Zwiesel

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coat of arms Germany map
Coat of arms of the city of Zwiesel
Zwiesel
Map of Germany, position of the city of Zwiesel highlighted

Coordinates: 49 ° 1 '  N , 13 ° 14'  E

Basic data
State : Bavaria
Administrative region : Lower Bavaria
County : rain
Height : 581 m above sea level NHN
Area : 41.17 km 2
Residents: 9306 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density : 226 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code : 94227
Area code : 09922
License plate : REG, VIT
Community key : 09 2 76 148
City structure: 11 districts

City administration address :
Stadtplatz 27
94227 Zwiesel
Website : www.zwiesel.de
Mayor : Franz Xaver Steininger ( non-party )
Location of the city of Zwiesel in the Regen district
Landkreis Cham Landkreis Straubing-Bogen Landkreis Deggendorf Landkreis Freyung-Grafenau Zwiesel Zachenberg Viechtach Teisnach Ruhmannsfelden Rinchnach Regen (Stadt) Prackenbach Patersdorf Lindberg Langdorf Kollnburg Kirchdorf im Wald Kirchberg im Wald Gotteszell Geiersthal Frauenau Drachselsried Böbrach Bodenmais Bischofsmais Bayerisch Eisenstein Arnbruck Achslach Tschechienmap
About this picture

Zwiesel is a town in the Lower Bavarian district of Regen and has been a state-recognized health resort since 1972 . The name of the city was derived from the Bavarian word stem zwisl , which denotes the shape of a fork. The junction of the two rivers Großer Regen and Kleiner Regen and the land in between was called Zwiesel .

The city in the Bavarian Forest is known for the glass industry ( Zwiesel Kristallglas AG), crystal manufacturers ( Theresienthal ) and the glass college. For this reason, Zwiesel also calls itself “the glass city”. There are numerous other glass manufacturing and processing companies in the village.

The city's motto is: "Fine glass, good wood are Zwiesel's pride".

geography

Zwiesel with the parish church of St. Nicholas

Geographical location

Zwiesel is located at the confluence of the Großer and Kleiner Regens to the Schwarzen Regen in a spacious basin at the foot of the forest mountains of the Rear Bavarian Forest ( Großer Arber , 1456 m; Großer Falkenstein , 1315 m; Kiesruck , 1265 m) about ten kilometers northeast of the district town of Regen , 35 kilometers from Deggendorf , 30 kilometers from Grafenau and 15 kilometers from the border crossing to the Czech Republic in Bayerisch Eisenstein . In addition to the road connection via the B 11 , Zwiesel also has a hub station of the Bayerische Waldbahn with connections every hour with Plattling , Bayerisch Eisenstein and Bodenmais and every two hours with Grafenau.

City structure

Zwiesel has eleven districts:

mineralogy

Zwiesel has a wide variety of mineralogical exposures which, with their abundance of quartz, were of particular benefit to glass processing companies. The best-known of these mining sites is probably the quartz quarry at Hennenkobel (Hühnerkobel), where many rare and sought-after minerals have come to light. The mineral Zwieselite occurring there was named after the glass city.

history

The town hall built in 1838
The town square

Until the 19th century

According to legend, the first settlers were gold washers . Zwiesel was first mentioned in 1255 as a village with a wooden chapel. In 1280 the place was an important transshipment point to Bohemia. From 1313, Zwiesel was already known as a market . On September 11, 1560, Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria presented the market with the coat of arms that is still valid today . Philipp Apian referred to him on his map from 1568 as "Zwisel".

The development of Zwiesel was repeatedly hampered by fire disasters , wars and epidemics. The place was cremated by the Hussites in 1431 , in 1468 in the Böckler War and in 1633 in the Thirty Years' War by the Swedes. In 1741 the Pandours invaded and in 1809 there was a great battle on the Landwehrbergl with a horde of Bohemian looters.

As early as the 16th century, mining was being carried out in the Rotkot mine in Zwiesel .

