Country Germany Admin. region Karlsruhe Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) Area 30.26 km² Postal code 69168 Dialling code 06222 | State Baden-Württemberg Elevation 130 m (430 ft) Postal codes 69168 Population 25,959 (31 Dec 2008) Local time Sunday 10:38 PM Administrative region Karlsruhe (District) | |
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Weather 12°C, Wind N at 6 km/h, 76% Humidity | ||
Wiesloch [viːslɔx], locally [vɪslɔx], is a city in Germany, in northern Baden-Württemberg. It is situated 13 kilometres south of Heidelberg. After Weinheim, Sinsheim and Leimen it is the fourth largest city of the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis and is in the north-central area near Heidelberg with its neighbouring town Walldorf with which it shares Wiesloch-Walldorf station. Also in the vicinity of Wiesloch are the cities and towns of Dielheim, Malsch (bei Wiesloch), Mühlhausen, Rauenberg and Sankt Leon-Rot.
Contents
- Map of Wiesloch Germany
- Partnerships
- Fossil Site
- Battles
- Bertha Benz
- The Minnesinger von Wissenlo
- Geography
- Economy
- Leisure
- References
Map of Wiesloch, Germany
During the reformation of the area in the 1970s Wiesloch's inhabitants exceeded 20,000. Wiesloch became a "Große Kreisstadt" on January 1, 1973, when Altwiesloch, Baiertal, Frauenweiler and Schatthausen were joined with the town of Wiesloch to form the present municipality.
Partnerships
Wiesloch is a twin town of:
Fossil Site
The fossil remains of the oldest hummingbird found to date, Eurotrochilus inexpectatus, were found in a clay pit at Frauenweiler. This bird lived during the Early Oligocene (30 mya), when the area had a humid, subtropical climate similar to the northern Caribbean today.
Battles
There were three battles near Wiesloch, the Battle of Mingolsheim on April 27, 1622 (during the Thirty Years' War), the 1632 Battle of Wiesloch on August 16, 1632, (during the same war) and the 1799 Battle of Wiesloch on December 3, 1799 (during the War of the Second Coalition).
Wiesloch was attacked on January 28, 1689 by French troops under Ezéchiel du Mas, Comte de Mélac, during the Nine Years' War, and was almost completely burnt down and destroyed.
Bertha Benz
The city pharmacy in Wiesloch was the first "filling station" in the world, because Bertha Benz stopped there on August 5, 1888, on the first long distance car trip, to refill the tank of her automobile, which her husband Karl Benz had invented. She was supplied with ligroin by the apothecary Willi Ockel.
In 2008, the Bertha Benz Memorial Route was officially designated an industrial heritage route, following Bertha Benz's route on the world's first long-distance journey by automobile. It is a 194 km signposted circuit from Mannheim via Heidelberg and Wiesloch to Pforzheim in the Black Forest, and back.
The Minnesinger von Wissenlo
The Codex Manesse includes four sophisticated Middle High German lyrics in the tagelied genre ascribed to the Minnesinger von Wissenlo (meaning “minnesang poet from Wiesloch”). The identity of the Minnesinger von Wissenlo is not known, but the poet is conjectured to be Heinrich Swendinger von Wissenloch, who lived in the second half of the 13th century. An illustration titled von Wissenlo in the Codex Manesse shows a lady, a child, and a knight, and includes an escutcheon which does not match that of the Von Wissenloch family.
There are two statues of the Minnesinger von Wissenlo in Wiesloch town centre: one, by Hatto Zeidler from 1978, is in the square by the Reformed church (Stadtkirche) and shows the poet playing the lyre; the other, an equestrian statue on a tall column, is part of a group by Karel Fron that was erected in the market square near the town hall in 1988.
Geography
Wiesloch is partly situated on the southern foothills of the Odenwald, partly in the Rhine Valley and partly in the Kraichgau. Five brooks flow through Wiesloch: the Leimbach, the Gauangelbach, the Waldangelbach, the Ochsenbach, and the Maisbach.
Economy
Wiesloch includes the global headquarter of the MLP AG, a large German broker of personal finance services. It also hosts the world's largest printing press manufacturing site, operated by Heidelberger Druckmaschinen. Other large companies in the close vicinity are HeidelbergCement, the central cool store warehouses for the REWE Group supermarket chain, and the global headquarters of SAP SE.
"MetropolPark Wiesloch-Walldorf" is the brand name for the commercial and industrial business park surrounding Wiesloch-Walldorf railway station.
Leisure
The open-air Leimbach Park and Wiesloch Feldbahn and Industrial Museum are in the region surrounding the joint railway station.