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The Spiritual Oberwesel Print E-mail
ImageEven today, the most dominating urban features of Oberwesel are its churches. To the south stands the 'red' Church of Our Lady, begun in 1308. The church of Our Lady is the finest example of Gothic architecture in the Middle Rhine Valley, a region rich in fine works of art. On the north-west perimiter of the town the “white” church of St. Martin, begun in 1350, dominates the scene. A minorite monastery once stood in the centre of the town and the monastery of All Saints was situated in the Niederbach valley.
 
The Fortified Oberwesel Print E-mail
 
The medieval Town Wall has been painstakingly restored over the past few years and made accessible to the public by the “Oberwesel Historic Buildings Association”. The town wall is a very special historic monument. It is reckoned to be one of the best preserved of its kind in the whole of Western Germany. It was the way in which the people of Oberwesel restored their town wall, opening it to the general public, which played a decisive role in UNESCO’s decision to recognize the Upper Middle Rhine Valley as a World Heritage site.
Considering that the town had less than a thousand inhabitants in the Middle Ages – although this would have constituted a large city in those days - the dimensions of its walls are still astonishing, even today. If you want to go all the way around them you will have to walk 2575 metres. If you add to this the walls of the inner city suburbs, you arrive at an overall length of more than three kilometres. The height of the walls was dictated both by the local terrain and by military requirements. Along the Rhine, from where an attack was more unlikely, the walls were only 8.5 metres high. Real danger threatened from the slopes of the Michelfeld, and so the walls there were built to a height of about 11 metres. In the northern suburb of Niederburg they even reached as high as 16 metres. There are a remarkable number of towers and gates. The town was once protected by 22 towers. 16 of these still survive to this day, and the foundations of at least another three are still visible. 11 town gates and 24 postern gates ensured good communications with the surrounding countryside. Almost every lane had its own gate to the Rhine.
 
The Nobility of Oberwesel Print E-mail
Schönburg Oberwesel
Schönburg Oberwesel
The Schönburg is one of the oldest hilltop castles on the Middle Rhine. The northern castle buildings date from the beginning of the 12th century.
Because of its strategic importance, Schönburg castle was always protected by a strong garrison. There were usually several families of nobles living in the castle at any one time. They were not always blood relatives but they all took the name Schönburger from the castle in which they served.
The Lords of Schönburg were later to join the ranks of the European High Nobility.
In 1689 the town and its castle were destroyed by the French. In 1885 an American, Oakley Rhinelander, began with the restoration of the castle. After his death, the town of Oberwesel was able to buy Schönburg Castle. The German Kolping organisation established an international youth centre in the northern part of the castle. The southern part is now occupied by the Castle Hotel and restaurant “Auf Schönburg”.
 
Gold and Silvercoins Print E-mail
Goldgulden and Weisspfennige minted in Oberwesel were in wide circulation during the Middle Ages.

In the early 13th Century many towns issued their own money. Oberwesel began issuing its own coinage in 1288. In each of the many small Rhenish territories there were different currencies. Between Koblenz and Bingen one would, at various times, have needed 15 different currencies.

This coinage muddle made trade difficult and so in 1385 the four Rhenish electoral princes founded the Rhenish Coinage Union.  They agreed upon a uniform coinage for the electoral states and introduced the Rhenish Gold Florin as common currency. As the value of this coin remained extremely stable over a long period, it became a reserve currency in large areas of Central Europe.
 
Chronicle Print E-mail
Before 50 BC  Celtic settlement “Vosolvia” or “Vosavia”
50 BC to 450 AD  Roman military camp on the military highway between
                Mainz and Cologne.  In addition to the staging post
                and an inn there is also a civilian settlement.
450 to 900  Following the retreat of the Romans, the Germanic tribe
                of the Franks settles on the Rhine. Oberwesel is now
                part of the Crown Land of the Frankish kings.
966     To further his Ostpolitik (Eastern Policy), Emperor 
               Otto I gives Oberwesel to the Archbishop of Magdeburg.
1166   Emperor Frederick Barbarossa reaquires
                Oberwesel from Magdeburg.
1216   Emperor Frederick returns the town to Magdeburg.
1237   Oberwesel becomes a Free City of the Holy Roman Empire. 
                The 13th Century is  Oberwesel’s heyday the town wall is built,
                and the two great churches erected - Our Lady’s and St. Martin’s.
                Two monasteries, the Werner Chapel and the Holy-Spirit Hospital
                are founded.
1312   King Henry VII mortgages the town to his brother Baldwin, the
                Archbishop-Elector of Trier, to raise funds forhis imperial
                coronation. Oberwesel  remains a provincial town of
                Electoral Trier until 1794.
1689   Troops of the French King Louis XIV destroy Schönburg Castle
                during the Palatine War of Succession.
1794   Capture and occupation of the town by French
                revolutionary troops.
1802   Start of secularisation under Napoleon.  All monasteries and religious
                foundations are dissolved and church property confiscated.

1815   Following the Congress of Vienna, the Rhineland is ceded to Prussia and 
                Oberwesel remains a Prussian town of the Rhine Province until 1945.
1843   Poets of the late Romantic era meet here in the Middle Rhine Valley during the
                “Rhenish  Poets’ Summer”. Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben first recites his 
                “Song of the Germans” at the inn “Zum  Goldenen Propfenzieher”  (The Golden
                 Corkskrew) – this is now the German national anthem.
1859    Opening of the railway line through the Middle Rhine Valley.
1885   New York estate agent T. J. Oakley Rhinelander acquires the ruins of
                Schönburg Castle and restores it.
1950   The town of Oberwesel acquires Schönburg Castle.
1958   The new B9 town bypass is completed.
1971   The Heuss-Adenauer School Complex is opened.
1997   The Waterways and Shipping Authority’s new local headquarters for the
                 monitoring of shipping on the Rhine starts operation.
2002   UNESCO declares the Upper Middle Rhine Valley a “World Heritage Site”.    
                The official presentation of the World Heritage charter takes place in the
                summer of 2003 in the Church of Our Lady in Oberwesel.
2003   The Kulturhaus and Museum of Town History are opened.
2006   Inauguration of the monument to the Jewish townsfolk forced into exile
                or sent to death camps during the Third Reich.

 
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