executed on those charges.

Notable people

Andreas Friedrich Bauer Andreas Friedrich Bauer (18 August 1783 – 27 December 1860) was a German engineer who developed the first functional steam-powered printing press with his colleague Friedrich Koenig, who had invented the technology and sold it to ''The Times'' ...

* Andreas Joseph Fahrmann *

Andreas Joseph Hofmann Andreas Joseph Hofmann (14 July 1752 – 6 September 1849) was a German philosopher and revolutionary active in the Republic of Mainz. As Chairman of the Rhenish-German National Convention, the earliest parliament in Germany based on the princi ...

Abraham Rice Abraham Joseph Rice (born Abraham Reiss) (c. 18001862) was the first semikhah, ordained rabbi to serve in a rabbinical position in the United States. Rice was born in 1800 or 1802 at Gochsheim, near Schweinfurt, Lower Franconia. An injury in in ...

* Renata Singer

References

Würzburg (district) {{Würzburgdistrict-geo-stub