Bingen am Rhein () is a town in the

Mainz-Bingen Mainz-Bingen is a district (''Kreis'') in the east of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from north clockwise) Rheingau-Taunus, the district-free cities Wiesbaden and Mainz, the districts Groß-Gerau, Alzey-Worms, Bad Kreuzn ...

district in

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

, Germany. The settlement's original name was Bingium, a

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

word that may have meant "hole in the rock", a description of the

shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and Earth science, geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank (geography), bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body ...

behind the

Mouse Tower The Mouse Tower () is a stone tower on a small island in the Rhine, outside Bingen am Rhein, Germany. History The Ancient Rome, Romans were the first to build a structure on this site. It later became part of Franconia, and it fell and had to b ...

(German: ''Mäuseturm''), known as the ''Binger Loch''. Bingen was the starting point for the ''Via Ausonia'', a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

military road that linked the town with

Trier Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...

. Bingen is well known for, among other things, the legend about the Mouse Tower, in which

Hatto II Hatto II (died on 18 January 970) was the archbishop of Mainz from 968 to 970. While in office, he built the church of St. George on the island of Reichenau, donated heavily to the abbeys of Fulda and Reichenau, and was a patron of the chroni ...

, the Archbishop of Mainz, was allegedly eaten by mice. Since the 19th century, the legend has increasingly been attributed to

Hatto I Hatto I (c. 850 – 15 May 913) was Archbishop of Mainz (Mayence) from 891 until his death. Family and early life Hatto belonged to a Swabian family, and was probably educated at the monastery of Reichenau, of which he became abbot in 888. He was ...

, a predecessor of Hatto II. Saint

Hildegard von Bingen Hildegard of Bingen OSB (, ; ; 17 September 1179), also known as the Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess and polymath active as a writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, visionary, and as a medical writer and practitioner ...

, an important

polymath A polymath or polyhistor is an individual whose knowledge spans many different subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. Polymaths often prefer a specific context in which to explain their knowledge, ...

abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa'') is the female superior of a community of nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic, Lutheran and Anglican abbeys, the mod ...

, mystic and

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

, one of the most influential

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

composers A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and defi ...

and one of the earliest Western composers whose music is widely preserved and performed, was born 40 km away from Bingen, in

Bermersheim vor der Höhe Bermersheim vor der Höhe 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 As a winegrowing ...

. Bingen am Rhein was also the birthplace of the poet

Stefan George Stefan Anton George (; 12 July 18684 December 1933) was a German symbolist poet and a translator of Dante Alighieri, William Shakespeare, Hesiod, and Charles Baudelaire. He is also known for his role as leader of the highly influential liter ...

, along with many other influential figures.

Geography

Location

Bingen is situated just southeast of the Rhine knee by the

Bingen Forest The Bingen Forest () is part of the Hunsrück, a low mountain range in the Central Uplands of Germany. It is up to and is located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Location The landscape of the Bingen Forest lies on the boundary of the ...

(''Binger Wald'' – actually a low mountain range), which rises west of the town. Rising to the north on the other side of the Rhine is the

Rheingau The Rheingau (; ) is a region on the northern side of the Rhine between the German towns of Wiesbaden and Lorch, Hesse, Lorch near Frankfurt, reaching from the Western Taunus to the Rhine. It is situated in the German state of Hesse and is part ...

range, the

Taunus The Taunus () is a mountain range in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, located north west of Frankfurt and north of Wiesbaden. The tallest peak in the range is '' Großer Feldberg'' at 878 m; other notable peaks are '' Kleiner Feldberg' ...

's southwesternmost outcrop. In Bingen the river Nahe empties into the

Rhine Gorge The Rhine Gorge is a popular name for the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, a section of the Rhine between Koblenz and Rüdesheim in the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse in Germany. It was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in Ju ...

. Bingen forms the southern limit of the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Rhine Gorge

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

. The Rochusberg (mountain) is nearly completely surrounded by the town site.

Constituent communities

Population development

(each time at 31 December)

History

Antiquity

Even before the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

came, people lived here, because the location favoured transport, being at the confluence of the Nahe and Rhine Rivers, and the Rhine's entry into the gorge. The first settlement seems to have been a

(

Gaulish Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, ...

