Sailauf is a municipality in the
Aschaffenburg district in the ''
Regierungsbezirk
A ' (, 'governmental district') is a type of administrative division in Germany. Currently, four of sixteen ' (states of Germany) are split into '. Beneath these are rural and urban districts
' (plural, ) serve as regional mid-level local gov ...
'' of
Lower Franconia
Lower Franconia (, ) is one of seven districts of Bavaria, Germany. The districts of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia make up the region of Franconia. It consists of nine districts and 308 municipalities (including three cities).
History
After ...
(''Unterfranken'') in
Bavaria
Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
,
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 has a population of around 3,600.
Geography
Location

The community lies in the area of the
Spessart
Spessart () is a ''Mittelgebirge'', a range of low wooded mountains, in the States of Bavaria and Hesse in Germany. It is bordered by the Vogelsberg, Rhön and Odenwald. The highest elevation is the Geiersberg (Spessart), Geiersberg at 586 metre ...
(range) known as ''Vorspessart'' near
Aschaffenburg
Aschaffenburg (; Hessian: ''Aschebersch'', ) is a town in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg, despite being its administrative seat, is not part of the district of Aschaffenburg.
Aschaffenburg belonged to the Archbishopric ...
. It is located on the
Sailaufbach
The Sailaufbach is a stream in Bavaria, Germany. It flows in the low mountain range of the Spessart. It is a right-hand and northwestern tributary of the Laufach in the district of Aschaffenburg in Lower Franconia, flowing into the Laufach near ...
, a tributary of the
Laufach
Laufach is a community in the Aschaffenburg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. As of 2023, the population of Laufach was 5,308.
Geography Location
The community lies in northwest Ba ...
.
Subdivisions

Sailauf has two ''
Ortsteil
A village is a human settlement or Residential community, community, larger than a hamlet (place), hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located ...
e'':
* (population 2013: 788)
* Sailauf (2,861)
In addition the hamlet is part of Sailauf. It consists of an industrial area near the
Bundesautobahn 3
is an autobahn in Germany running from the Germany-Netherlands border near Wesel in the northwest to the Germany-Austria border near Passau.
Major cities along its total length of 778 km (483 mi) include Oberhausen, Duisburg, Düsse ...
and the '. Moreover, the municipal territory includes 19 small exclaves to the northeast (see map) surrounded by the Sailaufer Forst.
Neighbouring communities
Sailauf borders on (from the north, clockwise):
Blankenbach
Blankenbach is a community in the Aschaffenburg (district), Aschaffenburg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany, and a member of the ''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'' (Administrative Community) o ...
,
Sommerkahl
Sommerkahl is a community in the Aschaffenburg (district), Aschaffenburg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany and a member of the ''Municipal association, Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'' (municip ...
, the
unincorporated area
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
,
Laufach
Laufach is a community in the Aschaffenburg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. As of 2023, the population of Laufach was 5,308.
Geography Location
The community lies in northwest Ba ...
,
Bessenbach
Bessenbach is a community in the Aschaffenburg district in the '' Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany.
Geography
Location
Bessenbach lies southeast of the town of Aschaffenburg among the Spessart ran ...
and
Hösbach
Hösbach is a market community and municipality in the Aschaffenburg (district), Aschaffenburg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. As of 2023, It has a population of 13,323.
Geography
...
.
History
Sailauf is among the ''Vorspessart's'' oldest settlements. As early as 1089, the original parish church in the upper
Aschaff
The Aschaff (in its uppermost course: ''Kleinaschaff'') is a river in the northern Spessart in Bavaria, Germany.
It is a right tributary of the Main and is long. It begins at the Aschaffquelle near Waldaschaff. Loosely translated the name Asch ...
valley stood here.
In 1189, the lordly estate of ''Sigilovf(e)'', meaning "glistening brook", and out of whose name arose the placename Sailauf, had its first documentary mention. The first known inhabitant of Sailauf is Gerhardus de Sigeloufe, who is mentioned as a witness in court in 1229. The name "de Sigeloufe" means "of Sailauf" and is therefore also the oldest and perhaps first surname in Sailauf. In the 13th century, Sailauf was for a short time ruled by the
Counts of Rieneck
The County of Rieneck was a comital domain within the Holy Roman Empire that lay in what is now northwestern Bavaria (in the west of Lower Franconia). It bore the same name as its original ruling family, the Counts of Rieneck, from whom the count ...
, who built the castle ''Landesere'' on the nearby . In 1265, the
Archbishop of Mainz
The Elector of Mainz was one of the seven Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. As both the Archbishop of Mainz and the ruling prince of the Electorate of Mainz, the Elector of Mainz held a powerful position during the Middle Ages. The Archb ...
