The Charm of the Bavarian Lower Main
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// excursions frm SeRieS BAVaRIAN LOWeR MAIN the charm oF the bavarian loweR MaIn high tech and quality oF liFe away FroM the big-city hustle and bustle A castle forms the skyline, in the valley global market leaders produce their goods, a princess enthuses about wind turbines and for the music scene aschaffenburg is a major city. a journey of discovery claus beRninGeR during the afternoon some of the EvenT OrganizeR, coloS-Saal band members head upstairs to the By Barbara Hofmann and Martin Orth, photos: Jonas Ratermann Aschaffenburg performers’ dressing room, while 49°58‘33.10“N the others prepare the sound check. 9°8‘56.54“E Quite casually, wearing a T-shirt, shorts and sandals, claus berninger sits in his office on thest 1 story above the concert hall and tells us Alzenau Mömbris about his job. he has been manag- ing the club for 27 years. 25 events The Bavarian Lower Main is a real are the frontrunners in FrankfurtRhineMain: years ago. Around 800 years as part of the take place here each month – from Rock, Pop and Jazz to heavy Metal insider tip. Numerous national and Germany’s first music school was established in former Electorate and Archbishopric of Mainz and hip hop. For him that means Aschaffenburg >international studies have shown that the region Aschaffenburg in 1810. have left lasting marks on the area. a 70 to 80-hour week, starting at 6 a.m. every day. This has nothing in offers top quality of life, opportunities for the common with the classic sex, drugs Großwallstadt future and development potential. Innovation The Bavarians in FrankfurtRhineMain do not Aschaffenburg was the second residence of & Rock ‘n’ Roll cliché. it is rather a Elsenfeld matter of professionalism, passion Obernburg and tradition go hand in hand on the border be experience the greatest amount of acceptance the Mainz bishops and princeelectors who and responsibility – for the now Erlenbach tween Hessen and Bavaria, home to around from their fellow statesmen in the south of the had the castle Schloss Johannisburg built be eleven permanent employees. “i 370,000 people. Aschaffenburg, with around Free State: The Bavarian Lower Main is for them tween 1605 and 1619. Citizens of Aschaffenburg trained as a social worker,” says ber- 70,000 inhabitants from 130 countries the “capi too close to neighboring Hessen. Furthermore have the Archbishop and PrinceElector of ninger. “it gives you a different out- Kleinheubach look on things.” his aim was never to Miltenberg tal” of the Bavarian Lower Main region, boasts they speak in the Hessian rather than the Mainz Fried rich Carl Joseph von Erthal to hit the financial big-time, which Germany’s first traffic intersection outfitted with Bavarian dialect, press applewine and distill thank for creating one of the earliest land one most certainly can do in this field laser scanners and cameras used to conduct re schnapps. A quarterliter jug of Franconian scaped gardens to grace southern Germany. if willing to take certain risks. he wanted nothing more than good Bavaria in FRM search into accident prevention strategies. A few wine is ordered more often than a nice, smooth From 1775, the former electoral game preserve music – regardless of the particular The bavarian lower Main region forms the kilometers along the Main, in Miltenberg, Ger liter of beer. The north Bavarians enjoy views of was redesigned into an Englishstyle park. direction. So the amateur musician Bavarian part of FrankfurtRhineMain. The set about establishing the colos- many’s oldest inn is still serving guests. Travelers the Frankfurt skyline, not Alpine peaks. They With its artificial lake, watercourses mean Main River links the Spessart and odenwald, Saal’s position in the top ten German aschaffenburg and Miltenberg.a round passing through have been stopping at the hold their own wine festivals rather than that dering through meadows and small forests, clubs – and that in a town with just 370,000 people live in the region, 70,000 “Riesen”, a grand old halftimbered house in the famous ode to beer, the Oktoberfest. All this is mazes, a Temple of Friendship, Palace and 70,000 inhabitants. of them in aschaffenburg. They profit from www.colos-saal.de the economic strength of the region and middle of the picturesque old town, since the not particularly surprising, given that they Philosopher’s House, Schönbusch Park has value the high quality of life there 12th century. And culturally too, the Bavarians only became part of Bavaria just under 200 been a popular attraction for the citizens of 26 27 F R M 0 2 I 1 1 // excursions Dr. ThoMaS RichTeR Uli WolF Thomas Richter glances out of Uli Wolf arrives at the Sportpark on the window of his office on the 1st diRecToR, Museen