Weißenhorn

Infobox Ort in Deutschland
Art = Stadt
Wappen = Wappen von Weissenhorn.pnglat_deg = 48 |lat_min = 18
lon_deg = 10 |lon_min = 10
Lageplan =
Bundesland = Bayern
Regierungsbezirk = Schwaben
Landkreis = Neu-Ulm
Höhe = 501
Fläche = 53.69
Einwohner = 13217
Stand = 2006-12-31
PLZ = 89264
Vorwahl = 07309 07306 (Emershofen)
Kfz = NU
Gemeindeschlüssel = 09 7 75 164
Gliederung = 10 Stadtteile
Straße = Kirchplatz 2 und 4
Website = [http://www.weissenhorn.de/ www.weissenhorn.de]
Bürgermeister = Dr. Wolfgang Fendt
Partei = parteilos

Weißenhorn is a town in the district of Neu-Ulm in Bavaria. Weissenhorn lies about 22 km southeast of Ulm at the river "Roth".

History

Archaeologic founds occupied, that at the area of Weißenhorn was a settlement of the Alamanni. Also roman founds are proven.

Weißenhorn was first mentioned in 1160 as "villa Wizzenhorn". Starting from the 13th century Weissenhorn was seat of a line from the aristocratic house of the Neuffen. When it expired in 1342, Weißenhorn came into possession of the dukes of Bavaria, which had pawned Weißenhorn during the most time. 1473 Duke Ludwig IX held court in Weißenhorn. At the Landshut succession war Weißenhorn came into possession of Emperor Maximilian I and became a city of Further Austria. Maximilian transferred the possession 1507 to Jakob Fugger, because of Weißenhorns delivered and confirmed again privileges remained the sovereignty rights however with Austria. The Fugger family, which held rule over centuries, contributed the local barchent weaving mill and made Weißenhorn into a flowering commercial town.

In the Peasants' War the town was attacked at 1 April 1525 from 12,000 farmers, led by their Captain Jörg von Ingstetten ("Bauern-Jörgl"), which spared the town after successful defense of the citizen and attacked the neighbouring monastery of Roggenburg

After the Peace of Pressburg in 1805 Weißenhorn was mediatised back to Bavaria. With the opening of the secondary train line through Senden in 1880 an active structural and economic development began.

Religions

*Roman-Catholics: 88%
*Protestants: 11%
*Other (Islamic, newapostolic and more): 1%

Politics

Parties present in the town council:
*CSU (Christian-social Union in Bavaria)
*SPD (Social-democratic Party of Germany)
*WüW (Weißenhorn non-partisan electors)
*B90/Grüne (Alliance 90/The Greens)

The parliament has 24 seats, the CSU is the biggest faction (45%).

Economics

The economic life was until after 1945 shaped by smallurban structure relating to crafts. After 1945 big indistry companies settled in Weissenhorn. The today biggest employer, the company PERI GmbH (Formwork and Scaffolding), today world market leader, began in 1969.

Also there is the aluminium fusion work "Oettinger" and several medium-size and small companies.

Traffic

The secondary train line Weißenhorn – Senden (9.6 km) was opened at 15 September 1878 and connected Weißenhorn to the primary line Ulm – Memmingen. The passenger traffic was stopped 1966.

Weißenhorn is connected to Ulm and the region through bus lines and has an exit at the Bundesautobahn 7.

Education

*2 elementary schools
*1 primary school
*1 promotion school
*1 urban six-form high school
*The Nikolaus Kopernikus high school
*1 urban music school
*1 Catholic library in the Christopherus house
*1 public library

Partnerships between cities

Weißenhorn has no official partnership, but maintains through the partnership of the district of Neu-Ulm good contacts to the market municipality Prad am Stilfser Joch (Prato allo Stelvio) in Bolzano-Bozen (Italy).

Arrangement

Beside the center town Weißenhorn there are the following quarters:

*Attenhofen
*Biberachzell (with Asch)
*Bubenhausen
*Emershofen
*Grafertshofen
*Hegelhofen
*Oberhausen
*Oberreichenbach
*Unterreichenbach
*Wallenhausen (in the valley of the Osterbach brook)

Neighbour municipalities

*Vöhringen
*Senden, Bellenberg and Illertissen in the west
*Buch and Roggenburg in the south
*Bibertal and Ichenhausen in the east
*Pfaffenhofen an der Roth in the north

Culture and Sightseeing objects

Theatre

*"Historc town theatre", built in 1876 through the change of a tenth barn from the 16th century. It was reconditioned in 1922 and again in 1979 and is one of the few good kept smallurban citizen-theatres from the 19th century. With only 150 seats it is the smallest in historical condition kept theatre inb Bavaria and is used by groups of laymen and by the south-German chamber opera.

Museums

*"Weißenhorner Heimatmuseum", (Local history museum) Collection for the town- and region history, founded 1908, 1992-1996 new conceived
*"Archaeologic Museum" [http://www.bsnu.nu.by.schule.de/hsweis/wh_neu/archaeo/archaeo.htm] , pre- and early-historical collection

Buildings

The old part of Weißenhorn is mostly kept in historical condition. Medieval citizen houses, some in framework construction, stately pubs and buildings from the 19th century show the tradition of a commercial town. The medieval wall was cleared away until 1837, the "Oberes Tor" (Upper Gate), the "Unteres Tor" (Lower Gate) and the "Prügelturm" (Flogging tower) were however kept.

*The church place is framed by many sightseeing objects:
**"Upper Gate" with two round towers, built around 1470
**"City hall", built 1761
**"Neuffen Château" ("Old Château"), built 1460
**"Fugger Château" ("New Château"), built 1513
**"Fugger Brewing House", built 1565
**"City Parish Church Mariä Himmelfahrt", built around 1872 in the style of the neoromanic from

*Other worth seeing buildings are:
**"Schranne" ("Old City Hall"), built around 1390, extended 1584
**"Heilig-Geist-Church", built around 1470
**"Lower Gate", built around 1470

Regularly Events

*"Leonhardi-Ride" on 6th November, rider pro assignment in honours of the holy Leonhard of Limoges
*"Parish party of the Catholic church community" in June
*"Protestantic Community party" at the last Sunday before the summer holidays
*"Carnival-Tuesday-Parade" at Tuesday after Rose Monday

Personalities

*Nikolaus Thoman (* around 1457, † around 1545), kaplan and chronicle ("Weißenhorn History")
*Sebastian Sailer (1714-1777), premonstratensian choir Leader, prayer and swabian dialect poet
*Franz Martin Kuen (1719-1771), painter
*Konrad Huber (1752-1831), painter
*Anton von Henle (1902-1927), bishop of Passau and Regensburg
*Wilfried Hiller (1941– ), composer

Literatur

*Joseph Holl: "Geschichte der Stadt Weißenhorn". Kempten 1904. Reproduction: Konrad, Weißenhorn 1983

External links

* [http://www.weissenhorn.de/ Homepage City of Weißenhorn]
* [http://www.weissenhorner-heimatmuseum.de/ Homepage of the Museum of local history in Weißenhorn]