) settlement by the name of ''Binge'' – meaning "rift". In the early first century AD, Roman troops were stationed in Bingen on the Rhine Valley Road, and rendered the local name as Bingium in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

. There the Romans erected a wooden bridge across the Nahe and constructed a

bridgehead In military strategy, a bridgehead (or bridge-head) is the strategically important area of ground around the end of a bridge or other place of possible crossing over a body of water which at time of conflict is sought to be defended or taken over ...

castrum ''Castra'' () is a Latin language, Latin term used during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire for a military 'camp', and ''castrum'' () for a 'Fortification, fort'. Either could refer to a building or plot of land, used as a fortified milita ...

. A Roman

Mithraic Mithraism, also known as the Mithraic mysteries or the Cult of Mithras, was a Roman mystery religion focused on the god Mithras. Although inspired by Iranian worship of the Zoroastrian divinity (''yazata'') Mithra, the Roman Mithras was link ...

monument, which included a mutilated sculpture representing the nativity of Mithra from a rock, was discovered in Bingen; one of its inscriptions is dated 236.

Medieval period

The presbyter Aetherius of Bingen founded sometime between 335 and 360 a firmly Christian community. Bearing witness to this time is Aetherius's gravestone, which can still be seen in Saint Martin's Basilica. After the

fall Autumn, also known as fall (especially in US & Canada), is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southern Hemispher ...

of the

Limes Limes may refer to: * ''Limes'' (Roman Empire), a border marker and defense system of the Roman Empire * ''Limes'' (Italian magazine), an Italian geopolitical magazine * ''Limes'' (Romanian magazine), a Romanian literary and political quarterly ma ...

, the town became a

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages, a group of Low Germanic languages also commonly referred to as "Frankish" varieties * Francia, a post-Roman ...

royal estate and passed in 983 by the Donation of Verona from

Otto II Otto II (955 – 7 December 983), called the Red (), was Holy Roman Emperor from 973 until his death in 983. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto II was the youngest and sole surviving son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Italy. Otto II was ...

to Archbishop

Willigis Willigis (; ; 940 – 23 February 1011 AD) was Archbishop of Mainz from 975 until his death as well as archchancellor of the Holy Roman Empire. Life Willigus was born in the Duchy of Saxony, possibly at Schöningen, the son of a free peasant. ...

of Mainz. Under

Otto III Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was the Holy Roman emperor and King of Italy from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu. Otto III was c ...

the ''Binger Kammerforst'' (forest) came into being. Under Willigis, some way up the river Nahe, the stone ''Drususbrücke'' (bridge) was built. The inhabitants of Bingen strove time and again for independence, which led in 1165 through disputes between the Archbishop of Mainz and the Emperor to destruction. In the 13th century, Bingen was a member of the Rhenish League of Towns. The building of

Klopp Castle Klopp Castle () is a castle in the town of Bingen am Rhein in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. In the nineteenth century, the bergfried (similar to a keep) from the original medieval fortified castle was restored and ...

(''Burg Klopp'') in the mid 13th century could well be seen as being tied in with this development. A last attempt was the town's unsuccessful participation in the

German Peasants' War The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt () was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It was Europe's largest and most widespread popular uprising befor ...

in 1525. From the Archbishop the Cathedral Chapter of Mainz acquired the town in two halves in 1424 and 1438. Until the late 18th century Bingen remained under its administration. Like many towns in the valley, Bingen suffered several town fires and wars.

Modern period

From 1792 to 1813, the town was, as part of the ''département'' of

Mont-Tonnerre Mont-Tonnerre () was a department of the First French Republic and later the First French Empire in present-day Germany. It was named after the highest point in the Palatinate, the '' Donnersberg'' ("Thunder Mountain", possibly referring to Do ...

(or Donnersberg – both names meaning "Thunder Mountain"), French after French Revolutionary troops had occupied the Rhine's left bank. In 1816, after the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

, the town passed to the

Grand Duchy of Hesse The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine () was a grand duchy in western Germany that existed from 1806 to 1918. The grand duchy originally formed from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1806 as the Grand Duchy of Hesse (). It assumed the name ...

