Schwaigern

Infobox Ort in Deutschland
Art = Stadt
Wappen = Wappen Schwaigern.pnglat_deg = 49 | lat_min = 8
lon_deg = 9 | lon_min = 3
Lageplan = Schwaigern in HN.pngLageplanbeschreibung =
Bundesland = Baden-Württemberg
Regierungsbezirk = Stuttgart
Landkreis = Heilbronn
Höhe = 189
Fläche = 49.50
Einwohner = 11065
Stand = 2006-12-31
PLZ = 74193
PLZ-alt = 7103
Vorwahl = 07138
Kfz = HN
Gemeindeschlüssel = 08 1 25 086
Gliederung = Kernstadt und 3 Stadtteile
Straße = Marktstraße 2
Website = [http://www.schwaigern.de/ www.schwaigern.de]
Bürgermeister = Johannes Hauser

Schwaigern is a town in the district of Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 12 km west of Heilbronn.

Geography

Neighbouring municipalities

Neighbouring towns and municipalities of Schwaigern (clockwise): Leingarten, Nordheim, Brackenheim, Eppingen, Gemmingen and Massenbachhausen (all in the district of Heilbronn).

Town structure

Schwaigern consists of Schwaigern itself and its districts Massenbach, Stetten am Heuchelberg and Niederhofen. Schwaigern has quite correctly 11,000 inhabitants.

History

Finds of the Neolithic era and during the Roman period show an early settlement of this area.The town was first mentioned documentary in the Lorsch codex in 766.The construction of a church is proved in the 13th century, during this time the "Herren von Neipperg" are appearing for the first time. The village received marked right in 1486. After 1630 the Black Death killed big parts of the inhabitants. In 1690, during the War of the Grand Alliance, the then "Schwaigern Castle" was burned down. In 1806, the town came to Württemberg by mediatization and Reichsdeputationshauptschluss. Several fires destroyed big parts of the medieval town centre in the 19. and 20. century. In 1971/1972 Massenbach, Stetten am Heuchelberg and Niederhofen were incorporated.

Religions

Each in Schwaigern, Stetten am Heuchelberg and Niederhofen are Protestant parishes. Massenbach and Massenbachhausen have a common Protestant parish. The Catholic parish "St. Martinus" Schwaigern is responsible for Schwaigern, Stetten, Niederhofen and Neipperg (part of Brackenheim). The Catholic parish "St. Kilian" Massenbachhausen is responsible for Massenbachhausen and Massenbach. Also the New Apostolic Church has a parish in Schwaigern.

The Young People's Society of Christian Endeavour has local groups in Schwaigern, Stetten and Niederhofen. In Massenbach exists a local group of YMCA.

Districts

* Massenbach: Massenbach was first mentioned documentary in 773. In the Thirty Years' War the castle was destroyed and rebuilt in 1760.

* Stetten am Heuchelberg:Stetten was mentioned documentary in 1140 and came to Württemberg in 1571.

* Niederhofen:Niederhofen is the youngest district, since it was mentioned documentary in 1332. But it already came to Württemberg in 1360.

Politics

District council

The district council of Schwaigern has 23 seats by the municipal election of June 13th, 2004. The result is as follows:

Further member of the district council and its chairman is the mayor.

Arms

Blazon: In red three (2:1) silver rings. Above the sign growing John the Baptist with halo and put on fur, raising the rights, holding a lamb and a cross rod with a flag on his left hand. This arms is provable since 1512. The town colours are red-white.

Town twinnings

Twin municipalities of Schwaigern are:
* since 1988: The Austrian municipality Pöndorf in Upper Austria (with a district called Schwaigern).
* since 2004: The French municipality La Teste-de-Buch in the Department Gironde.

Culture and sights

Museum

The "Karl-Wagenplast-Museum" in the old graveyard chapel shows archaeological exponations from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages of the Leintal. It's named to the honorary citizen and archaeologist Karl Wagenplast.

Buildings

The town church consecrated to John the Baptist goes back to a building of the 13th century and was enlarged by Bernhard Sporer in the early 16th century. Inside there's the Barbara Altar of Jerg Rathgeb. The witch tower on the south-east border of the medieval town was built in 1461. The previous wine-press is a timber framing of 1659. The rococo castle next to the town church was built in 1702, anyway it was rebuilt and enlarged during the 19th century. The town hall was built in 1905/1906 by Ludwig Knortz.Stetten impresses by its parish church of the 15th century as well as its baroque vicarage of 1775. Besides it contains a town hall of the 16th century.

Sport and leisure

The TSV Schwaigern exists since 1898 and was founded as a gymnastics club. Apart from the traditional gymnastics there are the disciplines badminton, basketball, chess and the rare discipline wheel gymnastics. In 1992 and 1993, the departments of tennis (TC Schwaigern) and football (FSV Schwaigern) became independent.

Besides Schwaigern contains of a heated swimming pool.

In Stetten there are also some clubs. The TSV Stetten founded in 1909 contains of football, table tennis, badminton, women gymnastics and child gymnastics. The tennis club of Stetten founded in 1981 as a department of the TSV became independent in 1999. The marksman club Heuchelberg is located next to the Mühlwald, there's also a golf course in Stetten.With the "Leintalzoo" Schwaigern conains of the biggest connected chimpanzee group of Germany.

Economy and infrastructure

The biggest company in Schwaigern is the "Walter Söhner GmbH & Co. KG" which produces synthetics and has more than 500 employees. Besides in Schwaigern and its districts there are some other less big companies. However, in Stetten and Massenbach the provision of public utility has a downward tendency. Until 2000, in Massenbach was no store during several years.

Traffic

Schwaigern is situated at the "Kraichgaubahn" running from Heilbronn to Karlsruhe. Besides the B293 (Heilbronn-Karlsruhe) passes the town. The A6 is running 10 kilometres north of Schwaigern.

Education

Schwaigern, Massenbach and Stetten contains of an elementary school. Besides in Schwaigern there is a modern school and a junior high school. The next grammar school is located in Heilbronn.

Wine-growing

Wine-growing in Schwaigern was first mentioned in 799. The primary sorts of wine are Trollinger, Riesling, Lemberger and Pinot meunier. The forth biggest winepress of Baden-Württemberg is located there.The positions of Schwaigern's wine-growing is part of the wine-growing area Württemberg.

Personalities

Honorary citizens

* Karl Wagenplast, native scientist
* Horst Haug, mayor of Schwaigern from 1962 until 1999.

Sons of the town

* 1765, November 27th, Günther Heinrich von Berg, + September 9th, 1843 in Oldenburg, German jurist and politician
* 1813, April 6th, Erwin von Neipperg + March 2nd, 1897, Austrian general

External links

* [http://www.schwaigern.de] > The official website of the town (in German).