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A five-minute drive off the Hamburg – Munich motorway, halfway
between the residencies of Fulda and
Würzburg, enclosed between limestone slopes bearing vineyards and
dense mixed forests, where the band of the
Franconian Saale meanders through sappy meadows towards the Main,
lies
Hammelburg, Franconia’s oldest wine growing town.
716 first mentioned in a document as “hamulo castellum.”
777 donated
to the Fulda monastery by Charlemagne.
Wine growing documented since that year.
12th century
Saaleck Castle built.
Ca. 1240 Hammelburg
acquires the rights to erect a wall,
mint coins, and hold markets.
Ca. 1250 the town
is fortified by walls and towers.
1303 King Albrecht confirms
the status of a town.
1816 Hammelburg becomes
Bavarian.
1854
large parts of the town are destroyed in a big fire.
1862 the region around
Hammelburg is given its first
independent administration, which
“Hammelburg
District Office“
is a forerunner of the later district.
1972 in the course of the
regional reform, the town and the
region around it are attached to the new district of
Bad Kissingen.
Since 1994 Hammelburg has been a regional
center.
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Reference: brochure of Hammelburg, Tourist
Information.
According to a document by Emperor Charlemagne
dated January 7, 777, Franconia’s
oldest wine growing town. Despite a catastrophic fire in 1854, there are still
some peels and numerous buildings reminiscent of the mediaeval structure of the
town: basilica in the late Gothic style (1389 to 1461), the Baroque palace of
the Prince Abbots of Fulda with a wine vault (1725 to 1731), the neogothic townhall with a historic wine
cellar (1524 to 1526) and the Franconian Renaissance well (1541), the Baroque
municipal museum at the Herrenmühle (topic: bread and wine), the Baroque
Altstadt monastery, and Saaleck castle with the oldest vineyards (12th century).
Worth Seeing
The townhall with the
Renaissance well.
The Palace with wine vault, popularly referred to as the “Red Palace.”
The “Red Palace” mainly contains offices, the
police station, the Flessa Bank, a wine tasting room of the Winegrowers’
Cooperative with a sales outlet, and the municipal library.
The Wine Cellar
(Winzerkeller) is normally open fridays;
it is a popular
meeting place.
Catholic Parish Church.
Protestant Parish Church.
Mönchs (Monks’), Hüter (Guards’) and Bader (Barber-Surgeons’) Towers bear witness to the former strong fortifications of the town begun 1221
and completed 1260. In the Middle Ages, many towers and gate towers lent the
wine growing town a picturesque appearance till 1854, when almost all towers
burnt down.
In the areas of the catholic parish church and Turnhouter Strasse, the
walls were
reconstructed
in the course of the redevelopment of the old town.
Municipal Museum
The Baroque building of the former municipal
grist mill was used as an electric
power plant for some time and then, in 1991, converted into the Herrenmühle
Municipal Museum.
Altstadt (Old Town) Franciscan
Monastery (1700)
Baroque structure with admirable church.
Hammelburg Bavarian
Academy of Music (since 1980)
The Bavarian Academy of Music, which also uses part of the
monastery building, was
erected on the
walls of the former Felsenkeller Brewery in the immediate vicinity of
the monastery.
Saaleck Castle
1282 first reference; then lien
given to nobility in the region.
1816 property of the Bavarian
state and private property, respectively.
Today,
Saaleck Castle with a hotel and restaurant is the property of the town of
Hammelburg. The Castle also has a winery whose areas under vines are said to date
from 777 when growing wine in Franconia was mentioned for the first time.
Guided tours of the town
are available, or you explore the sights independently
by following descriptions in the
“Hammelburger Altstadtrunde”
(A Tour of the Old Sections of Hammelburg).
Contact Tourist Information, Hammelburg.
Information brochures are included in the folder at your holiday
apartment.
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Experience Nature
A lovely scenery at the foothills of the Rhön,
permeated by the meandering rivers, Franconian Saale and Thulba.
There is much to be discovered on foot, on bicycle or on horseback.
Another option is boating down the Saale,
thus emulating Emperor Charlemagne.
The boat trip from Hammelburg to the stop
at Hotel Gasthof Nöth in Morlesau
takes a half day.
Paddling down the Saale is a restful occupation.
When seen from a boat, nature appears to be even more leisurely.
River banks are thick with vegetation,
in some places of a unique
original character.
Care must be taken when negotiating the weirs of the mills
on this stretch of the river:
the Herrenmühle in Hammelburg,
the Rödermühle in Diebach,
and the Neumühle between Diebach and Morlesau.
The valley of the Saale
is situated on a Franconian dry platform. Its natural
conditions make it one of the Bavarian regions with a lot of sunshine.
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“Eating
and Drinking Keeps Body and Soul Together,”
says an old proverb. This piece of wisdom is particularly true in the
region around Hammelburg. The native dry wine goes well both with a snack and
with the imaginative creations of higher cuisine. It is simply part of our way
of life.
Tasting and Buying Wine:
At the Städtisches Weingut in the townhall,
with the wine growers’ cooperative
(Winzergenossenschaft) at the Red Palace,
and with private wine growers.
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