Zweibrücken
This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2013) |
Zweibrücken | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Urban district | |
Government | |
• Lord mayor (2018–26) | Marold Wosnitza[1] (SPD) |
Area | |
• Total | 70.99 km2 (27.41 sq mi) |
Elevation | 300 m (1,000 ft) |
Population (2022-12-31)[2] | |
• Total | 34,534 |
• Density | 490/km2 (1,300/sq mi) |
Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
Postal codes | 66482 |
Dialling codes | 06332 |
Vehicle registration | ZW |
Website | www.zweibruecken.de |
Zweibrücken (German pronunciation:
Name
The name Zweibrücken means 'two bridges'; older forms of the name include Middle High German Zweinbrücken, Latin Geminus Pons and Bipontum, and French Deux-Ponts, all with the same meaning.[3]
History
The town was the capital of the former
From the end of the 12th century, Zweibrücken was the seat of the
When
Starting in 1680,
In 1731, Palatinate-Zweibrücken passed to the
At the ducal printing office at Zweibrücken the fine series of the classical editions known as the Bipontine Editions was published (1779 sqq.).[3]
The last prominent social event before the First World War was the inauguration of the Rosengarten (rose garden) by Princess Hildegard of Bavaria in June 1914. As a consequence of the First World War, Zweibrücken was occupied by French troops between 1918 and 1930. In the course of the Kristallnacht in 1938, Zweibrücken's synagogue was destroyed. On the outbreak of the Second World War the town was evacuated in 1939–1940, as it lay in the ‘Red Zone’ on the fortified Siegfried Line. Shortly before the end of the war, on 14 March 1945, the town was nearly completely destroyed in an air raid by the Royal Canadian Air Force, with the loss of more than 200 lives. On 20 March, American ground troops reached Zweibrücken. The town became part of the new state of Rhineland-Palatinate after the war.
In 1993, the town underwent a major change. With the departure of the Americans, the military area became free, which corresponded altogether to a third of the entire urban area. Unemployment increased to approximately 21%, leading to a decrease in demand in the retail trade of approximately 25%.
Mayors and Lord Mayors
- 1895–1904 Wolff
- 1905–1905 Freudenberg
- 1905–1932 Roesinger
- 1932–1945 Karl Ernst Collofong (NSDAP)
- 1945–1959 Ignaz Roth (1894–1972) (SPD)
- 1959–1969 Oskar Munzinger (1911–1983) (SPD)
- 1969–1979 Helmut Fichtner (SPD)
- 1980–1992 Werner von Blon (1929–2009) (SPD)
- 1993–1999 Hans Otto Streuber (born 1949) (SPD)
- 1999–2004 Jürgen Lambert (born 1936) (CDU)
- 2004–2012 Helmut Reichling (CDU)
- 2012–2018 Kurt Pirmann (1955–2018) (SPD)
- since 2018 Marold Wosnitza (born 1965) (SPD)
Economy
Weaving, brewing and the manufacture of machinery, chicory, cigars, malt, boots, furniture and soap were the chief industries before World War II. Nowadays Terex cranes and bulldozers and John Deere harvesting equipment are the chief industries.
The Hochschule Kaiserslautern [1], one of the largest universities in the Rhineland-Palatinate, with more than 6,000 students is also located in Zweibrücken.
Culture and sights
The city of Zweibrücken is represented at various cultural events by the Rose Queen, who is elected every two years.
Parks
Zweibrücken has one of the largest Rosariums in the World with 45000 Plants and 1500 Species.[5] It consists of 2 gardens with the main garden having a area of 50.000 square meters. The second, smaller garden is accessible without entry fee and is located at the Fasanerie and contains Wild Rose plants. Due to this the city is allowed to have the title of "Rose City".
Museums
The Zweibrücken City Museum has a permanent exhibition in the former residence of court gardener Ernst August Bernhard Petri, documenting the eventful history of Zweibrücken. In addition, special exhibitions take place regularly, e.g. on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the State Stud.
Libraries
The Bibliotheca Bipontina is a scientific regional library in Zweibrücken, whose holdings mainly go back to rescued parts of the ducal libraries and therefore partly houses very valuable first editions from the 16th century. It is part of the Landesbibliothekszentrum Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate State Library Centre) and one of the most important old holdings libraries in the state. The Bibliotheca Bipontina is housed in the building of the Helmholtz-Gymnasium Zweibrücken. The Zweibrücken City Library, which has existed since 1903, is housed in an adjoining building of the town hall and has a stock of around 50,000 volumes. Branches are the youth library and the Rimschweiler branch.
