Xanten
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Xanten | |
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Location of Xanten within Wesel district | |
Marienbaum) | |
Vehicle registration | WES |
Website | www.xanten.de |
Xanten (German pronunciation: .
Xanten is known for the
Geography
Xanten, the only German town whose name begins with X,
The town borders the Lower Rhine and the town of Rees to the north, the town of Wesel to the east, the municipalities of Alpen and Sonsbeck to the south, and the towns of Uedem and Kalkar to the west.
The closest international airport is Weeze Airport (also called Niederrhein Airport; Ryanair hub) in Weeze (25 km); the closest intercontinental airport is Düsseldorf Airport (60 km). It has a station on the Rheinhausen–Kleve railway, which connects to Duisburg via Moers.
History
Antiquity
The first settlements by isolated tribes can be dated to around the year 2000 BC. Around 15 BC the
After the destruction of Vetera a second camp was established at the Bislicher Insel, named Castra Vetera II, which became the base camp of
In 275, the colonia was almost destroyed by Germanic tribes. Subsequently, in 310 in the area of the colonia a new town was established, named Tricensimae ("of the Thirtieth"), which was built on the nine central insula of the former colonia but fortified and more easily defended. At the beginning of the 5th century, assaults by Germanic tribes rapidly increased, with the result that Tricensimae was finally given up.
Around 300, Viktor of Xanten is named among the Theban Legion executed for refusing to sacrifice to the Roman gods. Venerated as a martyr and a saint by the Catholic as well as the Eastern Orthodox Church, Viktor of Xanten is commemorated in Xanten Cathedral, where his relics are kept in a shrine embedded in the high altar.
Middle Ages
In the 5th century the Franks began to settle in the area of today's Xanten, but no urban settlements have been found from this time as the Franks did not build in stone, unlike the Romans. Only graves from this time have been discovered.
According to the legend of the
In the second half of the 8th century a church was built on the grounds of an old cemetery of the ancient Roman colony and called Sanctos (super Rhenum) (also mentioned as ad Sanctum). The name of "place of saints" was derived from the assumed grave of the martyr Viktor of Xanten and is the source of today's municipal name of Xanten. After the establishment of a convent to the south, what became today's town centre grew into existence.
In 939 troops under
While Xanten, with its rich Viktor Convent, was still being besieged by
Xanten had a Jewish community in early medieval times. Two massacres of Jews occurred during the First Crusade, on (1 and 27 June 1096). On the latter occasion some Jews committed suicide in order to escape the fury of the Crusaders.[citation needed]
In 1263 the foundation stone for the Gothic St. Victor cathedral was laid. After 281 years of construction it was finally completed in 1544. By the end of the 14th century, Xanten was surrounded by a town wall.
In 1392 the northern part of the town came into the possession of the Dukes of Cleves, while the southern part remained with the Archbishopric of Cologne. The division of Xanten was a cause of a conflict between Cleves and Cologne, which ended when the whole of Xanten was awarded to the Duchy of Cleves in 1444.
Early Modern period
After being taken by the Dukes of Cleves, in the wake of war and crop failure, the number of inhabitants slumped from 5,000 at the beginning of the 16th century to approximately 2,500 by the end of the 18th century. The Rhine had been a basis of Xanten's status as a trading town until the river bed shifted away from the town, causing its economic situation to deteriorate. The river even flooded and destroyed the locality of Birten several times.
The borough Marienbaum, however, became the main place of pilgrimage on the Lower Rhine between 1430 and 1441. In 1460 a monastery of the Bridgettines was established, with an abbey church called St. Mariä Himmelfahrt (Assumption of Mary) which nowadays serves as a parish church.
In the 17th century Xanten was (along with Cleves) inherited by the
19th and early 20th century
In 1802, the Viktor-convent was secularized by
Xanten was administered within the
In the later part of the 19th century, there was a high-profile case of alleged ritual murder, also known as
Nazi Germany
In 1933, mayor Heinrich Wagner was locked up in a tower called the Meerturm, accused of alleged nepotism in the loan business. His successor was Friedrich Karl Schöneborn, while the post of deputy mayor was given to Heinrich Prang junior. Prang had already created a local group of the
The following years saw harassment of the Jewish population of Xanten. This included the destruction of the local prayer room and the devastation of several dwellings of Jewish inhabitants on
When Allied troops reached Xanten in February 1945, mayor Schöneborn left the town. With him fled almost the entire town administration to areas to the east. In the same month the bombardment of the town had begun, killing civilians and destroying parts of Xanten. In addition, the cathedral was hit by
Post-World War II
The reconstruction of the town and the cathedral was influenced particularly by the archaeologist and monument conservationist Walter Bader, and lasted until 1966.
