Eltville

Eltville
Eltville am Rhein

Aerial view

Coat of arms
Eltville

Coordinates: 50°1′32″N 8°7′9″E / 50.02556°N 8.11917°E / 50.02556; 8.11917Coordinates: 50°1′32″N 8°7′9″E / 50.02556°N 8.11917°E / 50.02556; 8.11917
Country Germany
State Hesse
Admin. region Darmstadt
District Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis
Government
  Mayor Patrick Kunkel (CDU)
Area
  Total 46.77 km2 (18.06 sq mi)
Population (2013-12-31)[1]
  Total 16,780
  Density 360/km2 (930/sq mi)
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes 65343–65347
Dialling codes 06123,
06723 (Hattenheim)
Vehicle registration RÜD
Website www.eltville.de

Eltville am Rhein (German pronunciation: [ˈɛltvɪlə], from Alta Villa, Latin for "high estate, high town", corrupted to Eldeville, Elfeld and later Eltville) is a town in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany. It lies on the German Timber-Frame Road (Fachwerkstraße).

Eltville is the biggest town in the Rheingau. It bears the nicknames Weinstadt, Sektstadt, Rosenstadt and since 2006 also Gutenbergstadt. Some of Germany's most famous vineyards (Steinberg, Rauenthaler Baiken, Erbacher Marcobrunn) are found within Eltville's municipal limits.

Geography

Location

Eltville, which belongs culturally to the Rheingau region, lies on the River Rhine, 12 km westsouthwest of Wiesbaden.

Neighbouring municipalities

Eltville borders in the north on the municipalities of Schlangenbad and Kiedrich, in the east on the district-free city of Wiesbaden and the municipality of Walluf, in the south – separated by the Rhine – on the municipalities of Budenheim und Heidesheim and the town of Ingelheim (all three in Mainz-Bingen in Rhineland-Palatinate) and in the west on the town of Oestrich-Winkel.

Territorial structure

Eltville am Rhein as a municipality consists of five Stadtteile:

All of them have the status as a Ortsbezirk.

History

The earliest traces of humans settling here go back to the New Stone Age. There has been continuous habitation since the late 4th century. Eltville had its first documentary mention in Vita Bardonis (Bardo's life) from 1058, a biography of Archbishop Bardo of Mainz. In 1329, the archiepiscopal castle and the town wall around Eltville were built. On 23 August 1332, Emperor Louis the Bavarian granted Eltville town rights. With the granting of town rights, Eltville ended up being a pawn in the then ongoing dispute between the Emperor and the Pope. Archbishop Baldwin, one of Emperor Louis's followers and administrator of the Mainz monastery, was the one who asked for Eltville to be raised to town. From 1347 to 1480, Eltville was the residence of the Archbishops of Mainz. From Dietrich Schenk von Erbach, Archbishop of Mainz (1434–1459), the outlying centre of Erbach presumably got its name.

Politics

Town council

Tower at Eltville Castle
View of the village of Rauenthal

The municipal election held on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:

Parties and voter communities %
2006
Seats
2006
%
2001
Seats
2001
CDU Christian Democratic Union 44.0 16 45.5 17
SPD Social Democratic Party 30.1 11 29.2 11
GREENS Bündnis 90/Die Grünen 9.8 4 10.7 4
FDP Free Democratic Party 5.0 2 5.2 2
BL Bürgerliste 7.0 3 5.4 2
REP The Republicans 4.1 1
WOK Wählergemeinschaft Opitz-Kaldenberg 4.0 1
Total 100.0 37 100.0 37
Voter turnout in % 54.4 51.3

Town partnerships

The town of Eltville am Rhein maintains partnerships with these places:

Culture and sightseeing

Buildings

Crass Castle in Eltville
Eltville's Burgstrasse with typical timber-frame houses
Electoral castle, Eltville
Eltville Castle c. 1832 (engraving after William Tombleson)
Rosengarten, a rose garden between the high walls of the castle
Roses on the banks of the Rhine

Regular events

Economy and infrastructure

Economy and tourism

Eltville is touristically developed and well known for its wine and sekt production, which can be sampled at many wineries and Straußwirtschaften (seasonal wine shops). Of particular importance is the Vinothek, which brings together every leading estate's wines so that wine lovers can compare the products. It is the only local Vinothek in the Rheingau and one of few in Germany. Eltville is the headquarters of MM-Sektkellerei (which today belongs to Rotkäppchen-Sekt), Hessische Staatsweingüter Kloster Eberbach (Hessian State Wine Estates of Eberbach Monastery), and Sektmanufaktur Schloss Vaux, as well as the biggest industrial employer in the Rheingau, Jean Müller GmbH Elektrotechnische Fabrik. Eltville is one of Germany's ten "Rosenstädte" (rose towns).

Transport

Eltville lies on Bundesstraße 42, which towards the east is built like an Autobahn and near Walluf seamlessly joins the A 66. Eltville station also lies on the East Rhine Railway, which connects Frankfurt and Wiesbaden to Koblenz and Cologne and belongs to the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund. On the Rhine's bank are several landing stages for, among others, the Köln-Düsseldorfer Deutsche Rheinschiffahrt, a well known Rhine passenger ship operator.

Education

Notable people

Sons and daughters of the town

Photo gallery

Panoramic view of Eltville am Rhein.


References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eltville am Rhein.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Eltville.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, December 23, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.