Buildings
- Das Schloss Zweibrücken – the Zweibrücken Castle, built in its present form in 1725, is the largest Palatine secular building in the Baroque style of Nordic coinage. It was built in 1720-1725 by master builder Jonas Erikson Sundahl and is the former residence of the Dukes of Zweibrücken. Destroyed in World War II, it was rebuilt in 1965 and is now the seat of the Palatinate Higher Regional Court.
- Herzogvorstadt – The so-called Herzogvorstadt consists of several baroque buildings built between 1762 and 1772. The entire complex is based on plans by Christian Ludwig Hautt. The buildings, which were not destroyed during the last war, house the city administration, the district court, the city archive and the city museum.
- Alexanderskirche – Alexander's Church (Alexanderskirche ) is the oldest church in Zweibrücken, whose crypt is the burial place of numerous counts/dukes of the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken. A late-Gothic Protestant hall church, construction began in 1493, as a gift from Alexander, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken on his return from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.[6]
- Karlskirche – The Karlskirche was built between 1708 and 1711 by the architect Haquinus Schlang from Sweden on behalf of the Swedish King Charles XII in his capacity as Duke of Zweibrücken. After its destruction in the Second World War, it was rebuilt as a community centre on the basis of the original plans and reopened on 1 November 1970.
- Heilig Kreuz Kirche – The third church in the inner city is the Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche, which was built much later than the other two churches.
- Gasthaus „Zum Hirsch“ – The former guesthouse is the oldest building in the city centre.
- Villa Ipser – Built in 1908 for a shoe manufacturer, Villa Ipser is situated on the Rothenberg and features typical late historicist architecture with clear Art Nouveau influences.
- Zweibrücker Stollen und Felsenkeller
- Himmelsbergstollen – The Himmelsbergstollen is a cellar complex carved into the sandstone on the Himmelsberg, in the southern part of the city centre.
- Zweibrücken Observatory - an observatory at the university
- Polish King Stanisław Leszczyński. The complex is inspired by time the monarch spent in Bessarabia, hence the Turkishname Tschifflik. The paintings of King Stanisław, his wife Katharina as well as his two daughters Anna and Maria adorn the walls of the fireplace room.
Zweibrücken Air Base
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/Sabrecrew.jpg/260px-Sabrecrew.jpg)
On the outskirts of the town,
The Short C-23 Sherpa, a small prop-driven transport plane, also flew out of the base in the 1980s under the 10th Military Airlift Squadron, a tenant Military Airlift Command unit. The squadron's mission was to deliver high-priority aircraft parts to bases in USAFE to ensure a maximum number of aircraft were combat-ready. Today Zweibrücken Air Base has been transformed into the modern Zweibrücken Airport,[7] an international airport with flights to Palma de Mallorca, Antalya, Gran Canaria, Teneriffe, Rhodos, Heraklion and Fuerteventura (TUIfly), Istanbul (Pegasus Airlines).
On the other side of the town was Kreuzberg Kaserne, home to various units of the United States Army. Only one combat unit was located there: Battery A, 2nd Battalion,
Transportation
Zweibrücken is situated at the
Motorsport
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/Zweibrucken_CIrcuit_-_STW.svg/220px-Zweibrucken_CIrcuit_-_STW.svg.png)
From 1996 to 1999, a temporary circuit at Zweibrucken Airport held various rounds of the Super Tourenwagen Cup and the German F3 Championship. The track still hosts historic racing events as recently as September 3rd, 2020[9]
Climate
Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round. The
Climate data for Zweibrücken | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 3 (37) |
4 (39) |
9 (48) |
12 (53) |
17 (63) |
20 (68) |
22 (72) |
22 (72) |
19 (66) |
13 (56) |
7 (45) |
4 (39) |
13 (55) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −1 (31) |
−1 (30) |
2 (36) |
4 (40) |
8 (47) |
12 (53) |
14 (57) |
13 (56) |
11 (51) |
7 (45) |
3 (37) |
1 (33) |
6 (43) |
Average precipitation days | 21 | 16 | 19 | 15 | 16 | 16 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 16 | 17 | 20 | 194 |
Source: Weatherbase [11] |
