Reichelsheim (Odenwald) is a municipality in the Odenwaldkreis (district) in Hesse, Germany.

Geography

Location

Reichelsheim lies in the middle

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

at elevations between 200 and 538 m in the middle of the ''Geo-Naturpark Bergstraße-Odenwald''.

Neighbouring communities

Reichelsheim borders in the north on the communities of

Fränkisch-Crumbach Fränkisch-Crumbach is a municipality in the Odenwaldkreis (district) in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Fränkisch-Crumbach lies in the middle Odenwald on the Gersprenz, which empties into the Main near Stockstadt am Main. Neighbouring com ...

Brensbach Brensbach is a municipality in the Odenwaldkreis (district) in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Brensbach lies in the northern Odenwald in the Gersprenz valley. Neighbouring communities Brensbach borders in the north on the towns of Groß-Bi ...

and

Brombachtal Brombachtal is a municipality in the Odenwaldkreis (district) in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location The community lies in the centre of the Odenwald near Bad König. Neighbouring communities Brombachtal borders in the north and east on the tow ...

, in the east on the town of Michelstadt and the community of Mossautal (all in the Odenwaldkreis), in the south on the community of Fürth and in the west on the town of Lindenfels (both in Bergstraße district).

Constituent communities

Reichelsheim’s '' Ortsteile'', besides the main one, also called Reichelsheim, are Beerfurth, Bockenrod, Eberbach, Erzbach, Frohnhofen, Gersprenz, Gumpen, Klein-Gumpen, Laudenau, Ober-Kainsbach, Ober-Ostern, Rohrbach and Unter-Ostern.

History

In 1303, Reichelsheim had its first documentary mention.

Politics

The municipal election held on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:

Mayors

In the mayoral election in 2008, Stefan Lopinsky (RWG) was elected with 61.2% of the vote. From 1990 to 2008, the community’s mayor was Gerd Lode (SPD).

Coat of arms

The community’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 heraldically be described thus: Gules on a mount Or three oaks Or, in between also two oak saplings Or, above them three mullets of six argent, the sinister and dexter slightly lower.

Culture and sightseeing

Fairytale and Saga Days

Since 1995, yearly on the last weekend in October, the ''Reichelsheimer Märchen- und Sagentage'' are held, during which the ''Wildweibchenpreis'' (or “Wild Woman Prize”, this “wild woman” being a character in German legend) is awarded. Many

mediaeval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

sets and costumes are on show to admire.

Regional museum

This is housed in the former town hall, Germany’s oldest timber-frame town hall with the stud bracing called a ''Mannform'' in German. Exhibition highlights are mining, typical handicrafts such as

gingerbread Gingerbread refers to a broad category of baked goods, typically flavored with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon and sweetened with honey, sugar, or molasses. Gingerbread foods vary, ranging from a moist loaf cake to forms nearly as crisp as ...

baking, ''Gäulchesmacher'' (woodcarvers who carve horses), shakemakers and shoemakers along with village school life of yore and the old Reinheim-Reichelsheim railway.

Schloss Reichenberg

Today’s ''Schloss Reichenberg'' (palace) came into being as Richenburg Castle in the 13th century, and had its first documentary mention in 1307. Worth noting is the ''Herrenhaus'' (“Lord’s house”), or ''Palas''. The ''Palas'' was called the Crooked Building (''Krummer Bau'') for its crooked footprint. Here on 14 February 1776, Christian Gottfried Daniel Nees von Esenbeck, who later became a prominent

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

, zoologist and

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungus, fungi, including their genetics, genetic and biochemistry, biochemical properties, their Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and ethnomycology, their use to humans, including as a so ...

, was born. He was a friend of Goethe’s, a cofounder of the University of Bonn and the Bonn Botanical Garden, President of the

Leopoldina Leopoldina may refer to: * Colônia Leopoldina, a Brazilian municipality in the state of Alagoa * Leopoldina, Minas Gerais, a Brazilian municipality in the state of Minas Gerais * Maria Leopoldina of Austria (1797-1826), consort of emperor Pedro I ...

for 40 years and Director of the Botanical Garden in Breslau (now Wrocław in Poland), where he died on 16 March 1858. Until the mid 19th century, the castle was undergoing continual changes in noble ownership. From 1876 to 1924, the castle, now styled ''Schloss Reichenberg'', was used as a private upperclass boys’ school. Thereafter, the Siefert family from the ''Frohnhof'' took over the palace. They sold some of the buildings in 1963 as a holiday home to Deutsche Bundespost. In July 1979, ''Schloss Reichenberg'' was bought by the ecumenical community ''Offensive Junger Christen'' (OJC, literally “Young Christians’ Offensive”, but known in English as the

Reichenberg Fellowship The Reichenberg Fellowship is a German non-denominational ecumenical community. In German it is called the Offensive Junger Christen (OJC) e.V.. It belongs to the EKD and is situated in Reichelsheim in the Odenwald and in Greifswald. They are k ...

). They converted it into a publicly accessible international meeting and conference centre with a palace café. The upper, older part of the palace, the so-called Crooked Building, is currently being renovated.

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

By way of '' Bundesstraßen'' 47 (''Nibelungenstraße'' between Michelstadt and Worms) and 38 (between Roßdorf bei Darmstadt and

Weinheim Weinheim (; pfl, Woinem) 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 ...

/ Mannheim), which together run through the community, Reichelsheim is linked to the long-distance road network. Bus connections to Bensheim, Fürth im Odenwald, Reinheim and Michelstadt afford a link to the public railway network (

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the se ...

and Odenwaldbahn).

Sons and daughters of the community

* Christian Gottfried Daniel Nees von Esenbeck (1776-1858), botanist and natural philosopher *

Carl Geist Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Geist (9 December 1870, Reichelsheim - 29 November 1931, Bad Wimpfen) was a German Impressionist painter. Life His father was the district veterinarian. In 1871, his family moved to Grünberg and he attended the Gymna ...

(1870-1931), German landscape painter * Seligmann Meyer (1853-1925), Rabbi and community leader in Regensburg, Bavaria * Claude Howard Haring (1903-1967) American Major League Baseball broadcaster in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh

References

External links

Reichelsheim’s official website

Unter-Ostern

{{Authority control Odenwaldkreis