Eberbach (;

South Franconian South Franconian () or South Rhine Franconian () is an Upper German dialect which is spoken in the northernmost part of Baden-Württemberg in Germany, around Karlsruhe, Mosbach and Heilbronn. Like closely related East Franconian, it is a transit ...

: ''Ewwerbach'') is a town in

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 ...

, in northern

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 ...

, located 33 km east of

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

. It belongs to the

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 ...

. Its sister cities are Ephrata,

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Thonon-les-Bains Thonon-les-Bains (; ), often simply referred to as Thonon, is a subprefecture of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. In 2018, the commune had a population of 35,241. Thonon-les-Bains is part of a ...

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 ...

Geography

Location

Eberbach lies at the foot of the

Katzenbuckel The Katzenbuckel (; 626 metres) is an extinct volcano and the highest elevation in the Odenwald The Odenwald () is a low mountain range in the Germany, German states of Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. Location The Odenwald is locate ...

, at 626 m the highest elevation in the

Odenwald The Odenwald () is a low mountain range in the Germany, German states of Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. Location The Odenwald is located between the Upper Rhine Plain with the Bergstraße Route, Bergstraße and the ''Hessisches Ried' ...

, in the ''Naturpark Neckartal-Odenwald'', on the romantic ''Burgenstraße'' (Castle Road) along the river

Neckar The Neckar () is a river in Germany, mainly flowing through the southwestern States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, with a short section through Hesse. The Neckar is a major right tributary of the Rhine. Rising in the Schwarzwald-Baar ...

Boroughs

Eberbach includes the boroughs of Neckarwimmersbach, Brombach, Friedrichsdorf, Lindach, Rockenau, Badisch Igelsbach, Gaimühle, Unterdielbach, Badisch Schöllenbach and Pleutersbach. The border with

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 ...

runs through the borough of Igelsbach. Therefore, only the northeast half, called ''Badisch Igelsbach'', of the borough belongs to Eberbach. The southwest half, called ''Hessisch Igelsbach'', belongs to the Hessian municipality of Hirschhorn. The same is true for the borough Schöllenbach. The larger part of Schöllenbach belongs to the municipality of

Hesseneck Hesseneck is a village and a former municipality in the Odenwaldkreis (district) in Hesse, Germany. With only just over 600 inhabitants, Hesseneck was Hesse’s smallest self-governing community. Since January 2018, it is part of the new town Ober ...

History

Eberbach is a former Imperial Free City, founded soon after 1227—when the

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

was first mentioned—by German King Henry VII of the House of

Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynast ...

. After his pledge to the

Counts Palatine A count palatine (Latin ''comes palatinus''), also count of the palace or palsgrave (from German language, German ''Pfalzgraf''), was originally an official attached to a royal or imperial palace or household and later a nobleman of a rank abo ...

in 1330, the old Free City belonged to 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 ...

. In 1803, it passed to the

Principality of Leiningen The Principality of Leiningen () was a short-lived principality ruled by the Prince of Leiningen. It was created in 1803 as part of compensation for the House of Leiningen losing land to France but was mediatized three years later to become par ...

, and since 1806 it has belonged to

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 ...

. Until 1924, it was the seat of the authority office (''Bezirksamt''). In 1977 the town celebrated its 750-year jubilee.

Main sights

The historic old town, which is a

pedestrian precinct Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town restricted to use by people on foot or ...

, with its four well maintained towers, many well kept

timber-frame Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs. If the struc ...

houses and some town wall remnants, is a magnet for tourists. Likewise, the Eberbach castle ruins, which stand above the town on one of the mountains in the Odenwald range that surrounds the town, are worthy of sightseeing as part of the string of castles along the river Neckar. Eberbach also lies on the ''Burgenstraße'' (Castle Road), which leads from

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 ...

all the way to

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. The Ohrsberg is a peak in Eberbach. It shapes the town and is 229 m (751 ft) high.

Museums

Several museums can be found in Eberbach: *''Heimatmuseum der Stadt Eberbach'' — Museum of Local History for the Town of Eberbach *''Küfereimuseum'' — cooperage museum *''Zinnfiguren-Kabinett'' — tin figures

Government

Municipal council

Eberbach town council has 22 members, who are elected every five years. The 2014 election was as follows:

Mayor

The mayor is directly elected for eight years.

Coat of arms

Description: (source: ''Archiv der Stadt Eberbach'', Dr. Rüdiger Lenz, Archive Head) Eberbach'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 ...

is heraldically described thus: Argent (white or silver) on lowered fess wavy azure a boar striding sable. This makes the coat of arms a

rebus A rebus ( ) is a puzzle device that combines the use of illustrated pictures with individual letters to depict words or phrases. For example: the word "been" might be depicted by a rebus showing an illustrated bumblebee next to a plus sign (+ ...

of the town's name – a " canting" coat of arms – since it shows a

boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...

