Eisenbach is a town in the district of

Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald () is a (district) in the southwest of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Fifty towns and municipalities with 133 settlements lie within the district. The district itself belongs to the region of Freiburg with the region of Sou ...

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 lies at an altitude between 800 and 1130m above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

in the Breg valley.

Etymology

The name of the town is said to come from the brown iron ore and

pyrolusite Pyrolusite is a mineral consisting essentially of manganese dioxide ( Mn O2) and is important as an ore of manganese.. It is a black, amorphous appearing mineral, often with a granular, fibrous, or columnar structure, sometimes forming reniform ...

which was mined in the region periodically from 1478 until 1942 (The German word for iron is Eisen, resulting in the town name "Eisenbach").

Local industries

Eisenbach was once known for its strong

watchmaking A watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. Since a majority of watches are now factory-made, most modern watchmakers only repair watches. However, originally they were master craftsmen who built watches, including all their par ...

industry, as traditional

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 ...

cuckoo clocks A cuckoo clock is a type of clock, typically pendulum driven, that strikes the hours with a sound like a common cuckoo call and has an automated cuckoo bird that moves with each note. Some move their wings and open and close their beaks while ...

were invented in the

black forest The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...

region of South-West Germany. They were, and still are, commonly produced in the region to be exported elsewhere and are a cultural symbol of the region as well as Germany. As of 2019, there is a

cluster may refer to: Science and technology Astronomy * Cluster (spacecraft), constellation of four European Space Agency spacecraft * Cluster II (spacecraft), a European Space Agency mission to study the magnetosphere * Asteroid cluster, a small ...

of 9 large industrial companies and numerous smaller companies which produce gears, precision tuned parts, and other mechanical parts. In 2012, there were over 1500 employees in this cluster, 1100 of whom were

commuters Commuting is periodically recurring travel between a place of residence and place of work or study, where the traveler, referred to as a commuter, leaves the boundary of their home community. By extension, it can sometimes be any regular o ...

. The high level of employment in the manufacturing sector is considered unusual in the Black Forest region of Germany, which is more reliant on

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

as a whole. Eisenbach is designated as an ' Air Spa' or 'Luftkurot', which is a designation German municipalities judged to have clean enough air can receive, and can use the status to charge guests with an additional health resort tax. Tourism in the municipality forms a significant part of its economy.

External links

References

Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald {{BreisgauHochschwarzwald-geo-stub