Vierkirchen is a

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

in the district of Dachau in

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Meaning of town name

The name Vierkirchen (German: four-churches) is a misnomer. There were never 'four churches' in the village, only one, (St. Jakobus). The name is most-likey a variation of the old-Bavarian dialect in the Middle Ages. Various names of 'Feohtkiricha', 'Feochtkyricha', 'Fichtkiriha' and 'Viechtkirchen' can be found in old church archives. These names suggest the original spruce wood (German: Fichten) church as the namesake.

History

The boundaries of a parish in Vierkirchen were said to have been established around AD 779 under Bishop Aribo of Freising. Vierkirchen is first mentioned in a church record in 820 AD. A layman named Reginhelm comes to Vierkirchen, where Bishop Hitto von Freising is apparently holding a large meeting. This Reginhelm hands over the property of his dying uncle Kaganhart to the bishop. At the same time he transfers the little son of Kaganhart to the bishop for protection and for spiritual education. Other sizable donations are recorded in Vierkirchn in 823 and the mentioning of a church in 828. In addition, a noble family in 'Viechkirchen' are recorded in the Indersdorfer documents between 1150 and 1160. A 'Dietrich der Vichtkircher' was a judge in Kranzberg in 1375, and an 'Isegrim de Viechkirchen' can also be read. The coat of arms of these nobles reflects today's municipal coat of arms, (stork head and neck). By 1440 the nearby village of Pasenbach had a court with a small castle. The castle was destroyed by the Swedes in 1632 during the

Thirty Years War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battl ...

. The castle was rebuilt after the war in 1662. By the 19th century the property passed through several hands and by the 1840s it was demolished. Schloss Pasenbach Michael Wening

The current parish church in its present form, St. Jacob, was built from 1763/65 after the old Gothic church collapsed in 1759 due to dilapidation. Vierkirchen became a political community by 1808 under the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German ...

. At that time the town had about 350 inhabitants, consisting mainly of farmers and handworkers. In 1867 the Munich-Ingolstadt railway line was built through Vierkirchen (Pasenbach-Esterhofen). After the Second World War, Vierkirchen remained as a municipality in the rural area of the Dachau region. Its population was about 1041 people. In the 1972 Bavarian regional reforms, several villages were merged into the community of Vierkirchen, (such as Giebing, Pasenbach, Ramelsbach and Rettenbach). In 1979 the community celebrated its 1200th anniversary. The community wanted to celebrate 1200 years of the first mentioning of its church in 2020. However celebrations were hampered due to the

Covid-19 Pandemic in Germany The COVID-19 pandemic in Germany has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. On 27 January 2020, the first case in Germany was confirmed near Munich, Bavaria. By mid February, the arising cluster of cases had been fully containe ...

. In 1999/2000 a partnership with the Italian municipality of

Genazzano Genazzano is a town and '' comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome, located on a tuff spur at above sea level that, starting from the Monti Prenestini, ends on the Sacco River valley. History The name originates from its role as vacation res ...

(about 50 Km east of Rome) was formed.

Politics, Industry and Sport

Since 1972, Vierkirchen is part of the

Munich S-Bahn The Munich S-Bahn (german: S-Bahn München) is an electric rail transit system in Munich, Germany. " S-Bahn" is the German abbreviation for ''Stadtschnellbahn'' (literally, "urban rapid rail"), and the Munich S-Bahn exhibits characteristics of b ...

commuter line. The current mayor (Bürgermeister) of Vierkirchen is Harald Dirlenbach (SPD) since 2014. In the early 2000s, a small industry park was built between Vierkirchen and Pasenbach. It houses several businesses such as Hanwag and

Andritz AG Andritz AG is an international technology group, offering plants, equipment, systems and services for various industries. The group's headquarters are in Graz, Austria. The group gets its name from the district of Andritz in which it is located ...

. Vierkirchen has a sports club: SC Vierkirchen e. V.Sportclub Vierkirchen. http://www.scvierkirchen.de/ A natural swimming pool (2000 m²) has existed in Vierkirchen since 2003.

References

{{Authority control Dachau (district)