(''Eber'' 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 ...

) and a wavy blue line representing a brook (''Bach'' in German). Eberbach's flag is blue and white (or blue and silver). As an Imperial City, Eberbach would have had leave originally to have its arms bear the Imperial

eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

. The Imperial eagle was once to be found in the town wall at the upper gate. A photograph taken of it in 1909, along with the armorial stone itself, are today kept in the Town Museum, where they may be seen. The current coat of arms has been established to be from a seal impression dating back to 1387. The boar's appearance, however, in today's arms, adopted in 1976, is clearly unlike the original.

Cultural events

The following events are held yearly: *''Apfeltag'' (Apple Day) – mid-October *''Bärlauchtage'' (''Bear Garlic'' Days) - mid-March to mid-April celebrate

Ramsons ''Allium ursinum'', known as wild garlic, ramsons, cowleekes, cows's leek, cowleek, buckrams, broad-leaved garlic, wood garlic, bear leek, Eurasian wild garlic or bear's garlic, is a bulbous perennial flowering plant in the amaryllis family, Ama ...

*''Frühlingsfest'' (Spring Festival) - mid-May *''Kuckucksmarkt'' (Cuckoo Market): Eberbach's Cuckoo Market is a folk festival on the last weekend of August. The name traces itself back to an old traditional story. According to the tale, an Eberbacher (from the main town north of the Neckar) in an inn in Neckarwimmersbach (on the south bank) was served a cuckoo, rather than the pigeon that he had ordered. This he then proceeded to consume. The Cuckoo Market is held in Neckarwimmersbach at the "In der Au" sports grounds and in several streets (Schwanheimer Straße, Beckstraße, Neckarbrücke). It was once held on the Neckar's north bank between Pulverturm and Grüner Baum, which is nowadays where the aforesaid Spring Festival is held.

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

The S 1/2 lines of the

Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn The Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn ''(S-Bahn RheinNeckar)'' forms the backbone of the urban rail transport network of the Rhine Neckar Area, including the cities of Mannheim, Heidelberg and Ludwigshafen. The S-Bahn operates over of route in the states of ...

run half-hourly along the Neckar Valley Railway towards

Mosbach Mosbach (; South Franconian: ''Mossbach'') is a town in the north of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the seat of the Neckar-Odenwald district and has a population of approximately 25,000 distributed in six boroughs: Mosbach Town, Lohrbach, ...

and

. Moreover, regional express trains shuttle along this same right of way two-hourly bound for Mannheim and

Heilbronn Heilbronn () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, surrounded by Heilbronn (district), Heilbronn District. From the late Middle Ages on, it developed into an important trading centre. At the begi ...

. Regional trains also run every two hours along the '' Odenwaldbahn'' to

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...

and

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 ...

. Eberbach, unlike most towns of comparable size, maintains its own transport system, the ''Stadtwerke Eberbach'' (SWE). The fleet comprises all together 6

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

es which weekdays serve the main routes (Ledigsberg and Eberbach/Nord) from 5:10 to 19:30 half-hourly, and lesser routes irregularly. Saturdays the buses run from 6:30 to 14:50. At the Spring Festival and the Cuckoo Market, special services are laid on. In the latter case, the service runs quite late into the evening to accommodate "marketgoers". The town transport serves the following routes: *801, 807:

Railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

– Ledigsberg *802, 802a, 809: Railway station – Eberbach/Nord *803: Railway station – Rockenau *804: Railway station – Igelsbach *805: Railway station – Holdergrund *806: Hirschhorn – Brombach; this line is run by the Heckmann firm on the SWE's behalf. Furthermore, the ''Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar'' (VRN) and ''Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund'' (RMV) transport systems serve various regional bus routes. Eberbach also lies on the well-used ''Bundesstraßen'' (Federal Highways) B37 and B45.

Established enterprises

Eberbach is headquarters to the world's biggest

gelatin Gelatin or gelatine () is a translucent, colorless, flavorless food ingredient, commonly derived from collagen taken from animal body parts. It is brittle when dry and rubbery when moist. It may also be referred to as hydrolyzed collagen, coll ...

producer, Gelita, the

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

machine factory Dilo, the rowboat building yard Empacher and the ticket vending and fare collecting machine manufacturer, Krauth Technology, whose products are sold worldwide. The headquarters of the Neckardraht Group (wire makers) is likewise also found in the town on the Neckar. A site of the contract pharmaceutical manufacturer Catalent Pharma Solutions (formerly known as R. P. Scherer) is also based in Eberbach.