-Darmstadt while today's outlying centre of Bingerbrück went to

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

Rhine Province The Rhine Province (), also known as Rhenish Prussia () or synonymous with the Rhineland (), was the westernmost Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822 to 1946. ...

, making Bingen a border town until 1871, when the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

was founded. On 7 June 1969, the formerly Prussian municipality of Bingerbrück was amalgamated. On 22 April 1972 came Dromersheim's and Sponsheim's amalgamation with Bingen. The epithet ''am Rhein'' has been borne since 1 July 1982. For the State Garden Show in 2008 in Bingen, the Rhineside areas in the town underwent extensive modernization.

Jewish history

Benjamin of Tudela Benjamin of Tudela (), also known as Benjamin ben Jonah, was a medieval Jewish traveler who visited Europe, Asia, and Africa in the twelfth century. His vivid descriptions of western Asia preceded those of Marco Polo by a hundred years. With his ...

mentioned a Jewish community in Bingen in the mid-12th century. Christian inhabitants attacked the small Jewish quarter on

Rosh Hashanah Rosh Hashanah (, , ) is the New Year in Judaism. The Hebrew Bible, biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (, , ). It is the first of the High Holy Days (, , 'Days of Awe"), as specified by Leviticus 23:23–25, that occur in the late summe ...

in 1198 or 1199, and the Jews were driven from the city. Jews again lived in Bingen as moneylenders in the middle of the 13th century under the jurisdiction of 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 ...

. In 1343,

French Jews The history of the Jews in France deals with Jews and Jewish communities in France since at least the Early Middle Ages. France was a centre of Jewish learning in the Middle Ages, but Persecution of Jews, persecution increased over time, includ ...

settled in Bingen. In 1405, the archbishop declared a moratorium on one-fifth of the debts owed to Jews by Christians, and subsequently the archbishops repeatedly extorted large sums. Noted rabbis who taught in the small community included Seligmann Oppenheim, who convened the Council of Bingen (1455–56) in an unsuccessful attempt to establish his authority over the whole of

Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...

Jewry. After the proposal was opposed by Moses Minz, the matter was referred to Isaac Isserlein, who rejected the project. The Jews were again expelled from Bingen in 1507, and did not return until the second half of the 16th century. The Jewish population was 465 in 1933, and 222 in 1939 due to flight and emigration. The 169 Jews who remained in Bingen in 1942 were sent to concentration camps, and only four ultimately returned. The synagogue was demolished in 1945, and the community was not reestablished after World War II.

Politics

Town council

The council is made up of 36 members. The mayor since 2012 has been the CDU politician Thomas Feser. Seats are apportioned thus:

Coat of arms

The town'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 ...

show

Saint Martin Saint Martin may refer to: People * Saint Martin of Tours (c. 316–397), Bishop of Tours, France * Saint Martin of Braga (c. 520–580), archbishop of Bracara Augusta in Gallaecia (now Braga in Portugal) * Pope Martin I (c. 595–655), bishop of R ...

cutting off a piece of his cloak for a poor man and, in a small

inescutcheon In heraldry, an inescutcheon is a smaller Escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon that is placed within or superimposed over the main shield of a coat of arms, similar to a Charge (heraldry), charge. This may be used in the following cases: * as a sim ...

in dexter chief, 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 ...

Main sights

* Former monastery church, the Basilica of St. Martin, from the 15th century with Romanesque

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

* Klopp Castle (''Burg Klopp'') * ''Rochuskapelle'' * ''Drususbrücke'' (bridge) with Romanesque

bridge chapel A bridge chapel is a small place of Christianity, Christian worship, built either on, or immediately adjacent to, a road bridge; they were commonly established during pre-Reformation medieval era in Europe. Although sometimes built on land at the ...

* Old Rhine Crane * ''Haferkasten'' ("Oat Shed", from after 1689) with Stefan-George-Museum * Puricellipalais, an

Empire style The Empire style (, ''style Empire'') is an early-nineteenth-century design movement in architecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts, representing the second phase of Neoclassicism. It flourished between 1800 and 1815 duri ...

building from 1780 * Old Graveyard from the 19th century with Napoleon monument * Historical Museum on the theme "Hildegard of Bingen" *

villa rustica Villa rustica () was the term used by the ancient Romans to denote a farmhouse or villa set in the countryside and with an agricultural section, which applies to the vast majority of Roman villas. In some cases they were at the centre of a large ...