, built the hunting lodge ''castrum vivarium'', which was later renamed ''Weyberhof''. When the
Plague raged in Europe in 1349, the ''Vorspessart'' was all but emptied of people. Newcomers later came to Sailauf from the
Steigerwald
The Steigerwald () is a hill region up to in the Bavarian-Franconian part of the South German Scarplands between Würzburg and Nuremberg. It is part of the Keuper Uplands, and within it, it is continued to the north-northeast and right of the ...
. In 1552, ''Schloss Weyberhof'' was destroyed.
In the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...
(1618–1648), Sailauf was almost completely destroyed. In 1789, Saint Vitus's Church (''Sankt-Vitus-Kirche'') was built above Sailauf, believed to be the fourth church built on this spot. In 1803, lordship of Mainz over the ''Vorspessart'' came to an end and in 1814, Aschaffenburg and its surrounding area passed to the
Kingdom of Bavaria
The Kingdom of Bavaria ( ; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1806 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German Empire in 1871, the kingd ...
.
In 1972, the outlying community of Eichenberg was merged with Sailauf.
Governance
Community council
The council is made up of 17 council members, counting the mayor.
(as at 6 March 2008)
Mayor
The mayor of Sailauf is Michael Dümig (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 be described thus: Argent a bend sinister gules surmounted by a wheel spoked of six of the first, in chief dexter a bend sinister wavy azure, in base sinister an oak sprig with a leaf in bend sinister and an acorn in bend vert.
The German blazon specifies a silver wheel (''belegt mit einem sechsspeichigen silbernen Rad''), although the example shown here has a golden wheel. This wheel – the
Wheel of Mainz
The Wheel of Mainz or , in German language, German, was the coat of arms of the Archbishopric of Mainz and thus also of the Electorate of Mainz (Kurmainz), in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It consists of a silver wheel with six spokes on a red ...
– and the bend sinister – the slanted stripe, so called because at the top it begins on the sinister (armsbearer's left, viewer's right) side – stand for the community's history, lasting from the 13th century until 1803, as an
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 ...
holding; the
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 gules and argent (red and silver) were Mainz's colours. The blue wavy bend sinister stands for the community's location at the forks of the Sailauf and the Steinbach, two local brooks. The green oak twig with the acorn refers to the Spessart range, which is thickly wooded with oaks, and in which the community lies.
The arms were conferred on 21 March 1969.
Culture and arts
Sailauf features the yearly ''Sailaufer Knoblauchfest'' ("Sailauf Garlic Festival") and the ''Tsukahara-Festival''.
Infrastructure
Transport
Sailauf has an interchange to the ''
Bundesautobahn 3
is an autobahn in Germany running from the Germany-Netherlands border near Wesel in the northwest to the Germany-Austria border near Passau.
Major cities along its total length of 778 km (483 mi) include Oberhausen, Duisburg, Düsse ...
''.
Education
Among social institutions there are a
kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...
and a
primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
. The community is a member of the association of municipal music schools.
Notable people
*
Felix Magath
Wolfgang Felix Magath (; born 26 July 1953) is a German football manager and former player.
The most notable spell of his playing career was with Hamburger SV, with whom he won three Bundesliga titles, the 1977 European Cup Winners' Cup Final a ...
,
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...
and trainer
*
Bernhard Lippert
Bernhard Lippert (born March 12, 1962, in Sailauf) is a German football manager and current technical director of the Ghana Football Association.
Lippert worked between 1994 and 1997 as manager of the Eintracht Frankfurt
Eintracht Frankfu ...
, football trainer
*
Theodor Bergmann
Theodor Bergmann (May 21, 1850 in Sailauf – March 23, 1931 in Gaggenau)Erich Keyser; Heinz Stoob, ''Deutsches Städtebuch, Handbuch städtischer Geschichte'', Stuttgart, Kohlhammer Verlag, 1939. (page 239) was a Germans, German busi ...
, entrepreneur and carmaker
References
Further reading
* Rudolf J. Lippert: ''Sailauf und Eichenberg im Lichte der Überlieferung.'' self-published, Obertshausen 2003. (German)
* Werner Konrad, Ferdl Kraus, Waldemar Lippert: ''Sailauf-Eichenberg. In Bildern um die Jahrtausendwende'', Geiger-Verlag 2000. (German)
* ''Sailauf Eichenberg. Bilder aus über 100 Jahren dörflicher Vergangenheit'', by Ferdinand Kraus (foreword), Fred Maier (foreword), Karl Strom (foreword), Gerhard Steigerwald (foreword), Maria Reinhardt, Herta Hubertus, Bruno Eisert, Gottfried Baumann, Geiger-Verlag 1996. (German)
External links
Structural data 1998
{{Authority control
Aschaffenburg (district)