Bessenbach is a community in the Aschaffenburg district in the ''

Regierungsbezirk A ' () means "governmental district" and is a type of administrative division in Germany. Four of sixteen ' ( states of Germany) are split into '. Beneath these are rural and urban districts. Saxony has ' (directorate districts) with more res ...

'' of

Lower Franconia Lower Franconia (german: Unterfranken) is one of seven districts of Bavaria, Germany. The districts of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia make up the region of Franconia. History After the founding of the Kingdom of Bavaria the state was total ...

(''Unterfranken'') 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 l ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

Geography

Location

Bessenbach lies southeast of the town of

Aschaffenburg Aschaffenburg (; South Franconian: ''Aschebersch'') is a town in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg is not part of the district of Aschaffenburg, but is its administrative seat. Aschaffenburg belonged to the Archbishopric ...

among the

Spessart Spessart is a '' Mittelgebirge'', a range of low wooded mountains, in the States of Bavaria and Hesse in Germany. It is bordered by the Vogelsberg, Rhön and Odenwald. The highest elevation is the Geiersberg at 586 metres above sea level. Et ...

range's outlying hills.

Subdivision

Bessenbach's ''

Ortsteil A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

e'' are Beetacker, Frauengrund, Gemeindezentrum, Keilberg, Klingerhof, Klingermühle, Oberbessenbach, Steiger, Straßbessenbach, Unterbessenbach, Waldmichelbach and Weiler.

History

The community was formed on 1 January 1972 through the merger of the communities of Keilberg and Straßbessenbach. In 1978, the community of Oberbessenbach followed.

Governance

Community council

The council is made up of 20 council members. (as at municipal election held on 2 March 2008)

Mayor

On 15 March 2020, Christoph Ruppert (CSU) was elected mayor.

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 be described thus: Azure a stork argent armed gules with two heads, the sinister reguardant, in base a fess wavy of the second. The formerly self-administering communities of Keilberg, Straßbessenbach and Oberbessenbach merged into a greater community in 1978, taking on the historical name of Bessenbach once again. The local noble family, also called Bessenbach, were instrumental in the community's development. Their ancestral seat, a castle, stood in today's centre of Keilberg. The family's existence is documented as far back as the 12th century. They had lordly and juridical rights throughout the Bessenbach valley that they alienated in the late 13th century. The family arms – the two-headed

stork Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family called Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons a ...

– were later adopted as the charge in the community's arms. Standing for the Bessenbach, the brook that serves as the geographical link in the community named after it, is the wavy fess in the base of the

escutcheon Escutcheon may refer to: * Escutcheon (heraldry), a shield or shield-shaped emblem, displaying a coat of arms * Escutcheon (furniture), a metal plate that surrounds a keyhole or lock cylinder on a door * (in medicine) the distribution of pubic ha ...

. These arms have been borne since 28 November 1977.

Town twinning

* Dury,

Somme __NOTOC__ Somme or The Somme may refer to: Places *Somme (department), a department of France *Somme, Queensland, Australia *Canal de la Somme, a canal in France *Somme (river), a river in France Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Somme'' (book), a ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

Saint-Fuscien Saint-Fuscien (; pcd, Saint-Fuschien) is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. The name of the commune in Picard is ''Saint-Fuschien''. Geography The commune is situated some south of Amiens, on the D7 road ...

, Somme, France * Sains-en-Amiénois, Somme, France This is one partnership that Bessenbach has maintained with all three French communes since 1985.

Infrastructure

Transport

The community is served by various bus lines of the ''Verkehrsgemeinschaft am Bayerischen Untermain'' ("Transport Association of the Bavarian Lower Main") from the main railway station in Aschaffenburg. Moreover, Bessenbach lies right on the A 3 interchange Bessenbach/Waldaschaff and near the Spessart

service centre A rest area is a public facility located next to a large thoroughfare such as a motorway, expressway, or highway, at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting onto secondary roads. Other names include motorway se ...

near Rohrbrunn.

Sport

The ''Ortsteil'' of Straßbessenbach has been host to the German Sidecarcross Grand Prix numerous times.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Aschaffenburg (district)