Albbruck is a municipality of the district of Waldshut 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 ...

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 ...

. It is on the southwestern border of Germany with Switzerland.

History

In 1805 during the process of

German mediatisation 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 ...

, a restructuring of certain jurisdictions, Albbruck became a possession of the

Grand Duchy of Baden The Grand Duchy of Baden () was a German polity on the east bank of the Rhine. It originally existed as a sovereign state from 1806 to 1871 and later as part of the German Empire until 1918. The duchy's 12th-century origins were as a Margravia ...

. In 1939, the town was assigned to the district of Waldshut. Through much of this period, it was rural and agricultural. Decades after World War II, beginning in the 1970s, Albbruck underwent a period of growth. Residential areas were developed on the west side of the town and commercial space to its north. A new town hall was constructed in 1973. The municipality also grew in geographic area in that period, adding , Buch, and Unteralpfen with Albbruck on 1 January 1975. A new town center was completed in 2000.

Geography

The municipality ('' Gemeinde'') of Albbruck lies at the southern edge of the district of Waldshut in

, a

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

of the

Federal Republic of 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 constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

. It lies along the

High Rhine High Rhine (, ; kilometres 0 to 167 of the Rhine) is the section of the Rhine between Lake Constance () and the city of Basel, flowing in a general east-to-west direction and forming mostly the Germany–Switzerland border. It is the first of fo ...

and the national border with

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, and extends from there north into the Hotzenwald. The municipality is crossed by the

chine A chine () is a steep-sided coastal gorge where a river flows to the sea through, typically, soft eroding cliffs of sandstone or clays. The word is still in use in central Southern England—notably in East Devon, Dorset, Hampshire and the Is ...

valleys of the Mühlbach and

Alb An Alb is a liturgical vestment. ALB, Alb or alb may also refer to: * Alb, Alpine transhumance in Allemannic German Places * Alb (Upper Rhine), a tributary of the Upper Rhine in northern Black Forest near Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany * Al ...

rivers. of the former is a Federally-protected nature reserve and the latter forms part of the municipality's northwest border. Elevation above sea level in the municipal area ranges from a high of

Normalnull ("standard zero") or (short N. N. or NN) is an outdated official vertical datum used in Germany. Elevations using this reference system were to be marked (“meters above standard zero”). has been replaced by (NHN). History In 187 ...

(NN) in the Hotzenwald to a low of about on the Rhine.

Coat of arms

Albbruck's

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

depicts a

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

river crossed by a bridge of

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

masonry, from which two fir trees grow, over a

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

. This pattern was first used in seals from the late 19th century, but was approved for official use by the Federal Ministry of the Interior on 2 November 1956. The pattern was again approved, this time by the Waldshut district office, on 13 May 1977, following the absorption of Birkingen, Buch, and Unteralpfen into Albbruck. The river on the shield is the Alb, a tributary of the High Rhine; their confluence is located in the town. The two trees are from the arms of the .

Twin towns

Albbruck has been twinned with Carmignano di Brenta,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, since 1959.

Transportation

Albbruck is connected to Germany's network of Federal highways by . The High Rhine Railway also passes through the municipality. Traffic into Switzerland from Albbruck is made possible by the , in operation since 1933.

References

External links

* (in German) {{Authority control Waldshut (district) Germany–Switzerland border crossings Hotzenwald