Bergkirchweih
The Bergkirchweih , also known as the mountain or in Franconian Berch , is a twelve-day folk festival in the Central Franconian university town of Erlangen that takes place annually around Whitsun . Characteristic of beer at present 15 are beer cellars (: 2018 status) and sitting under the stars in one with lime , chestnut and oak -lined beer garden . The name "Bergkirchweih" bears witness to the origin of the festival, namely the celebration of a church fair on the southern slope of the Erlanger Burgberg . The patronage of the Old Town Trinity Church is celebrated, which is celebrated on Trinity , the Sunday after Pentecost, with a service on the parish fair grounds.
history
The Erlanger Church Festival has been around since 1755. On April 21, 1755 the City Council decided to Erlanger Pfingstmarkt, which until then had been held in the old town, from Whit Tuesday for three days at Old Town Schießhaus conduct where the shooters their same bird shooting were holding . The rock cellars on Burgberg, where cold beer was served , soon became another attraction of the new fair . Up until the early 20th century, beer was stored in these cellar vaults to mature, as the temperatures there were consistently low all year round. Individual vaults extend up to 500 meters into and through the mountain, so that ice could be broken from ponds on the opposite side of the mountain to cool the beer. However, these tunnels have partially collapsed and are no longer continuous.
In the 19th century, the anatomical collection of the Anatomical Institute was opened for popular amusement during the Bergkirchweih.
In 2005, 250 years of the Bergkirchweih were celebrated. In fact, the Bergkirchweih had existed for 250 years at that time, but it did not take place every year.
description
The Bergkirchweih begins on the Thursday before Pentecost at 5 pm with the “tapping” and “ beer tasting ”. The mayor of Erlangen taps the first barrel of beer, which is traditionally given out as free beer to those present, in the stands of an annually changing beer cellar . The folk festival ends twelve days later, on a Monday evening, with the traditional “barrel burial” at the Erich Keller. The last barrel of beer is symbolically buried to the sounds of the song Lili Marleen by Lale Andersen .
The parish fairgrounds about one kilometer along the slope of the Burgberg on the northern edge of Erlangen city center. Around 11,000 permanently installed seats under old linden, chestnut and oak trees transform part of the area into the largest beer garden in Europe. During the daytime there many attendees their sometimes even brought snacks eat, that of is lanterns lit beer garden at night taken mostly from the party people hogging. For some time now, the Europa Wheel from the company Kipp & Sohn from Bonn , the tallest transportable Ferris wheel in the world, has been one of the attractions of the Bergkirchweih along with numerous other rides .
The folk festival is the fifth season in Erlangen and the surrounding area . Last but not least, the fact that many former citizens of the city plan the Bergkirchweih to meet old friends again means that the festival annually attracts a good million people within twelve days. This corresponds to about ten times the population of Erlangen. The Bergkirchweih is therefore, together with the Oktoberfest in Munich , the Nuremberg Folk Festival , the Michaeliskirchweih in Fürth and the Gäubodenfest in Straubing, one of the five largest folk festivals in Bavaria. The serving closes at 11 p.m. Afterwards, especially on the weekends, a stream of people pours in the direction of the city center, where the partying continues into the early hours in and in front of pubs and discos . For this, the term “After-Berg” has become common in Erlangen.
Beer cellar
Originally each of the 16 Erlangen breweries owned a beer cellar in the Burgberg. Today, 13 beer cellars are involved in the Bergkirchweih (as of 2018), each of which is an independent bar. The selection of beer and other (non-alcoholic) drinks as well as the scope of the catering vary in size. The beer from five different breweries - that of the Erlangen breweries Kitzmann and Steinbach , that of the Tucher Bräu from Nürnberg / Fürth, the Mönchshof beer from the Kulmbacher brewery and the Weiherer beer from the Kundmüller brewery from Viereth-Trunstadt - is served in the beer cellars . The cellars from west to east are:
- Entla′s Keller (Kitzmann): During the Bergkirchweih, the bar at the Entla′s Keller also takes up the space of the Kitzmann-Keller and the Resenscheck-Keller. Since 1990 the festival hosts have been issuing a special beer mug for the Bergkirchweih, which is designed with an annually changing motif. These became a coveted collector's item after a short time. The Entla′s is the only beer cellar on the site that is not only open during the Bergkirchweih, but also for the entire beer garden season.
- Erich-Keller (Tucher): The “barrel burial” traditionally takes place at the Erich-Keller on the last day of the Bergkirchweih.
- Huebner's cellar (Tucher)
- Niklas-Keller (Tucher)
- Hofbräu cellar (Tucher)
- Henninger-Keller (Tucher)
- Steinbach Cellar (Steinbach)
- Tucher cellar (Tucher)
- Hartmann's cellar (Kitzmann)
- Weller-Keller (Kitzmann)
- Helbig-Keller (Steinbach)
- Goldmann Cellar (Weiherer)
- Birkner's cellar (Mönchshof)
In addition, beer is served in a marquee near the entrance to the parish fair area and in the old town shooting house. In addition to the bars, numerous showmen in their booths take care of the catering.
Oddities
In the past, there were one-week holidays (“mountain holidays”) at Erlangen University during “mountain time”. The often accepted reason for these holidays that an orderly university operation is not possible with drunk students has not been officially proven. However, holidays were officially abolished in 1999. All that remained was the lecture-free Tuesday in the week of Pentecost, on which members of many university chairs and institutes and also the workforce of most shops and businesses in the city marched to the mountain from 12 p.m. or 2 p.m. at the latest.
An original of the Bergkirchweih was the "Bergkönig" Pinsl .
During the Bergkirchweih the public buses of the Erlanger Stadtwerke are decorated with a German and a Franconian flag.
literature
- Renate Wünschmann: The Bergkirchweih in pocket format. Over 100 years of postcards as a souvenir of the 5th season in Erlangen. In: Erlanger building blocks for Franconian homeland research. Volume 50, Erlangen 2004, pp. 97-206
- Andreas Jakob (Ed.): The Erlanger Bergkirchweih - Germany's oldest and most beautiful beer festival. History, beer cellar, fairground (= publications of the Erlangen City Archives, No. 4). Verlag W. Tümmels, Nuremberg 2005, ISBN 3-921590-35-3
- Ralf Birke and Klaus Karl-Kraus (eds.): The mountain - the phenomenon of Erlanger Bergkirchweih. Edition Spielbein published by Birke Verlag, Erlangen 2005, ISBN 3-9806982-9-7
Web links
- www.berch.info - the official website of the Erlangen Bergkirchweih, operated by the Erlangen Property Office
- www.der-berg-ruft.de - Internet offer of the Nürnberger Presse publishing house supported by the city of Erlangen (forums, information on history, mountain countdown )
- www.berg-erlangen.de Information about the Bergkirchweih in Erlangen, bands and cellars - pictures, band program, overview of the cellars
Individual evidence
- ↑ Martin Schieber: Erlangen. An illustrated history of the city. CH Beck, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-406-48913-3 , p. 72 .
- ↑ a b Real Estate Office of the City of Erlangen: Special features . Online at www.berch.info ; accessed on May 21, 2018.
- ↑ Real Estate Office of the City of Erlangen: Cellar . Online at www.berch.info ; accessed on May 21, 2018.
- ↑ Beer mug motifs from the Entlas cellar
- ↑ There was one day off from the university's mountain vacation . In: Erlanger Nachrichten . June 6, 2017 ( nordbayern.de ).
- ↑ http://archiv.erlanger.de/his_09_03.htm
Coordinates: 49 ° 36 ′ 27.2 ″ N , 11 ° 0 ′ 18.4 ″ E