Gernsbach () is a town in the district of Rastatt, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the river Murg, east of Baden-Baden in the Black Forest. Twin towns are Baccarat in France and Pergola, Marche in Italy.
The town is the historic centre of the lower Murg Valley and forms a central place of mid-size with Gaggenau. It is located in the Region Mittlerer Oberrhein, one of the twelve spatial planning regions of Baden-Württemberg.
Gernsbach is an officially recognised climatic spa with a historic centre. Furthermore, Gernsbach is noted for its paper industry and Paper Centre, a service provider in the field of training, staff qualification and management consultancy for the German and Swiss paper and pulp industry.
Geography
Geographical position
Gernsbach is located in the northern part of the
Black Forest on both banks of the river Murg at 150 to 988 meters above the sea level.
In the west the 668 m high mountain Merkur provides a distinctive landscape. In the east there is the 908 m high mountain Teufelsmühle.
Area
The local subdistrict area of Gernsbach including all quarters is 8208,86 hectares of which most is covered by forest areas – 6628,00 hectares (81% of the total area). That is more than twice as much as the average ratio in Baden-Württemberg. Settlement and traffic areas make up 6% - less than half of the average. 12% of the area used for agriculture.
[http://www.gernsbach.de/buergerinfo/aktuelles/statistik_kommunal_02_flaeche.pdf 12. May 2008.]
Quarters
The core city is divided into “to the right of the Murg” (including:
Kelterberg,
Entensee,
Kolonie and
Nord) and “to the left of the Murg” (including:
Klingele,
Waldbach,
Faltergass,
Heppeler,
Walheimer Hof,
Stadtbuckel,
Siedlung,
Hahnbachweg,
Panoramaweg and
Weinau)
In the 20th century following townships were suburbanized:
After the redivision of local government in the 1970s
-
Lautenbach (in 1973)
-
Hilpertsau (in 1974)
-
Obertsrot (in 1974)
-
Staufenberg (in 1974)
-
Reichental (in 1975) (doubling the total subdistrict area of Gernsbach)
followed.
Coat of Arms of the quarters
File:Wappen Scheuern.png|Scheuern
File:Hilpertsau Wappen.svg|Hilpertsau
File:Lautenbach Wappen.svg|Lautenbach
File:Obertsrot Wappen.svg|Obertsrot
File:Staufenberg Wappen.svg|Staufenberg
File:Reichental Wappen.svg|Reichental
Neighbouring towns
These townships and towns border on Gernsbach:
-
in the north: Gaggenau, Loffenau, Bad Herrenalb and Dobel
-
in the east: Bad Wildbad and Enzklösterle
-
in the south: Forbach and Weisenbach
-
in the west: Baden-Baden
History
Beginnings
A permanent settlement of Gernsbach before the 12th century is not verified.
At the beginning of the 12th century the Counts of Eberstein bought the “predium” Rotenfels thus allowing the initial settlement of the lower Murg valley.
From Rotenfels the counts of Eberstein ordered to uproot the wooded and swampy valley and to found new settlements. By 1200 the route Loffenau–Scheuern–Gernsbach–Staufenberg was established.
[Hennl: Gernsbach, p. 30 ff]
In an ebersteinian inheritance document Gernsbach is first mentioned in written form in 1219 as ‘’Genrespach’’. At that time there was already a differentiation between a Marktdorf (a settlement which had the right to run a market) and a Kirchdorf (a settlement which had the right to build a church). Gernsbach (also called “Hof” – ‘’a little settlement of farmers’’) was a Kirchdorf at that time, being located to the left of the Murg in the south of the Waldbach on the ebersteinian allodium.
The local church was the preceding building of today’s St.-Jakobskirche.
To the north of the Waldbach was a Marktdorf on the grounds of the Diocese of Speyer located on a spur, thus having an ideal location for the construction of a fortification.
Notable people
-
William IV of Eberstein (1497–1562), officially introduced the Reformation in Eberstein in 1556
-
Karl Drais (1785–1851), studied forestry, inventor, lived here in 1794; "the father of the bicycle"
-
Karl Friedrich Moest (1838-1923), sculptor.
-
Ludwig Dill (1848–1940), ship and landscape painter
-
Heinrich Funck, (1853–1932), philologist and historian, director of the Bürgerschule
-
Walther Eichrodt, (1890–1978), Protestant theologian
-
Scipio Colombo (1910–2002), Italian baritone, died locally
-
Heinz Schimmelpfennig (1919–2010), actor and radio playwright, died locally
-
Georg Ackermann (born 1972), long jumper
Gallery
File:Marktplatz mit oberem Stadtbuckel-vonDer Bruzzla.jpg|The Marketplace
File:Das Alte Rathaus zu Gernsbach-von Der Bruzzla.JPG| Altes Rathaus, or Old Town Hall, a palace built in 1617-18 for a rich timber merchant
File:Storchenturm Gernsbach von Der Bruzzla.jpg| Storchenturm, or Stork Tower, part of the ancient city wall
File:Gernsbach - Teilansicht der Hofstätte - Der Bruzzla.jpg| Hofstätte, the entrance to the Old Town
File:Alter Amtshof Gernsbach 20250306 115925.jpg| Alter Amtshof, a former administration building established in 1556
File:Gernsbach-Liebfrauenkirche-06-gje.jpg|Church of Our Lady
File:Gernsbach - Schloss Eberstein von Der Bruzzla.jpg| Eberstein Castle with vineyard