'' in the Bingen Forest * Rhine

Floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

Special Protection Area A special protection area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and cer ...

* Bingerbrück Reiter

Signal Box A signal is both the process and the result of transmission of data over some media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processing, information theory and biology. In ...

technological cultural monument * A new concept was introduced with the ''Route der Industriekultur Rhein-Main'' ("Rhine-Main Industrial Culture Route"), along which industrial building works on the 160 km between

Miltenberg Miltenberg () is a town in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the Miltenberg (district), like-named district and has a population of over 9,000. Geography Location The old ...

and Bingen are linked together into an adventure route about the Industrial Age in southern Germany. Already 700 buildings are scientifically catalogued.

Culture

Bingen 2008 State Garden Show

Bingen was from 18 April to 19 October 2008 host for the Rhineland-Palatinate State Garden Show. The event was held along a 2.8 km stretch of the Rhine waterfront on 24 ha of exhibition area. With 1.3 million visitors, the expected number of 600,000 was greatly exceeded.

Regular events

* Bingen swingt – jazz festival * Binger Open Air Festival – Alternative festival *

Breakpoint In software development, a breakpoint is an intentional stopping or pausing place in a computer program, program, put in place for debugging purposes. It is also sometimes simply referred to as a pause. More generally, a breakpoint is a means o ...

– worldwide, one of the

demoscene The demoscene () is an international computer art subculture focused on producing demos: self-contained, sometimes extremely small, computer programs that produce audiovisual presentations. The purpose of a demo is to show off computer programmi ...

's biggest events (no longer held) * Nacht der Verführung – (literally "Night of Seduction") wine festival in the vines * Rhein im Feuerzauber – great firework event * Rochusfest (Saint Roch's Festival) – church festival with folk character, Bishopric of Mainz

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

* Winzerfest (winemakers' festival) – lasting 11 days, the longest wine festival on the Rhine

Economy and infrastructure

The region is characterized economically by

winegrowing Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ...

, especially as in Bingen three winegrowing areas (

Rheinhessen Rhenish Hesse or Rhine HesseDickinson, Robert E (1964). ''Germany: A regional and economic geography'' (2nd ed.). London: Methuen, p. 542. . (, ) is a region and a former government district () in the States of Germany, German state of Rhineland ...

, Mittelrhein and Nahe) meet. The town is also the winegrowing ''Bereich's'' (''Bereich Bingen'') namesake in German wine law. Other industries that once did business in Bingen when there was a harbour have left the town over the years. The service industries here today are found mainly in the industrial park (

Autobahn The (; German , ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. Much of t ...

interchange Interchange may refer to: Transport * Interchange (road), a collection of ramps, exits, and entrances between two or more highways * Interchange (freight rail), the transfer of freight cars between railroad companies * Interchange station, a rai ...

Bingen-Ost / Kempten / Industriegebiet) and in the Scharlachberg commercial park. Tourism also plays an important role.

Resident businesses

* NSM-Löwen (slot machines) * Oerlikon Balzers Coating Germany GmbH

Transport

Rail

The main railway station, ''

Bingen (Rhein) Hauptbahnhof Bingen (Rhein) Hauptbahnhof is a railway station in the Germany, German city of Bingen am Rhein on the West Rhine Railway. It is located in the borough of Bingerbrück. The station that serves central Bingen is called Bingen Stadt railway station ...

'', lies in the outlying centre of Bingerbrück. It is served by

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the train categories in Europe, classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to InterRegio, regional train, r ...

trains as well as one

ICE Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...

line. Bingen (Rhein) Stadt station lies 2 km farther east, right across from the historical harbour crane. This station is important only for local transport. There is also a stop in Bingen-Gaulsheim. The reason that two railway stations arose in Bingen is historical. The main railway station was originally a

n border station built by the

Rhenish Railway Company The Rhenish Railway Company (German language, German: ''Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'', RhE) was along with the Cologne-Minden Railway Company (CME) and the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company (BME) one of the railway companies that in the m ...

on its

West Rhine Railway The West Rhine railway (German: ''Linke Rheinstrecke'', literally 'left (bank of the) Rhine route') is a famously picturesque, double-track electrified railway line running for 185 km from Cologne via Bonn, Koblenz, and Bingen to Mainz. It ...