The mountain church was built in 1767 and the current town hall was built in 1838. In 1825, 1832, 1846, 1849 and 1870 severe market fires raged. During the last fire on August 19, 1876, the parish church also went up in flames. The water pipe came in 1888, the electric light in 1896. Between 1891 and 1896, the parish church of St. Nicholas was built. From the beginning, glass and wood were the determining factors in further development. The glass industry in Zwieseler Winkel goes back to the 15th century (Rabenstein 1421). The Theresienthal crystal glass factory was founded in 1836 and in 1872 the glass master Anton Müller began building the Annathal glassworks, later the Schott factory, which now operates as Zwiesel Kristallglas AG and is a major German goblet manufacturer.

20th and 21st centuries

In 1904 the glass school was founded, which subsequently advanced to become the state educational center for glass. In the same year Zwiesel was promoted to town and quickly rose to become the economic and cultural center of the Middle Bavarian Forest.

Towards the end of the Second World War , on April 20, 1945 at noon, several houses were destroyed in a bomb attack on the railway bridges, killing 15 civilians. On April 22nd, Zwiesel was handed over to the Americans without further bloodshed.

The Bavarian State Exhibition 2007 Bavaria - Bohemia: 1500 Years of Neighborhood was an outstanding event in the city's recent history . Many visitors to the exhibition also came from the neighboring Czech Republic.

etymology

The city name was mentioned in 1254 as "Zwisel", soon after 1301 as "Zwiseln", in 1738 as "Zwisl" and in 1832 as "Zwiesel" and "Zwisel". The Middle High German word zwisel means fork; what is meant here is the union of large and small rain and that of two streets.

Incorporations

In the course of the municipal reform , the municipality of Klautzenbach was incorporated on October 1, 1971. On January 1, 1978, the greater part of the community Rabenstein was added. The 1250 hectare community Bärnzell came to Zwiesel on May 1, 1978 with 652 inhabitants.

Religions

Catholic parish church of St. Nicholas
The Evangelical Kreuzkirche
  • Catholic
  • Evangelical
    • After the Bavarian religious edict of 1803 by Elector Maximilian, Protestant Christians settled in Zwiesel. In 1885 the Evangelical Association Zwiesel was founded, which achieved that Zwiesel became the seat of a travel preacher in 1889. On May 29, 1895, the neo-Gothic church on Bahnhofstrasse (today Dr.-Schott-Strasse) was inaugurated. In 1922 it was elevated to a parish.
  • New Apostolic
    • A New Apostolic congregation has also settled in Zwiesel. She has her own church in the city.

Population development

In 1800 Zwiesel had 803 inhabitants in 140 residential buildings. Already in 1810 the thousandth inhabitant could be counted. In 1867 the Zwiesel market had 2,303 inhabitants in 243 residential buildings. In 1900 the population was 3,760 in 333 residential buildings. After the Second World War, Zwiesel grew to 5,885 residents. The highest population was recorded for 1984 with 10,670 people. In 2013, 9,257 people lived in the city of Zwiesel and the surrounding districts. By the end of 2015, the population had risen to around 9,400.

Between 1988 and 2018 the population decreased from 9,955 to 9,421 by 534 inhabitants or 5.4%.

politics

City council

The city council of Zwiesel has been composed as follows since the local elections on March 15, 2020 :

mayor

The first mayor has been Franz Xaver Steininger (non-party) since February 23, 2011. In the runoff election he was elected the new mayor with 60.57% of the vote. In the 2016 mayoral election, he was confirmed in office in the runoff election on December 11 with 55.4% of the vote.

Town twinning

  • Since May 2006 there has been an official city partnership between the seaport town of Brake (Unterweser) on the Unterweser and the glass town of Zwiesel. Both cities are about 800 kilometers apart.

Art, culture and sights

Buildings

The crystal glass pyramid
Underground tunnels
  • Parish Church of St. Nicholas : three naves, neo-Gothic brick building, built in 1892-1896, with a 86 meter high tower is called the Cathedral of the Bavarian forest designated
  • Catholic mountain church Maria Namen : Rococo church , built 1767, with ceiling paintings by Franz Anton Rauscher (1731–1777)
  • Crystal glass pyramid: The record building by Zwiesel Kristallglas AG is over eight meters high and consists of over 93,000 wine glasses.
  • The statue of John of Nepomuk, erected in 1767 and flanked by St. Sebastian and St. Florian, stands on the town square. The town hall is a classicist building from 1838. At the lower end of the town square is the Schott fountain, a gift from Schott Zwiesel AG from 1975. In 1998 the town square was designated as a pedestrian zone, but a referendum in 1999 repealed it.
  • Other buildings: List of architectural monuments in Zwiesel
  • Zwiesel underground passages : a tunnel system in the vicinity of the Zwieseler Burgstall that can be dated back to the High Middle Ages. Opened to visitors. Changing art exhibitions.