Media

*The ''Eberbacher Zeitung'' is a daily

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

built on groundwork laid out by the '' Südwest-Presse'', an

Ulm Ulm () is the sixth-largest city of the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with around 129,000 inhabitants, it is Germany's 60th-largest city. Ulm is located on the eastern edges of the Swabian Jura mountain range, on the up ...

newspaper. * The ''Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung'' maintains its own local editing in Eberbach and publishes a special Eberbach and area edition (''Eberbacher Nachrichten''). *The ''Eberbach-Channel'' (see link below) is an online information service for Eberbach and area.

Education

*Steige

grundschule Education in Germany is primarily the responsibility of individual German States of Germany, states (), with the federal government only playing a minor role. While kindergarten (nursery school) is optional, formal education is compulsory for a ...

*Dr.-Weiß Grund- und Förderschule *

Hauptschule A ''Hauptschule'' (, "general school") is a secondary school in Germany, starting after four years of elementary schooling (''Grundschule''), which offers Lower Secondary Education (Level 2) according to the International Standard Classification ...

Eberbach *

Realschule Real school (, ) is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), F ...

Eberbach *Hohenstaufen- Gymnasium * Gewerbeschule Eberbach

Health services

Hospital of the Gesundheitszentren Rhein Neckar GmbH (GRN) *

Internal medicine Internal medicine, also known as general medicine in Commonwealth nations, is a medical specialty for medical doctors focused on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases in adults. Its namesake stems from "treatment of diseases of ...

* Surgery * Urology * Anaesthesia * HNO *

Gynaecology Gynaecology or gynecology (see American and British English spelling differences) is the area of medicine concerned with conditions affecting the female reproductive system. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, which focuses on pre ...

Proctology Colorectal surgery is a field in medicine dealing with disorders of the rectum, anus, and colon. The field is also known as proctology, but this term is now used infrequently within medicine and is most often employed to identify practices relati ...

* Short-term care * Physiotherapy * Training for nursing

Notable people

Conrad Beissel Johann Conrad Beissel (March 1, 1691 – July 6, 1768) was a Germany, German-born religion, religious leader who in 1732 founded the Ephrata Community in the Province of Pennsylvania.For the correct date of his birth see Alderfer, Everett Gordon: ...

(1691-1768), emigrant who founded the Ephrata monastery in

Ephrata, Pennsylvania Ephrata ( ; ) is a borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located east of Harrisburg and about west-northwest of Philadelphia and is named after Ephrath, the former name for current-day Bethlehem. In its early hist ...

. * Eduard Ritsert (1859–1946), chemist, inventor of

Benzocaine Benzocaine, sold under the brand name Orajel amongst others, is a local anesthetic, belonging to the amino ester drug class, commonly used as a topical painkiller or in cough drops. It is the active ingredient in many over-the-counter ...

Theodor Haecker Theodor Haecker (4 June 1879 – 9 April 1945) was a German writer, translator and cultural critic. Life Haecker was a translator into German of Kierkegaard and Cardinal Newman. He wrote an essay, ''Kierkegaard and the Philosophy of Inwardness' ...

(1879–1945), writer, translator and cultural critic; translated

Søren Kierkegaard Søren Aabye Kierkegaard ( , ; ; 5 May 1813 – 11 November 1855) was a Danes, Danish theologian, philosopher, poet, social critic, and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. He wrote critical tex ...

Robert Heinrich Wagner Robert Heinrich Wagner, born as Robert Heinrich Backfisch (13 October 1895 – 14 August 1946) was a German Nazi Party official and politician who served as ''Gauleiter'' and ''Reichsstatthalter'' of Baden, and Chief of Civil Administrati ...

(1895-1946),

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

functionary, Gauleiter of Baden and "chief of the civil administration" in occupied Alsace, executed for war crimes * Alfred Wolf (1915–2004) was a German-born American rabbi in Los Angeles * Nico Hammann (born 1988), footballer who has played over 400 games

International relations

Eberbach (Baden) is twinned with: *

* Ephrata,

References

External links

*
Town's official website
*
Eberbach Channel – Online town magazine with current news
*
Pleutersbach home page, a borough of Eberbach
*
Rockenau Sports Club home page

Tourist information for ''die Burgstrasse'', the Castle Road
* {{Authority control Towns in Baden-Württemberg 1227 establishments in Europe Populated places in Baden-Württemberg Populated places on the Neckar basin Populated riverside places in Germany Rhein-Neckar-Kreis