, whilst the station in town belonged to the

Hessian Ludwig Railway The Hessian Ludwig Railway (German: ''Hessische Ludwigsbahn'') or HLB with its network of 697 kilometres of railway was one of the largest privately owned railway companies in Germany. Early history The Hessian Ludwig Railway was a product of ...

. The stops at Drususbrücke on the Bingen Hbf-Bad Kreuznach line and Bingen-Kempten and Büdesheim-Dromersheim on the Bingen/Rhein Stadt–

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 Rhei ...

line are no longer served.

Road

Bingen lies next to

en A 60 and A 61, which are linked to the town by ''

Bundesstraße ''Bundesstraße'' (, ), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways. Germany Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km. German ''Bundesstraßen'' are labelled with re ...

'' 9.

Water

Only private transport is still of importance today. The cargo harbour has been abandoned. The former winter harbour is now a

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : "related to the sea") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo ...

. There are landing stages of the tourist lines Köln-Düsseldorfer, Bingen-Rüdesheimer Fahrgastschifffahrt and Rösslerlinie. A passenger ferry and a car ferry link Bingen with Rüdesheim. Until the late 1970s Bingen was a piloting station.

Education

University of Applied Sciences Bingen The Bingen Technical University of Applied Sciences (German: ''Technische Hochschule Bingen'') is a university located in Bingen am Rhein, Germany. It was founded in 1897. The University of Applied Sciences Bingen consists of two faculties: the fa ...

* Stefan-George- Gymnasium * Hildegardisschule, Bishopric of Mainz Catholic private school * Rochus-

Realschule Real school (, ) is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), F ...

* Rupertus

Hauptschule A ''Hauptschule'' (, "general school") is a secondary school in Germany, starting after four years of elementary schooling (''Grundschule''), which offers Lower Secondary Education (Level 2) according to the International Standard Classification ...

* Berufsbildende Schule Bingen (

vocational school A vocational school (alternatively known as a trade school, or technical school), is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary education#List of tech ed skills, secondary or post-secondar ...

) * Bingen town library *

Folk high school Folk high schools (also ''adult education center'') are institutions for adult education that generally do not grant academic degrees, though certain courses might exist leading to that goal. They are most commonly found in Nordic countries and i ...

Notable people

Born before 1900

Hildegard of Bingen Hildegard of Bingen Benedictines, OSB (, ; ; 17 September 1179), also known as the Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictines, Benedictine abbess and polymath active as a writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mysticism, mystic, visiona ...

(1098–1179),

and author, mystic, writer, composer, musician, and medic. After her the Bingen girls' school ( Gymnasium and

), the Hildegardisschule ("Higa"), is named. On 7 October 2012, Pope Benedict XVI named her a Doctor of the Church. *

Bertha of Bingen Saint Bertha of Bingen (German: ''Heilige Berta'', died ) was the mother of Bertha_of_Bingen#Rupert of Bingen, Rupert of Bingen. Her biography was written, and subsequently her cult popularized, by Hildegard of Bingen, who lived in the same regi ...

() * (1754–1825), writer * Philipp Foltz (1805–1877), painter * (1828–1912), Mayor of Bingen and Member of the ''Landstände'' of the

* Heinrich Brück (1831–1903), Bishop of Mainz * Johann Baptist Hilsdorf (1835–1918), photographer and father of Theodor and Jacob * (1843–1905), Catholic priest, writer and Rhenish Hessian local historian * Alice Bensheimer (1864–1935), politician and feminist *

Theodor Hilsdorf Theodor Hilsdorf (18 June 1868, Bingen am Rhein, Bingen – 1944, Munich) was a German photographer who held an official position at the Kingdom of Bavaria, Royal Bavarian Court. Life and work His father, Johann Baptist Hilsdorf, was also a p ...

