Budenheim 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
Mainz-Bingen
Mainz-Bingen is a district (''Kreis'') in the east of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from north clockwise) Rheingau-Taunus, the district-free cities Wiesbaden and Mainz, the districts Groß-Gerau, Alzey-Worms, Bad Kreuzn ...
district in
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) 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 sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...
,
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 ...
. Unlike other municipalities in Mainz-Bingen, it does not belong to any ''
association of municipalities''.
Geography
Location

The Municipality of Budenheim is the only ''Verbandsgemeinde''-free municipality in Mainz-Bingen. The municipality lies in
Rhenish Hesse
Rhenish Hesse or Rhine HesseDickinson, Robert E (1964). ''Germany: A regional and economic geography'' (2nd ed.). London: Methuen, p. 542. . (, ) is a region and a former government district () in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is ...
, 9 km west of Rhineland-Palatinate's capital
Mainz
Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...
, and is bordered by the north-flowing
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 ...
and the Lennebergwald (forest) on the residential community's south and west.
Greatest elevation
Budenheim's greatest elevation is the Lenneberg at 176.8 m, which is in the Lennebergwald. At this spot stands the ''Lennebergturm'' (tower), dedicated in 1880 and belonging to the ''Wander- und Lennebergverein Rheingold Mainz e. V.'' (a hiking club).
History
Budenheim had its first documentary mention – albeit undated – as ''Butenheim'' in the
Lorsch codex
The Lorsch Codex (Chronicon Laureshamense, Lorscher Codex, Codex Laureshamensis) is an important historical document created between about 1175 to 1195 AD in the Lorsch Abbey, Monastery of Saint Nazarius in Lorsch, Germany. The codex is handwrit ...
in a listing of 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 ...
’s holdings in and around Mainz (Urkunde-Nr. 1977); this was the municipality’s only mention therein.
Politics
Communal council and mayor

The communal council is made up of 24 volunteer council members (elected in the communal elections on June 9, 2024) and full-time mayor Stephan Hinz (
CDU) who took office after his predecessor Rainer Becker (CDU) stepped down prematurely in 2018 - having held office since 1998.
Current and past seat distributions:
* GLB = voting bloc „Grüne Liste Budenheim“, since June 2012 a branch of
Bündnis 90/The Greens.
Communal partnership programs
Budenheim has communal partnerships with
Eaubonne
Eaubonne () is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department, in the northern outer suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris.
Population
Twin towns
It is twinned with Matlock, Derbyshire, England; Budenheim, Germany and ...
in
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 ...
and
Isola-della-Scala in
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 ...
. It also maintains friendly relations with the town of
Wiesmoor in
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...
.
Town partnerships
*
Eaubonne
Eaubonne () is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department, in the northern outer suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris.
Population
Twin towns
It is twinned with Matlock, Derbyshire, England; Budenheim, Germany and ...
,
Val-d'Oise
Val-d'Oise (, "Vale of the Oise") is a department in the Île-de-France region, Northern France. It was created in 1968 following the split of the Seine-et-Oise department. In 2019, Val-d'Oise had a population of 1,249,674.[< ...]
,
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 ...
*
Isola della Scala,
Province of Verona
The province of Verona (Italian: ''provincia di Verona'') is a province of the Veneto region in Italy. On its northwestern border, Lake Garda—Italy's largest—is divided between Verona and the provinces of Brescia (Lombardy region) and Trentin ...
,
Veneto
Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...
,
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 ...
*
Wiesmoor,
Aurich district,
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...
The third place listed here is a town in
East Frisia
East Frisia () or East Friesland (; ; ; ) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisia (peninsula), East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia and to the ...
with which Budenheim fosters “friendly relations”.
Coat of arms
The municipality'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: Gules on a base sable Saint Pancras in armour with a sword on his belt all argent, in his hand dexter a flagpole argent bendwise flying from which the banner of Saint Pancras, argent a cross gules, standing on his foot sinister a shield argent charged with a cross gules.
