Ravenstein

Basic data
State :	Baden-Württemberg
Administrative region :	Karlsruhe
County :	Neckar-Odenwald district
Height :	286 m above sea level NHN
Area :	55.97 km 2
Residents:	2868 (December 31, 2018)
Population density :	51 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code :	74747
Area code :	06297
License plate :	MOS, BCH
Community key :	08 2 25 114
City structure:	6 districts
; City administration address :	Lindenstrasse 4 ; 74747 Ravenstein
Website :	www.ravenstein.de
Mayor :	Ralf Killian
Location of the town of Ravenstein in the Neckar-Odenwald district

View of Merchingen

View of Ballenberg

Ravenstein is a town in Baden-Württemberg on the southeast edge of the Neckar-Odenwald district . It belongs to the European metropolitan region of Rhine-Neckar (until May 20, 2003 the Lower Neckar region and until December 31, 2005 the Rhine-Neckar-Odenwald region ).

geography

Geographical location

The district is in building land and about 28 percent is forested. All districts are located on streams that flow towards the Jagst : Hüngheim and Merchingen an der Kessach , Erlenbach am Erlenbach and Ober- and Unterwittstadt and Ballenberg on its large tributary, the Hasselbach.

City structure

The city of Ravenstein consists of the former cities and communities Ballenberg, Erlenbach, Hüngheim, Merchingen, Oberwittstadt and Unterwittstadt. The Dörnishof homestead and the Untere Mühle house belong to Merchingen. The hamlet of Schollhof and Haus Heckmühle belong to Oberwittstadt.

In the area of the former town of Ballenberg are the desert areas of Mutzenbrunn and Wellendorf, in the area of the former municipality of Erlenbach the Johanneskirchlein and Obererlenbach desertions, in the area of the former municipality of Hüngheim is the deserted area of Hof Hohenschwarz, in the area of the former municipality of Merchingen are the deserts of Bensenweiler and Wolfhausen and In the area of the former municipality of Oberwittstadt are the desert areas Höringen and Nebenhausen, each of which is only indicated by a field name .

Neighboring communities

Ravenstein is bordered (clockwise) in the north by the municipality of Ahorn and the small town of Boxberg , both in the Main-Tauber district ; in the east the small town of Krautheim and in the south the community Schöntal , both in the Hohenlohe district ; in the west the small towns of Adelsheim and Osterburken and the municipality of Rosenberg , all in the Neckar-Odenwald district .

history

The rulership of the districts of Hüngheim and Merchingen was entirely or partially held by the Lords of Berlichingen until 1806 . The districts of Ballenberg, Erlenbach, Oberstadt and Unterwittstadt belonged to the territory of the Archbishopric Mainz / Kurmainz until 1802 .

Merchingen

Merchingen probably goes back to an Alemannic settlement around 500 AD. In 1188 an allodium (German: Eigengut) is mentioned in Merchingen in a contract between Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa and King Alfons VIII of Castile , in which the marriage between Friedrich's son Konrad and Alfons daughter Berengaria was agreed. This is the first documentary mention of Merchingen. The own property was part of the bride's morning gift along with 29 other Hohenstaufen goods . However, this marriage was never put into practice. In 1303, the Lords of Aschhausen became the first local nobility. In 1570, at the request of Johann Erasmus von Aschhausen, the market right for Whitsun Tuesday is granted.

Merchingen was the seat of an important Jewish community. Riots against Jews are documented for 1336. There is evidence of a synagogue in Merchingen from 1737 . The district rabbinate Merchingen was the seat of the district rabbinate until 1880 . In 1938 the synagogue was destroyed inside. The local Jews were exiled or deported to Gurs . The former synagogue is now used as the Catholic Sacred Heart Church. Outside the village, the Jewish cemetery in Merching commemorates the Jewish community.

Ballenberg

Ballenberg is on an old highway that Charlemagne had led from Würzburg to Switzerland . 1306 Ballenberg was I, who in his residence of Count Bobbo Krautheim , had the town charter . Georg Metzler , the famous peasant leader from Ballenberg, jeopardized the local self-government by participating in the Peasants' War . Only the town charter was retained.

Association for the city of Ravenstein

As part of the municipal territorial reform, today's municipality of Ravenstein was formed on December 1, 1971 through the merger of the previously independent city of Ballenberg and the municipalities of Erlenbach, Hüngheim, Merchingen, Oberwittstadt and Unterwittstadt. It is named after the Rabenstein site in Ballenberg . Ravenstein has been a town since April 1, 1974.

religion

Ballenberg, Erlenbach, Hüngheim, Ober- and Unterwittstadt are predominantly Catholic . The city's Catholic churches belong to the Krautheim-Ravenstein-Assamstadt pastoral care unit in the Tauberbischofsheim deanery of the Archdiocese of Freiburg .

The Protestant denomination predominates in Merchingen .

politics

Municipal council

The parish council normally has 14 honorary members who are elected for five years. The number of members can increase through compensatory seats (total 2019: 15 seats). In addition, the mayor acts as the municipal council chairman with voting rights.

