Brühl () is a

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

in the Rhein-Neckar district of

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 ...

. The former fishing village along the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

has become a satellite of a growing

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

. Many of the residents of Brühl work in Mannheim. Brühl is known as the hometown of former

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player

Steffi Graf Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for a r ...

Geography

Mannheim lies directly on Brühl's northern border. The Rhine is to the west near the confluence of the Leimbach. The peninsular Koller Island (''Kollerinsel'') is one of the few pieces of land on the left bank of the Rhine that belong to Baden-Württemberg. This 4 km² area is part of Brühl. It borders the communities of

Altrip Altrip is a municipality in the Rhein-Pfalz-Kreis, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the left bank of the Rhine, approx. 7 km southeast of Ludwigshafen. The population in 2022 was 7,728. Sister city Altrip has one sister ci ...

, Waldsee, and Otterstadt. To the south is

Ketsch Ketsch () is a municipality in the district of Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, 14 km south of Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the ...

and to the east is

Schwetzingen Schwetzingen (; ) is a German town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, around southwest of Heidelberg and southeast of Mannheim. Schwetzingen is one of the five biggest cities of the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis district and a medium-sized centre between ...

. The municipality consists of two boroughs: *Brühl *Rohrhof

History

Rohrhof was first mentioned in documents in 976. This was the occasion of a gift from emperor

Otto II Otto II (955 – 7 December 983), called the Red (), was Holy Roman Emperor from 973 until his death in 983. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto II was the youngest and sole surviving son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Italy. Otto II was ...

to Hanno, the bishop of Worms. Brühl (''Bruowele'') was first mentioned in a document listing the income of the bishop of

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ; ; ), historically known in English as Spires, is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in the western part of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the r ...

in 1157. From 1405 until 1600, the lords of Handschuhsheim governed the land as a temporal fief from Speyer and the

Electorate of the Palatinate The Electoral Palatinate was a Imperial State, constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire until it was annexed by the Electorate of Baden in 1803. From the end of the 13th century, its ruler was one of the Prince-electors who elected the Holy ...

of the Rhine. This division of temporal and spiritual dominion (

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...

) ended with a treaty in which Speyer withdrew its worldly rights in 1709. In 1803 the towns became part of

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...

. In 1878 the two independent communities of Brühl and Rohrhof were unified. In 1944 a part of Rohrhof was given to

. ''Live and celebrate on the Rhine'' is the motto of the communities jubilee, "850 Years Brühl" on 13 March 2007.

Population

Government

Municipal council

Mayors

A partial list of the mayors of Brühl: *1849–1870 Michael Lindner *1870–1897 Wilhelm Eder *1897–1973 … *1973–1981 Gerhard Stratthaus (CDU) *1982–1998 Günther Reffert (CDU) *1998–to present Ralf Göck (SPD), he was reelected in 2006 and 2014.

Coat of arms

Azure with a horseshoe argent. The horseshoe was first documented on a road-side shrine in 1496. Later it appeared on all the seals of the community. In 1911 the coat of arms was officially awarded to Brühl by the General State Archive. The white and blue colors refer to the lords of the

of the Rhine, the

Wittelsbach The House of Wittelsbach () is a former Bavarian dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including the Electorate of Bavaria, the Electoral Palatinate, the Electorate of Cologne, County of Holland, Holland, County of Zeeland, ...

s. The flag is white and blue and was awarded by the Ministry of the Interior in 1960.

Sister cities

Ormesson-sur-Marne Ormesson-sur-Marne (, literally ''Ormesson on Marne (river), Marne'') is a Communes of France, commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. Transport Ormesson-sur-Marne is served b ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

since 1977 * Weixdorf,

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

since 1993, which has been a borough of

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

since 1999 * Dourtenga,

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

since 1997

Culture and sights

Sport

* TV Brühl, a gymnastics club with the following work groups: **Gymnastics **Handball **Table tennis **Volleyball * FV Brühl, a football club with the following work groups: **Football **Track and field

Leisure facilities

Brühl has a heated outdoor community swimming pool and an indoor swimming pool. There is a youth center in Rennerswald.

Events

* Two fishing festivals * On the anniversary of the consecration of the church, Brühl has a street festival. * The Rohrhof Summer Festival

Notable natives

, professional tennis player. Graf was actually born in

but moved with her family to Brühl at the age of nine.

Honorary citizens

The following were named honorary citizens in the year mentioned: * 1905: Johann Baptist Eder (1839-1918) was born in Brühl and possessed a brick layer. He was a deputy of the second chamber of the Baden Landtag. There he set out for the construction of the railway line to Brühl. * 1934: Karl Mark (1873-1951) was almost 28 years teacher, long time also school rector, in Brühl. He also worked as a chorus conductor for a long time. * 1973: Alfred Körber (1908-1998) was mayor of Brühl for 25 years. During his term of office, the construction and the rapid growth of the community took place after the Second World War. * 1988:

(born 1969) was one of the best and most successful women tennis players in the world. * 1993: Karl Maurer (1919-2009) volunteered for decades in Brühl. He was a member of the Council for more than 40 years, long chairman of the CDU and member of the parish council. * 1998: Olivier d'Ormesson (1918-2002) was mayor of Brühl's French partner community

and co-founder of the partnership. * 2002: Gerhard Stratthaus (born 1942) was mayor of Brühl and chairman of the foundation '' Brühl citizens in need ''. Even as Mayor of Schwetzingen and Finance Minister of Baden-Württemberg, he always kept his residence in Brühl. * 2004: Gerd Stauffer (born 1938) was a decade-old for the CDU in the Brühl municipal council and almost 30 years honorary first mayor-in-office. * 2008: Günther Reffert (born 1938) was mayor of Brühl for 16 years. In his term, the reduction of municipal debt started and the Villa Meixner became a cultural center. * 2008: Hans Motzenbäcker (born 1935) was for 32 years a CDU member of the Brühl municipal council and long-standing president of the FV Brühl as well as of the Badischen and the Süddeutschen Leichtathletikverbands (Baden and South German athletics associations)

Other personalities

Rio Reiser Ralph Christian Möbius (9 January 1950 – 20 August 1996), known professionally as Rio Reiser, was a German musician and from 1970 to 1985 the lead singer and main lyric-writer for the rock group Ton Steine Scherben. After that band broke up, ...

, bourgeois Ralph Christian Möbius, (1950-1996), musician, of the band Ton Steine Scherben, lived with his family in the 1950s in Brühl and was trained here. * Maurizio Gaudino (born 1966 in Brühl), former national football player

References

External links

Official website

Official website of the 850 Year Brühl Jubilee
Panorama:

Sources

*Translated and edited from :de:Brühl (Baden), 16 Dec 2006 {{Authority control Rhein-Neckar-Kreis