Twin towns – sister cities
Zweibrücken is twinned with:[12]
Barrie, Canada (1997)
Boulogne-sur-Mer, France (1959)
Yorktown, United States (1978)
Notable people
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ad/Appert_Nicolas.jpg/120px-Appert_Nicolas.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/Hermann_Dingler_ca1910.jpg/120px-Hermann_Dingler_ca1910.jpg)
- Duke of Lorraine and a count of the Holy Roman Empire
- Jonas Erikson Sundahl (1678–1762), Swedish-born architect who designed Zweibrücken Castle
- Georg Christian Crollius (1728–1790), historian and librarian
- Johan Ludvig Mansa (1740–1820), Danish gardener and castellan
- Friedrich Wilhelm Schultz (1804–1876), pharmacist and botanist
- Carl Heinrich "Bipontinus" Schultz (1805–1867), physician and botanist
- Philipp Ludwig von Seidel (1821–1896), mathematician and astronomer
- Eugene W. Hilgard (1833–1916), soil scientist, geologist and agronomists
- Carl Bersch (1834–1914), artist
- Hermann Dingler (1846–1935), botanist
- Gustav Aschaffenburg (1866–1944), psychiatrist
- Maximilian Schuler(1882–1972), engineer, mechanical engineer and physicist
- Emil Oberholzer (1883–1958), Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst
- Johann Fortner (1884–1947), officer of the Armed Forces
- August Heinrich Bruinier (1897–1970), violinist
- Otto Bradfisch (1903–1994), economist, jurist and SS-Obersturmbannführer
- Otto Carius (1922–2015), pharmacist, tank-commander in WW II
- Peter Fleischmann (1937–2021), film director
- Charlotte Lehmann (born 1938), concert singer and singing teacher
- Ron MacLean (born 1960), Canadian sportswriter
- Rainer Schönborn (born 1962), ice dancer
- Larry Mitchell (born 1967), ice hockey player
- Nico Zimmermann (born 1985), footballer
- Christin Hussong (born 1994), javelin thrower
Worked in Zweibrücken
- Hieronymus Bock (1498–1554), significant physician and botanist
- Pantaleon Candidus (1540–1608), reformed theologian, historian and author
- Nicolas Appert (1749–1841), confectioner and inventor
- Jakob Weis (1879–1948), prison pastor in Zweibrücken 1909–1921, divisional chaplain in World War I, an author, 1925–1940 study professor at the secondary school or at school, 1940–1948 Emeritus in Zweibrücken, there he also died
See also
- Palatine Zweibrücken#List of Counts Palatine Zweibrücken
- Bipont Editions
- Kaiserslautern Military Community
References
- ^ Wahl der Oberbürgermeister der kreisfreien Städte, Landeswahlleiter Rheinland-Pfalz, accessed 30 July 2021.
- Statistisches Landesamt Rheinland-Pfalz. 2023.
- ^ a b c d e public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Zweibrücken". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 1060–1061. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ Crane Brinton, "France", in William L. Langer, ed., (1948), An Encyclopedia of World History, Rev. Edition, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, pp. 443-445.
- ^ "Information page about the Rosarium (German)". www.rosengarten-zweibruecken.de. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
- OCLC 34658300.
- ^ "Flughafen Zweibrücken ...da heb' ich ab!" [Zweibrücken Airport ...where you'll take off!] (in German). Archived from the original on 2007-01-12. Retrieved 2007-01-14.
- ^ Website of the Stadtbus Zweibrücken GmbH: https://www.stadtbus-zw.de
- ^ "Historisches Flugplatzrennen Zweibrücken 2020 - 26./27.September". Historisches Flugplatzrennen Zweibrücken – für Rennwagen, Oldtimer, Seitenwagen sowie Motorräder (in German). Retrieved 2023-10-08.
- ^ Climate Summary for Zweibrücken
- ^ "Weatherbase.com". Weatherbase. 2013. Retrieved on July 6, 2013.
- ^ "Partnerstädte". zweibruecken.de (in German). Zweibrücken. Retrieved 2021-02-18.
Further reading
- Ammerich, Hans, Zweibrücken. Die alte Herzogsstadt in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Zweibrücken 1983
- Bartz, Günther, Zweibrücken. Frühe Kunde – Herzogliche Zeiten – heute, Speyer 1960
- Lehmann, Johann Georg, Vollständige Geschichte des Herzogthums Zweibrücken und seiner Fürsten, der Stamm- und Voreltern des k. bayer. Hauses, Munich, 1867
- Molitor, Ludwig, Vollständige Geschichte der ehemals pfalz-bayerischen Residenzstadt Zweibrücken von ihren ältesten Zeiten bis zur Vereinigung des Herzogtums Zweibrücken mit der Bayerischen Krone, Zweibrücken 1884
External links
- (in German) Official website
- (in German) Information Portal about Zweibrücken