The Unechte Teilorteschahl guarantees the districts a fixed number of seats: At least four from Merchingen, at least three from Oberwittstadt, at least two councils from Ballenberg, Hüngheim and Erlenbach, and at least one council from Unterwittstadt.

The 2019 local elections led to the following result (in brackets: difference to 2014):

Municipal Council 2019
Party / list	Share of votes	Seats
CDU	84.9% (−1.3)	13 (+1)
FW	9.7% (+9.7)	1 (+1)
SPD	5.4% (−8.4)	1 (−1)
Turnout: 71.4% (+3.7)

mayor

The mayor is elected for eight years. Official:

1996–2012: Horst Weber (CDU)
2012–2020: Hans-Peter von Thenen (independent)
Since 2020: Ralf Killian

Mayor

Ballenberg: Clemens Walz
Erlenbach: Reinhard Belzner
Hüngheim: Steffen Ehmann
Merchingen: Anne-Katrin Kämmer
Oberwittstadt: Erhard Walz
Unterwittstadt: Danny Barie

coat of arms

The Ravensteiner coat of arms is silver (white) under a tinned red shield head (three silver (white) battlements ) there is a six-spoke black wheel. The coat of arms represents a combination of the Mainz wheel (six-spoke, silver in red) and Berlichinger wheel (five-spoke, silver in Schwarz). It is a reminder of the historical rulership of the entire community. The battlements refer to the old town charter of Ballenberg.

Coats of arms of the districts

Ballenberg
Erlenbach
Hüngheim
Merchingen
Oberwittstadt
Unterwittstadt

Culture and sights

Buildings and cultural monuments

Merchingen Castle

Evang. Church in Merchingen

St. John the Baptist in Ballenberg with surrounding buildings

The Merchingen Castle is the largest coherent castle building in Neckar-Odenwald. The hall building is built in the Renaissance style, while the corner building, gate building and residential building are structurally assigned to the baroque. The hall building and the gate / corner building are owned by the municipality and have been renovated by the Schlossbau Association. The corner building is now run as a hotel. The residential building is still owned by the von Berlichingen family and has not been renovated for a long time.
There are several historic church buildings in the suburbs. The Evangelical Church of Merchingen from 1854 is the only Evangelical church in the city. The Catholic Herz-Jesu-Kirche in Merchingen goes back to the former synagogue of the place. The church of St. John the Baptist in Ballenberg from the late 18th century has a rich historical interior, outside the village there is still a historical chapel near the cemetery. The church of St. Margareta in Erlenbach also dates from the late 18th century. The Church of St. Gertrud in Hüngheim is the only Gertrude Church in the Archdiocese of Freiburg. The church of St. Peter and Paul in Oberwittstadt dates from the 18th century. The altar of the Bonifatius Nothelfer Chapel in Oberwittstadt dates from 1456, the chapel itself dates back to the 12th century. The church of St. Michael in Unterwittstadt has a valuable carving from the school of Tilman Riemenschneider . There are also numerous historical wayside shrines to be found in the suburbs of Ravenstein.
There are also numerous other historical buildings in the suburbs, including the Heilighaus in Oberwittstadt.

Sculpture bike path

The town of Ravenstein is part of the sculpture cycle path .

Economy and Infrastructure

traffic

Ravenstein has a direct motorway connection to the A 81 Stuttgart-Heilbronn-Würzburg (junction 6 Osterburken).

A rail connection is located in neighboring Osterburken .

Educational institutions

The primary school is located in Merchingen, while in Oberwittstadt there is a municipal kindergarten and a day care facility (TigeR) for children from 8 weeks to 14 years.

sons and daughters of the town

Benjamin Dispecker (1800–1828), district rabbi from Merchingen
Georg Metzler († after 1525), farmer's guide from Ballenberg
Benno Rüttenauer (1855–1940), writer and translator from Oberwittstadt

Individual evidence

↑ State Statistical Office Baden-Württemberg - Population by nationality and gender on December 31, 2018 (CSV file) ( help on this ).

↑ Administrative region of Karlsruhe (= the state of Baden-Württemberg. Official description by districts and municipalities. Volume V). Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1976, ISBN 3-17-002542-2 , pp. 314-316.

^ Peter Wanner: The Staufer-Castilian marriage pact of the year 1188. Findings on the occasion of some "small" district and community anniversaries in 2013 . In: Christhard Schrenk / Peter Wanner (eds.): Heilbronnica 6. Contributions to the city and regional history . Heilbronn 2016, pp. 453–460, here: pp. 458–459. PDF 366 kB.

^ Federal Statistical Office (ed.): Historical municipality directory for the Federal Republic of Germany. Name, border and key number changes in municipalities, counties and administrative districts from May 27, 1970 to December 31, 1982 . W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart / Mainz 1983, ISBN 3-17-003263-1 , p. 474 .

↑ Ballenberg. Awarded city rights in 1306. ( Memento of the original from December 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2 archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on ravenstein.de

↑ State Statistical Office of Baden-Württemberg: Municipal council elections 2019, City of Ravenstein ; City of Ravenstein: City Council Election 2019 (PDF) , Bulletin 22, May 31, 2019, pp. 5–14; Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung , May 27, 2019: This is the new council of Ravenstein ; accessed July 2, 2019.