Museums

  • Forest Museum Zwiesel : In the former girls' school house at Kirchplatz 3, around 8,000 exhibits from the areas of forest, wood, glass and home are shown. The flora and fauna of the forest are depicted in spacious dioramas . A mushroom teaching show rounds off the forest image. The entire inventory of the city pharmacy from 1870 is also on display. The forest museum also houses the artistic estate of the Lower Bavarian composer Erhard Kutschenreuter and honors the local researcher and folk singer Paul Friedl .
  • Glass Museum Theresienthal : In a former mansion of the Poschinger family there is a collection of glasses that were made between 1800 and 1930. You can see glass objects from the Theresienthal crystal factory, which could be admired at many European courts in the 19th century.
  • Steam beer museum of the 1st steam beer brewery Zwiesel : The brewery of the Pfeffer family is known for the so-called steam beer . The historic brewery experience of the company gives insights into the brewery's history (s) between tradition and modernity.
  • The toy museum was opened in May 1988 and showed toys from the 19th and early 20th centuries in over 45 showcases, spread over six exhibition rooms. The museum was closed on February 10, 2008.

Galleries and studios

  • Gallery Zwiesel
  • Horizons gallery
  • Male skin gallery
  • Gallery knighthood
  • Glasstadt Gallery Zwiesel

movie theater

On March 23, 1898, a film program consisting of five short films was shown for the first time in Zwiesel at a traveling cinema in the hall of the Janka Inn. From October 27, 1917, films were shown regularly in the Pfeffersaal. The first stationary cinema in Zwiesel was opened in Hafnerstadt on April 29, 1923, and the new film theater followed on December 8, 1950 after a construction period of 16 months .

Intercultural projects

In 2007, the city of Zwiesel and the House of Bavarian History in Augsburg organized the state exhibition Bavaria - Bohemia: 1500 years of neighborhood in the building of the old girls' school. In addition to the museum and didactic exhibition core, this included several events such as the Bavarian-Bohemian Encounter Festival. The millennia-old intercultural ties between the two neighboring regions were brought into the local culture's awareness.

City park and nature reserves

Today's spa park along the Großer Regen was created from 1885 by the Zwiesel beautification association. Before that, the so-called “Grüben”, a largely untouched wilderness, consisting of lateral rain drains, overburden mounds, which indicate the presence of gold washers, and swampy areas overgrown with bushes, were located in the same place. In 1887, the so-called “Plant Pond” was integrated into the park area. With the active participation of the local population, the main work was completed a year later. Today the "Zwiesel Sculpture Path" runs through the spa gardens.

In the area of ​​the city of Zwiesel there are a total of three nature reserves: Stockauwiesen , Rotfilz and Kiesau .

tourism

Tourism is an important economic mainstay of Zwiesel . Zwiesel is on Glasstrasse . This 270 kilometer long tourist route leads from Neustadt an der Waldnaab to Passau and was opened in 1997 by the then Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl . In many places along the route, including Zwiesel, you can watch the glassmakers at work. The public has the opportunity to gain an insight into this activity through their own experiment.

In Zwiesel there are around 3800 guest beds of all categories and two campsites . The first fifty square meter outdoor swimming pool in Zwiesel was built in 1910, which was followed in 1938 by a two thousand square meter outdoor swimming pool on Rabensteiner Straße. An indoor swimming pool was added later . The indoor pool was renovated in 1999, the outdoor pool in 2000, and the complex was redesigned as a Zwiesel adventure pool. On June 15, 2005, the extensive Bavarian Forest sauna opened near the pool.

Winter sports

The winter sports region Zwiesel am Großer Arber (up to 1456  m ) is one of the largest ski areas in the Bavarian Forest. The ski areas are accessible with cable cars and lifts. The cross-country ski trail networks in the neighboring villages add up to well over 100 km. The 150 kilometer long Bavarian Forest trail runs through Zwiesel .

