Gau-Algesheim
Gau-Algesheim | |
---|---|
Location of Gau-Algesheim within Mainz-Bingen district | |
Mainz-Bingen | |
Municipal assoc. | Gau-Algesheim |
Subdivisions | 2 |
Government | |
• Mayor (2019–24) | Michael König[1] (CDU) |
Area | |
• Total | 13.99 km2 (5.40 sq mi) |
Elevation | 121 m (397 ft) |
Population (2022-12-31)[2] | |
• Total | 6,935 |
• Density | 500/km2 (1,300/sq mi) |
Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
Postal codes | 55435 |
Dialling codes | 06725 |
Vehicle registration | MZ |
Website | www |
Gau-Algesheim is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Gau-Algesheim, a kind of collective municipality.
Geography
Location
Gau-Algesheim lies roughly 20 km west of Mainz and just under 3 km away from the Rhine on the edge of the Ingelheimer Rheinebene (“Ingelheim Rhine Plain”) on the terraces at the Rhenish Hesse West Plateau, into whose varied soil structure the “Geo-Ecological Teaching Path” on the Westerberg slopes allows a glimpse. Through the municipal area flows the Welzbach.
Neighbouring municipalities
Clockwise from the north, these are Ingelheim, Appenheim, Ockenheim and Bingen.
Constituent communities
Gau-Algesheim's
History
In Roman times this was a border area, but already by the Middle Ages it had grown into part of the Holy Roman Empire’s heartland.
Before the town’s first documentary mention in the
Middle Ages
Under financial pressure, Gau-Algesheim was pledged to the Baden Margraves. The Margrave himself then further pledged it in 1461, and the villages of Dromersheim, Gau-Bickelheim, Ockenheim, Windesheim, Kempten, Münster and Büdesheim to the financially strong Count Philipp I, Count of Katzenelnbogen. Under him, the term Wein vom Gau, meaning “Wine from the Gau (or Region)”, was coined. As Philipp died in 1479 without a male heir, Gau-Algesheim ended up involved in the Katzenelnbogen succession dispute.
“Living well under the crozier” was not something that held true at all times. Often domestic or foreign armies would sweep through the town bringing war's attendant burdens and havoc, for instance, in 1248 during the struggles between Emperor
Even the two conferrals of town rights, the one in 1332 at Elector of Mainz
At the same time, a great many financial pledges and the mention of a
The overlords’ might, already demonstrated in the municipal law of 15 July 1417, was keenly felt by Gau-Algesheim when Elector
French Revolution and the years that followed
From 1797 to 1815, Gau-Algesheim, along with the whole of the territory on the Rhine's left bank, belonged to the French Republic or the Napoleonic Empire. In the person of scientist, engineer and officer Rudolf Eickemeyer, who was from 1811 to 1813 and again from 1814 to 1815 the maire and from 1815 to 1822 the Bürgermeister (“mayor” in French and German respectively), Gau-Algesheim had a personal continuity from the time of French rule on into Hessian times. Eickemeyer gave the community a modern shape by reforming fire control, restructuring finances, expanding the town's building work, and furthering schooling and agriculture.
The town's growing importance found expression in the institution of a notary's office (1809), the building of the Ludwigsbahn (Mainz-Bingen
The traces left in Gau-Algesheim by the
Third Reich
In the 5 March 1933
Since the war
The 600th anniversary of Gau-Algesheim's elevation to town in 1355 was recalled by a days-long festival in the summer of 1955, which formed the high point, and indeed the completion of the phase of reconstruction and restoration of traditional structures. Within a few years, the roadbridge (
Life in the many clubs and the conviviality are anchored in an historical foundation: in the traditional festivals, the pilgrimage on the Laurenziberg on the Sunday after
Politics
Town partnerships
- Saulieu, Côte-d'Or, France
- Caprino Veronese, Province of Verona, Veneto, Italy
- Neudietendorf, Gotha district, Thuringia
- Erfurt-Stotternheim, Thuringia
The partnerships began in 1964 with Saulieu. After both places’ mayors had met, a group of Catholic youths (from the Katholische Junge Gemeinde) travelled to a campground in
In 2002, the many stresses on the town and its inhabitants were greatly eased by state recognition of the town as a Tourism Municipality (Fremdenverkehrsgemeinde).
Coat of arms
The town's arms might be described thus: Gules a cross crosslet pattée couped top and bottom by a wheel in each of chief and base spoked of six lozengy argent.
The arms are derived from those borne by Mainz, which is explained by an historical connection. Gau-Algesheim was an
Economy and infrastructure
The town lies in a favourable location for transport on the Left Rhine railway towards Frankfurt, Koblenz, and Mainz and the line to Bad Kreuznach, which connects to the Nahe Valley line to Saarbrücken and on Autobahn A 60. The town's landmarks are the ensemble of the
Schloss Ardeck has housed since 2002 the Rhenish Hesse Bicycle Museum. It is open every Sunday and holiday from 11:00 to 17:00 from Easter to the Young Wine Festival on the second weekend in October.
Since late 2005, the new regional “Rheinwelle” adventure pool on Landesstraße (State Road) 419 within Gau-Algesheim town limits has been open. It is run jointly by Gau-Algesheim, Ingelheim and Bingen.
Notable people
- Christian Erbach, (around 1570 – 1635), organist and composer
- Rudolf Eickemeyer (1753–1825), mayor of Gau-Algesheim, scientist, soldier
- Heinrich Vogt (1890–1968), astronomer and theoretical astrophysicist
- Federal Constitutional Court of Germany
Further reading
- Karl Johann Brilmayer (1883), Geschichte der Stadt Gau-Algesheim (in German), Gau-Algesheim: Karl Reidel[4]
- Philipp Anton Brück: 600 Jahre Stadt Gau-Algesheim: 1355-1955
References
- ^ Direktwahlen 2019, Landkreis Mainz-Bingen, Landeswahlleiter Rheinland-Pfalz, accessed 4 August 2021.
- Statistisches Landesamt Rheinland-Pfalz. 2023.
- ^ Description and explanation of Gau-Algesheim’s arms
- ^ "Landehauptarchiv Rheinland-Pfalz". Archived from the original on 27 May 2009. Retrieved 5 September 2008.
External links
- Official website (in German)
- Collective municipality’s official webpage (in German)
- Gau-Algesheim (in German)
- Laurenziberg (in German)
- Bicycle museum (in German)
- Atlas of the Mainz left-bank Ämter of Olm, Algesheim and Bingen by Gottfried Mascop from 1577 - by Reiner Letzner (in German)
- Gau-Algesheimer Kopf nature conservation area (in German)