Saulheim is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a '' Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

Geography

Location

The municipality lies in Rhenish Hesse and is the second biggest ''Ortsgemeinde'' in the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Wörrstadt, whose seat is in the like-named municipality. It covers an area of 18.94 km² and has a population of 7395 (31 December 2014).

History

In 763, Saulheim had its first documentary mention, and is thereby one of the oldest places in Rhenish Hesse. The municipality of Saulheim was formed on 7 June 1969 from the two formerly autonomous municipalities of Nieder-Saulheim and Ober-Saulheim.

Religion

Some two thirds of the population is Evangelical, while the other third, aside from a few non-religious people, is Catholic. Standing in the municipality are three church buildings, two Evangelical and one Catholic.

Politics

Municipal council

The council is made up of 22 council members, who were elected at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman. The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:

Coat of arms

The municipality’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: Gules three moons increscent proper. Wappen-Ober-Saulheim

These arms are the same ones formerly borne by Nieder-Saulheim before the merger in 1969. The other arms, shown at left, are Ober-Saulheim’s old arms. They might be blazoned: Azure diapered on a pale Or the Long Stone of Saulheim of the field (see ''Cultural monuments'' below).

Culture and sightseeing

Buildings

One of Saulheim’s peculiarities is the ''Sängerhalle'' – "Singers’ Hall" – built in 1904, which was endowed for his home village by Friedrich Weyerhäuser (1834–1914) who had emigrated to the United States and become successful in the lumber business there. Saint Bartholomew’s Church (''Kirche St. Bartholomäus'') comes from the 14th century. Its foundation stone was laid in 1344. It was a successor building to a

late mediaeval The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Renai ...

country church of the Bishop of Mainz.Die St. Bartholomäus Kirche in Nieder-Saulheim
/ref> The ''Auferstehungsfenster'' ("Resurrection Windows") in the chancel were created by Alois Plum.

Monuments

At Raiffeisenplatz stands a figure of red sandstone in the shape of the legendary knight Hundt zu Saulheim ( Knightly Canton of Oberrhein), which was erected on 8 May 1987. It was created by Melchior Gresser junior.

Cultural monuments

On the L 401 state road overlooking Ober-Saulheim stands the menhir called the ''Langer Stein'' ("Long Stone"), which has stood since antiquity, and around which legends swirl. In its upper third was hewn a niche in which to set a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

image. From its shape, the niche can be reckoned to the Late

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

period.

Regular events

*Ober-Saulheim kermis (church consecration festival, locally known as the ''Ober-Saulheimer Kerb''), yearly on the last weekend in August (Friday to Tuesday). * ''Nieder-Saulheimer Ritter-Hundt-Weinkerb'' (wine fair), yearly on the second weekend in September (Friday to Tuesday). * ''Backesbrunnenfest'' ("Bakehouse Well Festival") staged by the village association and the ''Backesbrunnenfestfreunde'' ("Bakehouse Well Festival Friends") yearly on the first weekend in July. * ''Immaculata'' on 8 December at the Catholic church, followed by devotions and serving of mulled wine by the Catholic Youth Group.

Youth

In Saulheim is found a public youth meeting centre. In a lavishly carved room the following leisure activities are on offer: billiards, table football, table tennis, 4 Internet-access computers and a music library for both selecting and listening. For active musicians, a music and recording studio is available. Moreover, there is a Catholic Youth Group (''Katholische Jugendgruppe'', unaccountably abbreviated ''KJS''). This group is made up of several "group leaders" who each take a turn staging a group session for youth between 9 and 15 years of age. Once a year, the KJS stages an Easter leisure activity at various self-catering houses. Current information about this can be found on the municipality’s website. Besides the KJS, Saulheim has a chapter of the Catholic Rural Youth Movement ''Katholischen Landjugendbewegung'' (KLJB). Beyond group sessions, this offers two camps each year, one for children between 7 and 13, and another for youths between 14 and 16. As well, the KLJB offers an autumn leisure activity during the autumn holiday at a self-catering house for participants between 11 and 15. Over the year are scattered even more, smaller events, such as daycare during

Advent Advent is a Christian season of preparation for the Nativity of Christ at Christmas. It is the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity. The name was adopted from Latin "coming; arrival", translating Greek ''parousia''. In ...

to relieve parents suffering from Christmas stress.

Economy and infrastructure

Agriculture

Both cropgrowing and winegrowing are done in Saulheim. It has 6.8 km² of vineyards. 24 km² is given over to other agriculture, mainly

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together wi ...

and asparagus.

Established businesses

Currently, the Commercial Area II (''Gewerbegebiet II'') with its various shopping facilities is undergoing an expansion. In Saulheim is one of

DHL DHL is an American founded, German logistics company providing courier, package delivery and express mail service, which is a division of the German logistics firm Deutsche Post. The company group delivers over 1.8 billion parcels per year. DHL ...

’s 33 postal freight centres found throughout Germany. It is the main handling depot for all air mail consignments (through Frankfurt Airport) from southwest Germany.

Transport

Saulheim lies on the railway from

Alzey Alzey () is a ''Verband''-free town – one belonging to no ''Verbandsgemeinde'' – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the fifth-largest town in Rhenish Hesse, after Mainz, Worms, Germany, Worms, Ingelheim am Rhein ...

to Mainz and has half-hourly trains. Two interchanges on ''Landesstraße'' (State Road) 401 and an Autobahn interchange on the A 63 between the Mainz and Alzey Autobahn crosses afford the municipality good highway links. As well as the Alzey–Mainz service, it is possible to ride the "Alsace Express" (''Elsass-Express'') on weekends and holidays to Wissembourg.

Education

The municipality has at its disposal five kindergartens. In the constituent community of Nieder-Saulheim is a primary school. It is not possible to attend

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

in the municipality. That, however, is to be found in Wörrstadt (4 km away),

(19 km), Nieder-Olm (3 km) and Mainz (18 km). A further educational institution at hand is the ''Volkshochschule Saulheim'', a folk high school. Course offerings range from languages to health to creative design.

Notable people

Niklas Kaul Niklas Kaul (; born 11 February 1998) is a German athlete competing in the combined events. He won the gold medal in the decathlon at the 2019 World Championships, becoming the youngest ever decathlon world champion. In addition, he won go ...

(born 1998), German athlete competing in the combined events. He won the gold medal in the decathlon at the

2019 World Athletics Championships The 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships () was the seventeenth edition of the biennial, global athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), since renamed World Athletics. It was held betw ...

References

External links

Municipality’s official webpage
{{Authority control Alzey-Worms