Abtsteinach is a municipality in the
Bergstraße district in
Hesse
Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...
,
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 ...
. The municipality calls itself “The Gateway to the
Überwald
The Überwald is a wooded area in the southeast of Bergstraße district in Hesse, Germany, between the "Anterior" and "Hinder" Odenwald, comprising the communities of Abtsteinach, Grasellenbach and Wald-Michelbach. Wald-Michelbach is the Über ...
”.
Geography
Location
Ober-Abtsteinach lies among mountains in hilly country at 450 to 500 m above
sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...
. Unter-Abtsteinach and Mackenheim lie in neighbouring valleys going out from that.
In Abtsteinach rises the Steinach. The community lies among the mountains Hardberg, Waldskopf, Götzenstein and Hohberg.
Neighbouring communities
As part of the Überwald, Abtsteinach borders in the north on the community of
Mörlenbach
Mörlenbach is a municipality in the Bergstraße district in southern Hesse, Germany.
Geography
Location
The community lies in the Odenwald some 25 km north of Heidelberg and about 30 km northeast of Mannheim, as well as lying 8 ...
, in the east on the community of
Wald-Michelbach
Wald-Michelbach is a municipality in the Bergstraße district in Hesse, Germany.
Geography
Location
The community lies in the Odenwald, 12 km east of Weinheim. The now disused ''Überwaldbahn'' (railway) runs through Wald-Michelbach.
Geolo ...
, in the south on the community of
Heiligkreuzsteinach (
Rhein-Neckar-Kreis
The Rhein-Neckar-Kreis is a district in the northwest of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The administrative headquarters are based in the city Heidelberg, which is a district-free city. As of 2019, the district is the most populous in Baden-Württe ...
in
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...
) and in the west on the communities of
Gorxheimertal and
Birkenau
Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...
.
Constituent communities
Abtsteinach's ''
Ortsteil
A village is a human settlement or Residential community, community, larger than a hamlet (place), hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located ...
e'' are Mackenheim, Ober-Abtsteinach and Unter-Abtsteinach.
History
In pre-Roman times, the Abtsteinach area was settled by
Celts
The Celts ( , see Names of the Celts#Pronunciation, pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples ( ) were a collection of Indo-European languages, Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient Indo-European people, reached the apoge ...
. In the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
, the area was held by the
Lorsch Abbey
Lorsch Abbey, otherwise the Imperial Abbey of Lorsch (; or ''Laurissa''), is a former Imperial abbey in Lorsch, Germany, about east of Worms, Germany, Worms. It was one of the most important monasteries of the Carolingian Empire. Even in its ru ...
. Expansion brought about by the second settlement drive led to the villages of Ober-Absteinach and Unter-Abtsteinach arising. In 1012, Abtsteinach had its first documentary mention as ''possesa steinah''. In 1232, the Lorsch Abbey was dissolved by
Emperor Friedrich II, and ownership of its holdings passed to the Archbishopric of Mainz.
In 1267, a Castle Count (''Burggraf'') at Starkenburg Castle (over Heppenheim), who also governed the ''
Amt'' of Starkenburg, to which Abtsteinach belonged, is mentioned for the first time. As a result of the disastrous Mainz Episcopal Feud (''Mainzer Stiftsfehde''), the whole higher ''Amt'' of Starkenburg was pledged to Electoral Palatinate in 1461, and things remained so until 1623. From the year 1590 there comes a documentary mention that says that by then, Abtsteinach had long been a
tithe
A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in money, cash, cheques or v ...
court, giving it jurisdiction over several places, and obliging it to perform compulsory labour and military service. Through the abolition of the
Electorate of Mainz
The Electorate of Mainz ( or '; ), previously known in English as Mentz and by its French name Mayence, was one of the most prestigious and influential states of the Holy Roman Empire. In the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, the Archbishop-Elec ...
in 1803, Abtsteinach passed to Hesse.