In 1975, the Archäologischer Park Xanten (Xanten Archaeological Park), a partial reconstruction of the Roman Colonia Ulpia Traiana, was established and opened for tourism.
On 28 November 1988, Xanten was granted the title of a Staatlich anerkannter Erholungsort (state-recognized leisure town) as the first such town in the region of Düsseldorf. Between 1990 and 2004, the number of inhabitants rose from 16,930 to about 22,000.
Attractions
The Archäologischer Park Xanten is built on the site of the Roman town, and it is one of the most frequently visited parks in Germany. In 2012, the Archaeological Park was expanded to nearly the whole area of the Roman colonia after Bundesstraße 57 was moved away from the area.
Historical buildings in the town centre have been restored. At the Xantener Südsee and Xantener Nordsee, two lakes connected by a channel close to the localities Wardt and Vynen, the Freizeitzentrum Xanten (Xanten Leisure Center) was established in 1982. Today, it is a popular destination for sailors.
Culture
Big events include the Xantener Sommerfestspiele (a prestigious classical music festival lasting two weeks every summer from 1993 to 2012), the annual KleinMontMartre where artists from all over the world show their latest works as well as the annual German sandcastle-building championship.
Education
Among other schools there is one gymnasium (grammar school), the Stiftsgymnasium Xanten, and a private school for girls, the Marienschule, in Xanten.
Governance
Council
Seat distribution in the town council after the 2020 elections | |
---|---|
Party | Number of seats |
CDU |
16 |
SPD |
7 |
Local initiative | 5 |
Alliance '90/The Greens |
5 |
FDP | 1 |
The Left | 1 |
BBX | 1 |
Twin towns – sister cities
- Beit Sahour, Palestine
- Geel, Belgium
- Saintes, France
- Salisbury, England, United Kingdom
Notable people
- Georg Bleibtreu (1828–1892), battle painter
- Gottfried Hagen (1230–1299), Cologne city writer
- Dorothe Ingenfeld (born 1974), operatic mezzo-soprano
- Johannes Janssen (1829–1891), historian
- Reinhart Maurer (born 1935), philosopher
- Norbert of Xanten (c. 1075–1134), Catholic bishop and founder of the Premonstratensians
- Diederich Franz Leonhard von Schlechtendal (1794–1866), botanist
Bibliography
- Julius Aronius , "Regesten", p. 89, No. 188; p. 92, No. 195). In 1187 the martyrs of Neuss were brought to Xanten to be buried by the side of those martyred in 1096 (p. 144, No. 322)
- Mittheilungen aus dem Verein zur Abwehr des Antisemitismus , 1892, Index, s.v. Xanten and Buschoff
- Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums 1892, Nos. 29–31
- Der Prozess Buschoff , Leipzig, 1892[author missing]
- Paul Nathan, Der Prozess Buschoff, Berlin, 1892
- Der Prozess Xanten-Cleve, ibid.[full citation needed]
- Ralph Trost, Eine gänzlich zerstörte Stadt. Nationalsozialismus, Krieg und Kriegsende in Xanten. Münster: Waxmann 2004. ISBN 3-8309-1413-X. (online (pdf))
- Der Knabenmord in Xanten vor dem Schwurgericht zu Cleve vom 4. bis 14. Juli 1892, Berlin, 1893 (a complete stenographic record)
- Holger Schmenk, Xanten im 19. Jahrhundert: eine rheinische Kleinstadt zwischen Tradition und Moderne, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna: Böhlau 2008. ISBN 9783412201517.
References
- ^ Wahlergebnisse in NRW Kommunalwahlen 2020, Land Nordrhein-Westfalen, accessed 30 June 2021.
- Landesbetrieb Information und Technik NRW. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
- ^ German Cities — Letter X
- ^ British Museum Highlights Archived December 3, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Partnerstädte von Xanten". xanten.de (in German). Xanten. Retrieved 2021-02-18.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Xanten". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.