deR STadT Aschaffenburg his motorcycle. he opens the TV TeaM ManaGeR, TV GRosswallstadT floor of Schloss Johannisburg in Aschaffenburg Grosswallstadt office. The cabinets GRosswallstadT Aschaffenburg, lost in thoughts of 49°58‘32.84“N are a reminder of its great past. 49°52‘51.49“N his most current and largest project, 9°8‘31.60“E Since the founding of the German 9°8‘56.22“E the “aschaffenburg Museum Mile”. handball bundesliga in 1977, Gross- it is set to run from Schlossmuseum wallstadt has maintained its position to Stiftmuseum. There are plans in the highest professional handball for a “museum district” on the site of league. in the late 1970s/early the former Jesuit monastery located 1980s, TVG dominated the league between the two poles, which is along with Gummersbach and es- Aschaffenburg and their guests even since. On garten Director Urban Priol has made the region soon to be freed up. “We are already sen. in 1980 the white-blues even thinking about the opening exhibi- took all titles in that year – they were balmy summer evenings in the HessianBavar a key location of the cabaret scene with a string tion for the first stage of construc- bundesliga champions and winners ian border region the famous whiteandblue of prominent guests. tion in 2014,” says Richter. a project of the cup, Supercup and european joie de vivre surfaces in the large beer garden of the century for aschaffenburg. champions cup. “The reality is now This way, the city of culture can somewhat different,” says Wolf. Uli there. The kirchner-Haus opposite the new As present its treasures in a fitting Wolf started out as a player himself, chaffenburg Main Station is also of suprare manner. These include works by was then made team captain and Erthal’s successor, the last Archbishop and gional significance. The Expressionist painter Lucas cranach and Matthias Grüne- later became TV Grosswallstadt’s wald, as well as ernst ludwig Kirch- co-coach. Today he is Sports direc- PrinceElector of Mainz Carl Theodor von Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was born there in 1880. ner, who was born in aschaffenburg, tor and in times of financial difficulty Dalberg, supported the construction of the mu As a young boy he would observe the hustle and christian Schad, who lived in places great emphasis on the pro- th the surrounding area. Plans incorpo- motion of the youth teams. The ba- nicipal theater, which will celebrate its 200 and bustle on the street from his firststory rate an area specifically dedicated varian lower Main is a handball birthday in late October. On the occasion of its apartment. “As a boy I always sat at the win to Modern and emerging art from stronghold. young talent from all anniversary, the Classicist building will be pre dow and drew what I saw; women with baby aschaffenburg.b ut first of all, in early over the region comes to TVG to 2012 the exhibition “Reiselust und play. This is also beneficial for teams sented in new splendor following more than carriages, trees, railway trains…” wrote Kirch Sinnesfreude: corinth – liebermann in the lower leagues – obernburg, three years of renovation work totaling ner in a letter in 1916. The new “KirchnerHaus – Slevogt” (Wanderlust and sensual Aschaffenburg Kirchzell, Kleinostheim and Gross- €8.4 million. The new theater season will offer Aschaffenburg” association remembers the pleasures: corinth – liebermann – The magnificent red-golden sandstone Umstadt. “i am setting myself a new Slevogt) is to open at Kunsthalle Schloss Johannisburg roosts high above challenge,” says Uli Wolf with a flash audiences both guest performances by renowned cultural city’s famous son. Some fans of the Jesuitenkirche. the city. From here you can also walk to of his winning smile. companies as well as events by the Aschaffen artist in Aschaffenburg want to set up a room www.museen-aschaffenburg.de the Pompejanum, a perfect replica of a www.tvgrosswallstadt.de Roman residential villa burgbased Kleinkunstbühne Hofgarten and documenting Kirchner’s childhood in the the music club ColosSaal. In recent years Hof house in which he was born. 28 29 F R M 0 2 I 1 1 // excursions Manfred baUeR PRincess STePhanie zU löWenstein Manfred bauer walks through the Stephanie zu löwenstein strides factory halls and into the showroom. ManaGinG diRecToR, Reinhold KelleR GMbh ManaGinG diRecToR, through the tall wild grass at Schloss he comes from a family of metal- KleinheUbaUch Weingut Fürst löWenstein löwenstein, telling us about a hunt- workers. “nowadays, i find the smell 49°42‘55.84“N KleinheUbach ing lodge in the forest and enthusing of metal more pleasant than that of 9°12‘22.68“E about wind turbines as she goes. 49°43‘13.12“N wood,” he admits. but he has built 9°13‘0.62“E “That is the future.” is this what you up his business with wood.