(1868–1944), photographer *

(1868–1933), poet *

Carl Friedberg Carl Rudolf Hermann Friedberg (September 18, 1872 in Bingen am Rhein, Bingen, German Empire, Germany – September 9, 1955 in Merano, Italy) was a German pianist and teacher of Jewish origin. Biography He was son of Eduard Friedberg (?–1937) ...

(1872–1955), pianist and music pedagogue *

Jacob Hilsdorf Jacob Hilsdorf (10 June 1872 – 11 January 1916) was a German photographer. Life and work His father, Johann Baptist Hilsdorf, was also a photographer. He and his older brother, Theodor Hilsdorf, Theodor, who would also become a photographer, ...

(1872–1916), photographer * (born 1882), Member of the ''Landtag'' (Zentrum) * Saladin Schmitt (1883–1951), theatre researcher, producer and theatre manager * (1891–1960), leading Jewish architect who designed synagogues, department stores, and the first skyscraper in

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

Born 1900 and later

* (1900–1983), geologist and paleontologist, professor at the Freie Universität Berlin * (1908–1980), trade unionist and politician (CDU), Member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

* (1913–1984), ecclesiastical historian, librarian at the ''Martinus-Bibliothek'' * (born 1922), docent for pastoral liturgy at the Episcopal Seminary, diocesan president of church choirs in the Bishopric of Mainz * (born 1940), politician, former Bundestag Armed Forces Commissioner *

Mary Roos Mary Roos (born Rosemarie Schwab on 9 January 1949) is a German singer and actress. Biography 1949–1970 Schwab was born in Bingen am Rhein, Bingen. At the age of nine, she recorded her first song "Ja die Dicken sind ja so gemütlich" as ''Di ...

(born 1949), singer and actress * Tina York (born 1954), singer *

Thomas Kling Thomas Kling (June 5, 1957 – April 1, 2005) was a German poet. Life Thomas Kling was born in Bingen am Rhein, grew up in Hilden and went to school in Düsseldorf. He studied philology in Cologne, Düsseldorf and Vienna and lived in Finland for ...

(1957–2005), lyric poet * Peter Frey (born 1957), journalist * (born 1964), singer and actor * Dajan Šimac (born 1982),

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 ...

Jan Schlaudraff Jan Schlaudraff (born 18 July 1983) is a German professional football official and a former player who played as a midfielder and striker. He is the managing director of sports for the Austrian club SKN St. Pölten. Club career Born in Wald ...

(born 1983), footballer and first national player from Bingen

Twin towns – sister cities

Bingen am Rhein is twinned with: *

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district of Hertfordshire, England. The town dates from at least the 7th century. It lies in the valley of the River Hiz at the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills ...

, England, United Kingdom (1958) *

Nuits-Saint-Georges Nuits-Saint-Georges () is a communes of France, commune in the arrondissement of Beaune of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in Eastern France. Wine Nuits-Saint-Georges is ...

, France (1960) *

Venarey-les-Laumes Venarey-les-Laumes () is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Côte-d'Or department The following is a list of the 698 communes of the Côte-d'Or department of France. The comm ...

, France (1967) *

Prizren Prizren ( sq-definite, Prizreni, ; sr-cyr, Призрен) is the second List of cities and towns in Kosovo, most populous city and Municipalities of Kosovo, municipality of Kosovo and seat of the eponymous municipality and District of Prizren, ...

, Kosovo (1968) *

Anamur Anamur is a municipality and district of Mersin Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,430 km2, and its population is 66,846 (2022). It is the westernmost district of that province, bordering on Antalya Province. Anamur contains Anatolia's southernm ...

, Turkey (2011) *

Kutná Hora Kutná Hora (; ) is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 22,000 inhabitants. The history of Kutná Hora is linked to silver mining, which made it a rich and rapidly developing town. The centre of Kutná Hora, i ...

, Czech Republic (2011)

References

External links

Town's official webpage

Tourist Information on Bingen am Rhein

Information on Bingen

''Jewish Encyclopedia'': "Bingen"
by Kaufmann Kohler & A. M. Friedenberg (1906).
Jewish History of Bingen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bingen Am Rhein Populated places on the Rhine Rhenish Hesse Mainz-Bingen Naheland Holocaust locations in Germany Middle Rhine