''Heraldry of the World'' shows a different coat of arms for Budenheim, with the same
charge
Charge or charged may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary
Music
* ''Charge'' (David Ford album)
* ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album)
* '' Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...
s but in different
tincture
A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...
s. The shield at Saint Pancras's foot, for instance, is Or (gold), including the cross with which it is charged, and the cross on Saint Pancras's banner is sable (black) instead of gules (red). ''Heraldry of the World'' also shows a proposed coat of arms for Budenheim put forth in 1956, which apparently failed to win any great support. It is charged with Saint Pancras's banner only on an azure (blue) field and with a golden flagpole.
Saint Pancras is Budenheim's patron saint, which explains why he was chosen as a charge for the municipality's arms. The arms are based on a 16th-century village seal, and the tinctures are those from the arms borne by
Electoral 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 ...
. These were chosen as no traditional tinctures were known.
Description and explanation of Budenheim’s arms
/ref>
Palaeontological finds
The Budenheim Rhinoceros
In 1911, the most important and finest specimen of a rhinoceros
A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...
, some 20 million years old from the Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
, was unearthed in Budenheim. The fossil is displayed at the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
. It is a complete specimen, 85 cm tall, of the subspecies ''Dicerorhinus tagicus moguntianus''. This is a forerunner to the Sumatran Rhinoceros
The Sumatran rhinoceros (''Dicerorhinus sumatrensis''), also known as the Sumatran rhino, hairy rhinoceros or Asian two-horned rhinoceros, is a rare member of the family Rhinocerotidae and one of five extant species of rhinoceros; it is the o ...
(''Dicerorhinus sumatrensis''), which reaches a shoulder height of 110 to 150 cm, and which is also now threatened with extinction. Crocodile
Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large, semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term "crocodile" is sometimes used more loosely to include ...
fossils have also been unearthed in Budenheim. At the ''Naturhistorisches Museum Mainz'' stands a copy of the 20,000,000-year-old rhinoceros presented as the ''Budenheimer Nashorn'' (“Budenheim Rhinoceros”) in view of the place where it was found.
Culture and sightseeing
Regular events
''Budenheimer Blütenfest''
The Budenheim Flower Festival has since 1955 been celebrated at the onset of the blossoming season each year on the last weekend in April by choosing a Flower Queen. There are also two Flower Princesses to go with the Queen, and for one year they represent the Municipality of Budenheim on special occasions.
''Budenheimer Straßenfest''
The Budenheim Street Festival had its beginnings in the municipality's 1,200-year jubilee in 1978. This folk festival is staged by the association of Budenheim's clubs along with the individual clubs therein. The festival is held over four days and includes the last weekend in the Rhineland-Palatinate summer holidays.
''Budenheimer Kerb''
The Budenheim kermis (church consecration festival) goes back to the consecration of the 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 ...
Saint Pancras's Church (''Pankratiuskirche'') on 3 September 1747 and is likewise held over four days, each year over the third weekend in September.
Economy and infrastructure
The was founded in 1908 and has belonged to since 2021. The chemical specialist employs around 850 people at its site in Budenheim. “Budenheim” is shorthand for this chemical company in international communication and as such it has carried the municipality's name throughout the world.
Transport
*The Autobahn
The (; German , ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'.
Much of t ...
A 643 can be reached through the ''Mainz-Mombach'' interchange about 4 km away.
*Budenheim is a stop for local trains on Deutsche Bahn
(, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG).
DB was fou ...
’s West Rhine Railway
The West Rhine railway (German: ''Linke Rheinstrecke'', literally 'left (bank of the) Rhine route') is a famously picturesque, double-track electrified railway line running for 185 km from Cologne via Bonn, Koblenz, and Bingen to Mainz. It ...
. Travel time to the main railway station in Mainz ranges from 6 to 10 minutes (as of June 2006).
*Budenheim is the last stop on the route of the city bus run by the ''Mainzer Verkehrsgesellschaft'' (“Mainz Transport Association”). Travel time to the main railway station in Mainz is 29 minutes (as of June 2006).
Documents
Bild von Budenheim aus J.F. Dielmann, A. Fay, J. Becker (Zeichner): F.C. Vogels Panorama des Rheins, Bilder des rechten und linken Rheinufers, Lithographische Anstalt F.C. Vogel, Frankfurt 1833
References
External links
Municipality’s official webpage
Information about Budenheim
Wohnen auf Zeit in Budenheim
{{Authority control
Mainz-Bingen