The Arber has been included as an integral part of the Alpine Ski World Cup calendar by the German Ski Association . Alternating with Ofterschwang , a World Cup race should take place on the Arber every two years from 2006/07. After the World Cup race on March 10th and 11th, 2007, the planned races were canceled on March 1st and 2nd, 2008 due to bad weather. On February 4 and 5, 2011, two World Cup races took place on the Arber, a slalom and a giant slalom.

Further offers include hikes on prepared winter trails, horse-drawn sleigh rides through the national park, as well as snowshoeing and torchlight tours.

Regular events

  • In 1880 Zwiesel celebrated its first folk festival, in 1936 for the first time under the name Grenzlandfest . After the interruption caused by the Second World War, it has been celebrated every year since 1949, initially on Jahnplatz, from 1956 on Pfefferwiesen and since 1992 on the current festival site at Schwarzen Regen. Since 1949, the Grenzlandfest has regularly run from the Saturday before the third last Sunday to the penultimate Sunday in July.
  • Since 1988, every two years at the Grenzlandfest there has been a brewery car skill drive. Four breweries from breweries can take part .
  • During the Grenzlandfest in 1939, at the suggestion of Paul Friedl , the competition for the Zwieseler Fink Folk Music Prize took place for the first time . This oldest singers and musicians meeting in Bavaria has changed from a competition to an informal singing and making music. The meeting takes place every November.
  • In 1962 the Zwiesel section of the Bavarian Forest Association established the Zwieseler Buntspecht , one of the most important art exhibitions in the Bavarian Forest. Every year in August painters, graphic artists, sculptors, ceramists and glass artists from the entire Bavarian Forest, the upstream Danube region and Bohemia show their works.
  • The Gläserner Winkel association organizes the large snuff glass exhibition .

Economy and Infrastructure

economy

The glass industry continues to be an important pillar of the Zwiesel economy. As a result, Zwiesel Kristallglas AG is the city's largest employer. As a “glass city”, Zwiesel has received national recognition. In addition to modern industrial production, the material glass occupies a large space in the diverse arts and crafts businesses, but at the same time also gives the numerous resident glass artists almost unlimited possibilities for exclusive design. Another economically important pillar of the city's existence is tourism. With around 3,000 guest beds and more than 300,000 overnight stays annually, Zwiesel is without a doubt one of the most famous holiday destinations in all of Eastern Bavaria. Due to the resulting inflow of capital, numerous jobs can be secured through well-stocked retail. Thanks to a good infrastructure in the field of health care, there are also numerous employment opportunities in this economic sector.

traffic

Federal road
Rail transport

The Zwieseler Bahnhof - also called Zwieseler Spinne - is the most important railway junction in the Bavarian Forest . It is located on the Bavarian Forest Railway Plattling - Bayerisch Eisenstein and is the starting point of the timetable routes 906 to Grafenau and 907 to Bodenmais . Die Länderbahn operates on these routes under the brand name Waldbahn .

Bus transport

Zwiesel is integrated into the RBO bus system. There are also bus routes from the Lambürger company to the tourist areas around Zwiesel, the Falkenstein bus and the city ​​bus .

Zwiesel is therefore an important hub of the " Bavarian Forest National Park Traffic Concept ". The Bayerwald Ticket and the GUTi Guest Card are available here .

Public facilities

  • Zwiesel volunteer fire department . She provides defensive fire protection and general help
  • Arberland Clinic Zwiesel. It was inaugurated as the AOK hospital on November 24, 1929 and taken over by the Regen district in 1964.
  • Tax office
  • Land surveying office
  • Police inspection
  • Federal Police Station

