Amorbach

Amorbach
Coat of arms
Amorbach
Location of Amorbach within Miltenberg district
Coordinates:
Country	Germany
State	Bavaria
Admin. region	Unterfranken
District	Miltenberg
Government
• Mayor	Peter Schmitt (CSU)
Area
• Total	50.92 km2 (19.66 sq mi)
Elevation	165 m (541 ft)
Population (2013-12-31)
• Total	4,004
• Density	79/km2 (200/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	63916
Dialling codes	09373
Vehicle registration	MIL
Website	amorbach.de

Amorbach is a town in the Miltenberg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany, with some 4,000 inhabitants. It is situated on the small river Mud, in the northeastern part of the Odenwald.

History

Principality of Leiningen

The town began as a Benedictine monastery, (Amorbach Abbey, or Kloster Amorbach), which bit by bit grew into a settlement until in 1253 it was raised to the status of a town. Over the years, the town changed hands several times. It was part of the Bishopric of Würzburg until 1656, when it became part of the Archbishopric of Mainz. As a result of the 1803 German Mediatisation the Archbishopric of Mainz was secularized, and Amorbach became the residence town of the short-lived Principality of Leiningen. Only in 1816 did it become part of the Kingdom of Bavaria. In 1965, Amorbach attained the status of climatic spa (Luftkurort).

Amalgamations

The following settlements have been amalgamated with the town:

• 1 April 1973: Boxbrunn
• 1 January 1975: Beuchen
• 1 January 1976: Neudorf
• 1 January 1976: Reichartshausen

Economy

Today Amorbach relies on the tourist business with its state recognition as an climatic spa (Luftkurort) and its many Baroque buildings.

Amorbach is the family seat of the princely Haus zu Leiningen. In 1992, the town was awarded the Europa Nostra Medal.

Arts and culture

Amorbach 1735

St. Gangolf’s Parish Church in Amorbach

Abbey church

Abbey church and organ

The Benedictine abbey, formerly owned by the princely Haus zu Leiningen with its library, and the princely abbey church with its Stumm organ draw thousands of visitors each year. In 1782, after eight years of work by Johann Philipp Stumm (1705–1776) and Johann Heinrich Stumm (1715–1788) of the organ-building de, the organ was ready. In their work at Amorbach, this style and Klangideal ("sound-ideal"), a synthesis of Southern German and French organ building, could be thoroughly realized. The work's original sound-producing hardware remained unchanged for more than two centuries. In the final years of the 19th century and on into the early 20th century, a number of further organ stops were added according to the preferences of the time.

Behind the organ's 16-field façade with its 124 sounding and up to seven-metre-tall organ pipes are found several ranks of pipes in their original configuration and piping on the slider chest, reconstructed in 1982. All 14 pedal ranks are freestanding behind it. Furthermore, also standing there, in three levels, is the swell box, added in 1982, along with its attendant works. It contains an assembly of ranks added after 1868, with one dedicated to the sound of French Romantic organ music. The organ has 5,116 pipes and 30 percussion devices shared across 66 stops, and is played from four manuals and one pedalboard.

Berger Collection with teapot museum

Museums

The Sammlung Berger mit Teekannenmuseum is a museum of art and teapots. Besides impressive exhibits of modern art by Arman, Michael Buthe, Chagall, Christo, Keith Haring, Otto Reichart, Rebecca Horn, Yves Klein, Roy Lichtenstein, Nam June Paik, Niki de Saint-Phalle, H. A. Schult, Daniel Spoerri, Ben Vautier, Dick Higgins and others, the museum also shows a teapot collection of 2,467 teapots from throughout the world and roughly 500 miniature teapots.

Tithe barn

The tithe barn in Amorbach, built in 1488, has for five hundred years played a central role in the town. Originally built to store tithes in the form of produce for the prince, it was – after extensive remodelling in the 1960s – run as a cinema.

The Kulturkreis Zehntscheuer Amorbach e.V. (“Amorbach Tithe Barn Cultural Circle”), which outfitted the building in 1991 as a cabaret theatre maintains and renovates the building, which stands in the historical town centre. In 2001, this club bought the tithe barn.

Regular events

The yearly Mother’s Day Gangolfsritt

• Amorbach Abbey Concerts in the former Benedictine Abbey church
• Cabaret programme at the cabaret theatre Zehntscheuer Amorbach
• Daily at 12:00 and 15:00, the Stumm organ (1782) with its 5,116 pipes is played
• Each year on Mother’s Day, the so-called Gangolfsritt (“Gangulphus’s Ride”), a procession of horses through the town, takes place.

Infrastructure

Transport

In Amorbach, Bundesstraße 469 meets Bundesstraße 47. The railway station lies on the Seckach−Miltenberg railway line (KBS 709), also known as the Madonnenlandbahn.

Education

• Karl-Ernst-Gymnasium Amorbach;
• Theresia-Gerhardinger-Realschule;
• Parzival-Hauptschule;
• Wolfram-von-Eschenbach-Grundschule (primary school).

Notable people

Sons and daughters of the town

• Johann Amerbach, printer and publisher in printing’s early days;
• de (b. 12 October 1722; d. 11 April 1796), Auxiliary Bishop of Worms, historian;
• Carl, 3rd Prince of Leiningen (1804-1856); elder half-brother of Queen Victoria.
• Ernst Leopold, 4th Prince of Leiningen (1886-1939); son of the 3rd Prince of Leiningen.
• Princess Feodora of Leiningen (1807-1872); elder half-sister of Queen Victoria.
• de (1968-), scientist-cabaret performer and writer;
• de (1949-), German organist and musical scientist;
• de, German phytopathologist (1902–33 professor in Munich);
• de, (b. 27 March 1897; d. 11 October 1987 in Roßholzen), painter and professor in Munich and Berlin;
• Franz Joseph von Stein, Bishop of Würzburg (1879–98) and Archbishop of Munich and Freising (1898–1909);
• de (1974-), cabaret performer and writer;
• Danny Galm (b. 1986), professional footballer with Stuttgarter Kickers.

Died in Amorbach

• Carl Friedrich Wilhelm, 1st Prince of Leiningen (1724-1807);
• Emich Carl, 2nd Prince of Leiningen (1763-1814); first husband of Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, mother of Queen Victoria; he was the father of Queen Victoria's elder half-siblings, Carl, 3rd Prince of Leiningen and Princess Feodora of Leiningen.
• Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1876–1936); granddaughter of Queen Victoria through her son Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and his wife, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia.

Further reading

• Norbert Schmitt “Amorbacher Familienbuch 1618-1913, mit Angaben über die Familien von Amorbach (Stadt), Beuchen; Boxbrunn (mit Neidhof), Buch (mit Walkmühle); Gönz (mit Sansenhof; bis 1878); Gottersdorf (mit Kummershof; bis 1908); Neudorf, Otterbach (mit Schafhof); Reichartshausen und Zittenfeld, sowie Schneeberg und Hambrunn (1618-1688)”; Verlag = Pfarrgemeinde St. Gangolf, Amorbach, 1998

External links

• Town’s official webpage (German)
• Amorbach Tithe Barn (German)
• Amorbach. article in: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 4. Aufl. 1888–1890, Bd. 1, S. 496 f.