Leimen (; ) is a town in north-west

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 is about south 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 ...

and the third largest town of the Rhein-Neckar district after

Weinheim Weinheim (; ) is a town with about 43,000 inhabitants in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is in the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region, approximately north of Heidelberg and northeast of Mannheim. Weinheim is known as the "Zwei-Burgen-Sta ...

and Sinsheim. It is also the area's industrial centre. Leimen is located on the Bergstraße (Mountain Road) and on the

Bertha Benz Memorial Route The Bertha Benz Memorial Route is a German tourist and theme route in Baden-Württemberg and member of the European Route of Industrial Heritage. It opened in 2008 and follows the tracks of the world's first long distance road trip by a vehi ...

. In the context of a communal reform in the 1970s, Leimen was newly created from the villages Leimen, Gauangelloch and Sankt Ilgen. In 1981, the state government of Baden-Württemberg granted Leimen the privilege to be called "town." When Leimen's population exceeded 20,000 in 1990, the city council applied for elevation to a

Große Kreisstadt ''Große Kreisstadt'' (, "major district town") is a term in the municipal law (''Gemeindeordnung'') of several States of Germany, German states. In some federal states the term is used as a special legal status for a Districts of Germany, distric ...

which was granted by the state government on 1 April 1992.

History

The first documentary record of Leimen is from 791, when both 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 ...

and the Diocese of Worms owned land there. First records of the districts are from 1270 for Gauangelloch (a document supposedly from 1016 was found out to be a fake), 1312 for Lingental, around 1300 for Ochsenbach and 1100 for Sankt Ilgen, then called ''bruch'', an

Old High German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...

word for

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and musk ...

. In 1262, the lords of Bruchsal gave Leimen 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 ...

as a

fiefdom A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

and from 1464 on Leimen was part of the Palatinate. In 1579, Leimen was granted the right to celebrate an annual

fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Fairs showcase a wide range of go ...

and became a ''marketplace'' in 1595. In 1674, Leimen was partially destroyed.

Mayors

*Johann Ludwig Waldbauer 1838–1844 *Heinrich Seitz 1845–1876 *Jakob Rehm III. 1876–1882 *Leonhard Schneider 1882–1883 *Ludwig Endlich 1883–1896 *Christoph Lingg 1883–1923 *Jakob Weidemaier 1923–1933 *Fritz Wisswesser 1933–1945 *Jakob Weidemaier 1945 *Georg Appel 1946–1948 *Otto Hoog 1948–1976 *Herbert Ehrbar 1976–2000 (from 1992 Lord Mayor)

Lord Mayor

*Wolfgang Ernst 2000–2016 *Hans D. Reinwald 2016–2024 *since 2024: John Ehret

People, culture and architecture

Leimen consists of the Leimen (proper), nowadays called "Leimen (Mitte)", and the four boroughs Gauangelloch, Lingental, Ochsenbach and Sankt Ilgen. Despite its industrial roots, Leimen's downtown has maintained a certain quaintness. It is an active town, with a regular cycle of festivals and activities. At Ochsenbach, there is the NDB NKR.

Notable people

* Joseph von Henikstein (1768–1838), businessman, patron of the arts and friend of

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

* Anne Spiegel (born 1980), politician

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (, ), often simply referred to as Greens (, ), is a Green (politics), green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (formed in East Ger ...

, born in Leimen

Sport

* Michael Peter (1949–1997),

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

player, died locally, team gold medallist at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

* Rainer Zietsch (born 1964), footballer who played 339 games and coach *

Ralph Götz Ralph Götz (born 15 May 1967) was the President of the German Rugby Federation from 2011 to 2013. He succeeded Claus-Peter Bach at this position. Götz, whose father was for many years the President of the Baden-Württemberg Rugby Union, start ...

(born 1967), rugby player and administrator *

Boris Becker Boris Franz Becker (; born 22 November 1967) is a German former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Becker won 49 c ...

(born 1967), former world No. 1 tennis player * Rainer Buhmann (born 1981), chess Grandmaster, 2007 and German Chess Champion, 2018 * Clemens von Grumbkow (born 1983), rugby union player * Akeem Vargas (born 1990), basketball player, grew up in Leimen

Twin towns – sister cities

Leimen is twinned with: * Castanheira de Pera, Portugal *

Cernay-lès-Reims Cernay-lès-Reims (, literally ''Cernay near Reims'') is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France. Cernay-lès-Reims, along with the neighboring commune of Berru, is notable in the literature of paleontology as the site of ...

, France * Kunín, Czech Republic * Mafra, Portugal * Tigy, France * Tinqueux, France

References

{{Authority control Towns in Baden-Württemberg Rhein-Neckar-Kreis