Weisenheim am Sand ( Palatine German: Weisrem) is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – 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 ...

belonging to a ''

Verbandsgemeinde A Verbandsgemeinde (; plural Verbandsgemeinden) is a low-level administrative unit in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A Verbandsgemeinde is typically composed of a small group of villages or towns. Rhinelan ...

'', a kind of collective municipality – in the

Bad Dürkheim Bad Dürkheim () is a spa town in the Rhine-Neckar urban agglomeration, and is the seat of the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography Location Bad Dürkheim lies at the edge of Palatinate Forest on the German Win ...

district in

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

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 betwee ...

Geography

Location

Weisenheim am Sand lies in the

Upper Rhine Plain The Upper Rhine Plain, Rhine Rift Valley or Upper Rhine Graben (German: ''Oberrheinische Tiefebene'', ''Oberrheinisches Tiefland'' or ''Oberrheingraben'', French: ''Vallée du Rhin'') is a major rift, about and on average , between Basel in the s ...

in the Eastern Palatinate (''Vorderpfalz''). Through Weisenheim flows the Fuchsbach, which empties into the Isenach in

Frankenthal Frankenthal (Pfalz) ( pfl, Frongedahl) is a town in southwestern Germany, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. History Frankenthal was first mentioned in 772. In 1119 an Augustinian monastery was built here, the ruins of which — known, af ...

. Within the village's limits is the neighbouring recreational area “Käschdeberg”. By both land area and population, Weisenheim am Sand is the biggest village in the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Freinsheim (whose seat is in the like-named town), to which the smaller municipality of Weisenheim am Berg also belongs.

Climate

The area around Weisenheim is believed to be one of Germany's mildest regions and is particularly suited to

winegrowing Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ra ...

and fruitgrowing.

History

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friendsh ...

got his silver sand from Weisenheim to dry his ink.

Politics

Municipal council

The council is made up of 20 council members, who were elected at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman. The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:

Mayor

The mayor is Michael Johannes Bähr (CDU).

Coat of arms

The German blazon reads: ''In Rot ein aufrecht gestellter goldener Palmzweig, beseitet von zwei sechsstrahligen goldenen Sternen.'' The municipality's arms might in English

heraldic Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branc ...

language be described thus: Gules a palm frond palewise, the leaves bendwise sinister, between two mullets of six, all Or. The arms go back to the village's oldest known seal, from 1474. The palm frond stands for

Saint Cyriacus Cyriacus ( el, Ἅγιος Κυριακός, fl. 303 AD), sometimes Anglicized as Cyriac, according to Christian tradition, is a Christian martyr who was killed in the Diocletianic Persecution. He is one of twenty-seven saints, most of them mart ...

, the local patron, but what the mullets (star shapes) mean is unknown. The arms have been borne since 1922 but were officially granted only on 19 August 1957.Description and explanation of Weisenheim am Sand’s arms
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Town partnerships

Weisenheim am Sand fosters partnerships with the following places: * Niederroßla,

Weimarer Land Weimarer Land is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the east of Thuringia, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the northeast clockwise) the district Burgenlandkreis in Saxony-Anhalt, the district Saale-Holzland and the district-free city Jena, the ...

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

since 20 April 1991

Culture and sightseeing

Education, sport and leisure

Weisenheim has three

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

s and a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

with four levels each with two classes. To the school belongs the community

gym A gymnasium, also known as a gym, is an indoor location for athletics. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasium". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learning spaces in educational i ...

nasium. The municipal library, meanwhile, has moved from the town hall to the ground floor of the primary school. The biggest sport club is SV Weisenheim am Sand. Other sport clubs are ASV Weisenheim am Sand, Tennis-Club Ludwigshain (TCL) and the Schützengilde Weisenheim am Sand (“Marksmen’s Guild”). Among other clubs are the ''Reit-und Fahrverein Weisenheim'' (riding and driving), the volunteer fire brigade's promotional club, the local history and museum club and several

Fastnacht The Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht, Fasnacht (in Switzerland) or Fasnat/Faschnat (in Vorarlberg) is the pre-Lenten carnival in Alemannic folklore in Switzerland, southern Germany, Alsace and Vorarlberg. Etymology Popular etymology often links ' ...

groups.

Famous people

Living in Weisenheim are the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n competition horseman

Hugo Simon Hugo Simon (born 3 August 1942) is an Olympic medal-winning show jumper who took part in six Olympics between 1972 and 1996 (1980 excepted). Before his first Olympic appearance, he competed for West Germany, but in 1972 became an Austrian citiz ...

, who in 1996 was the world's "most successful show jumper", and also the former

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

referee and now ''Südwestdeutscher Fußballverband'' ("Southwest German Football League") functionary Werner Föckler (b. 24 June 1945).

References

{{Authority control Bad Dürkheim (district)