education

  • Primary school: The primary school on Bergstrasse goes back to the new girls' school built in 1961. The extension was built in 2001.
  • Secondary school: The main school building in Böhmergasse was built in 1916 as a boys' school and expanded in 1961.
  • Realschule: Today's state Realschule was built in 1975.
  • Gymnasium Zwiesel: With effect from September 2, 1952, a state secondary school was established in Zwiesel for the first time. In 1957 it was given the designation Oberrealschule, due to the Hamburg Agreement of 1964 it was named mathematical-natural science, with the introduction of a new language branch from 1966 as mathematical-natural science and modern language grammar school. At the end of 1971 and 1996, new extensions were available.
The glass school
  • Vocational training center for social professions: It comprises a specialist academy for social pedagogy, a vocational school for geriatric care, a vocational school for geriatric care assistance and a vocational school for child care, as well as the associated student home. The so-called "girls' home" on Theresienthaler Strasse was inaugurated on December 7, 1951, an extension followed on December 21, 1958, and another in 1979.
  • Glasfachschule: The Glasfachschule Zwiesel - State Vocational Training Center for Glass in Fachschulstrasse is Bavaria's only technical school for glass professions. It was founded in 1904. It has had its own test glassworks since 1957. In 1997 there was a major expansion.
  • Municipal music school since 1996

Personalities

Honorary citizen

Main article: List of honorary citizens of Zwiesel

sons and daughters of the town

Other personalities associated with the city

  • Bruno Mauder (1877–1948), glass artist and director of the Zwiesel Glass School
  • Paul Friedl (1902–1989), writer and local history researcher
  • Siegfried Schriml (1927–2016), artist
  • Walter Demel (* 1935), cross-country skier
  • Heinz Wittmann (* 1943), former Bundesliga player and two-time German champion (began his career at SC Zwiesel)
  • Klaus Fischer (* 1949), former national soccer player
  • Karlheinz Meininger (* 1953), former Bundesliga player (began his career at SC Zwiesel)
  • Josef Weikl (* 1954), former soccer player and two-time German Cup winner (began his career at SC Zwiesel)

Trivia

Filmography

literature

  • Stadt Zwiesel Heimatbuch, multi-volume, Geiger Verlag, Horb am Neckar 1997–1998.
  • City guide Glasstadt Zwiesel: A short walk through the Glasstadt Zwiesel. Zwiesel [2003].
  • Friedl, Paul: Heimatbuch der Waldstadt Zwiesel. Vol. 1. Zwiesel 1954.
  • Pfaffl, Fritz: Famous People. Painters, sculptors, songwriters, theater people, technicians, natural scientists, writers, photographers and local history researchers from Zwiesel. Passau 2002.
  • Pongratz, Adalbert: 100 years of the city of Zwiesel. Zwiesel 2004.
  • Schaller, Josef: Chronicle Zwiesel and surroundings . Summary by Josef Schaller, Zwiesel 1993.
  • Seyfert, Ingeborg: Forest Museum Zwiesel Forest, home, glass . Zwiesel [1993].
  • Weber, Thomas: Zwiesel's underground passages in the mirror of the city's history. A local history documentation , Zwiesel [o. J.].
  • Winkler, Ulrich: On the history of market, parish and rule Zwiesel in the time of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation (1549-1625) . In: Ostbairische Grenzmarken , Passau 2001, No. 43. pp. [39] –63.

Web links

Commons : Zwiesel  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikivoyage: Zwiesel  - travel guide

Individual evidence

  1. "Data 2" sheet, Statistical Report A1200C 202041 Population of the municipalities, districts and administrative districts 1st quarter 2020 (population based on the 2011 census) ( help ).
  2. ^ City of Zwiesel in the local database of the Bavarian State Library Online . Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, accessed on August 20, 2018.
  3. Wolf-Armin Frhr. von Reitzenstein: Lexicon of Bavarian place names. Origin and meaning . 2nd, improved and enlarged edition. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-406-35330-4 .
  4. ^ Wilhelm Volkert (ed.): Handbook of Bavarian offices, communities and courts 1799–1980 . CH Beck, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-406-09669-7 , p. 553 .
  5. ^ 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 GmbH, Stuttgart / Mainz 1983, ISBN 3-17-003263-1 , p. 622 .
  6. Election of the city council - local elections 2020 in Zwiesel - overall result. Retrieved March 16, 2020 .
  7. Result of the runoff election
  8. ^ "Zwiesel Toy Museum will close its doors forever on Sunday, February 10th, 2008" ( Memento from June 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  9. Brewery wagon skill driving , website Grenzlandfest Zwiesel
  10. ^ Tourismusverband Ostbayern eV: Volksmusiktage "Zwieseler Fink"