Religion
In each of Oberabtsteinach and Unterabtsteinach stands a
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
church. There is moreover a chapel in Unterabtsteinach.
The church in Ober-Abtsteinach (St.Bonifatius) was built in the mid-17th century and a good hundred years later expanded. The high altar was built shortly after 1780.
St. Marien, the church in Unter-Abtsteinach, comes from the 20th century.
In the chapel in the middle of Unter-Abtsteinach stands a figure of Mary, which according to legend comes from the church ruins at Lichtenklingen.
Many houses in the greater community of Abtsteinach also have ''Muttergotteshäusel'' (“little Mother of God houses”), small niches in the houses’ outer walls with Mary or Christ figures.
Politics
The municipal election held on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:
Coat of arms
The community's
arms
Arms or ARMS may refer to:
*Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body
Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to:
People
* Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader
Coat of arms or weapons
*Armaments or weapons
**Fi ...
might heraldically be described thus: Gules in base water wavy azure, thereupon a mount craggy argent, thereupon the crook of an abbot's staff with grape leaves of the last.
The arms are
canting
' (International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: , Van Ophuijsen Spelling System, VOS Spelling: , ) is a pen-like tool used to apply liquid hot wax () in the batik-making process in Indonesia, more precisely (). Traditional consists of copper wax-con ...
, with the abbot's staff suggesting the name Abtsteinach (''Abt'' means “abbot” in
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
). Moreover, the abbot's staff refers to the community's link to the
Lorsch Abbey
Lorsch Abbey, otherwise the Imperial Abbey of Lorsch (; or ''Laurissa''), is a former Imperial abbey in Lorsch, Germany, about east of Worms, Germany, Worms. It was one of the most important monasteries of the Carolingian Empire. Even in its ru ...
, in whose ownership Abtsteinach once was (there was no abbey in Abtsteinach). The crag or mountain stands for the area's highest peak, the Hardberg, a defining landmark for Abtsteinach. The water symbolizes the local brook, the Steinach, which rises in Abtsteinach and flows down to the Neckar. The arms were conferred on the community on 21 December 1929, and since 1 January 1972, they have also been the greater community's arms.
Public institutions
The town hall is to be found in Ober-Abtsteinach.
Education
The
primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
is to be found in Unter-Abtsteinach and bears the name Steinachtal-Grundschule.
In Ober-Abtsteinach is found the St.Josef
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
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 ...
.
Sport and leisure
A well groomed sporting ground can be found in Unter-Abtsteinach, and another in Ober-Abtsteinach.
A barbecue pavilion with an educational forest path can be found in Ober-Abtsteinach set among a meadow, a small wood and the community's graveyard.
Culture and sightseeing
There is an artistic walk with eleven artworks leading from the FCO sporting ground by way of the barbecue pavilion to Götzensteinstraße.
Economy and infrastructure
Transport
Abtsteinach lies off the greater ''
Bundesstraße
''Bundesstraße'' (, ), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.
Germany
Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km.
German ''Bundesstraßen'' are labelled with re ...
n'', but is nevertheless easily reached over the linking roads from
Weinheim
Weinheim (; ) is a town with about 43,000 inhabitants in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is in the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region, approximately north of Heidelberg and northeast of Mannheim. Weinheim is known as the "Zwei-Burgen-Sta ...
to
Wald-Michelbach
Wald-Michelbach is a municipality in the Bergstraße district in Hesse, Germany.
Geography
Location
The community lies in the Odenwald, 12 km east of Weinheim. The now disused ''Überwaldbahn'' (railway) runs through Wald-Michelbach.
Geolo ...
.
Established businesses
* REIMOTEC Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH (machine and facility building)
* motech gmbh, technology + systems,
switchgear
In an electric power system, a switchgear is composed of electrical disconnect switches, fuses or circuit breakers used to control, protect and isolate electrical equipment. Switchgear is used both to de-energize equipment to allow work to ...
manufacturer
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Bergstraße (district)