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Land & People
Kraichgau-Stromberg, the land between Rhine and Neckar, Black Forest and Odenwald, has forest, water and lots of wine - and 1,000 gentle hills:
- Vineyards and forested heights
- Cult mountains and burial mounds from primeval eras
- ... and mountains with fortresses from the Middle Ages
The Rhine region features fertile plains with asparagus, cereals and more… The Neckar region offers vineyards and fruit paradises… And in between you will find vineyards and wine gardens influenced by Baden-Württemberg. There are highlights and secret tips in the neat villages and towns…
The Stromberg-Heuchelberg Nature Park is a "Wine Forest" - first and foremost due to the high percentage of oak (20%). The wood for the famous Barrique barrels comes from here and is exported to France.
This part of the southwest Germany is an age-old settlement area - a good place to live. Every chronological era has left behind evidence:
- Archaeologists discovered the lower jaw of the oldest European, the "Homo Heidelbergensis" (600,000 years), south of Heidelberg
- The stone-age "Michelsberg Culture" (6,000 years) derives its name from Michaelsberg near Bruchsal - a cult mountain with pilgrimage chapel
- There is a "geological window" in the primeval times of the Earth's history
- Knight's dynasties - amongst them important names such as Sickingen and Neipperg - have left behind over 100 fortresses
- Bruchsal offers Baroque, whereas the monastery town Maulbronn (UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site) features the Romanesque and Gothic period; the towns along the "German Framework Road" feature the Romanesque period…
The region is also farmer's land in the best sense - old cultural land that still has many secrets. Ecology is rated very highly in Kraichgau-Stromberg: Eco-region tours show the special features of land & people as well as culture & culinary aspects…
Ant the "people" - those from yesterday as well as today - are also as colourful as the countryside:
- das Melanchthon-Haus in Bretten ist Philipp Melanchthon gewidmet - der Mitstreiter Martin Luthers war der klügste Mann des 16. Jh
- Hölderlin wurde in Lauffen am Neckar geboren
- "kuhriose" Skulpturen des in Angelbachtal lebenden Künstlers Jürgen Goertz finden sich im dortigen Schlosspark und in der ganzen Region
- Brackenheim, größte Rotweingemeinde Deutschlands, ist Geburtsort des 1. Bundespräsidenten Theodor Heuss
- Alchimisten-Magie findet man in Knittlingen, der Geburtsstadt von Doktor Faust, von Goethe literarisch unsterblich gemacht
- der 1. deutsche Bauernführer Joß Fritz (14./15. Jh.) kommt aus Untergrombach bei Bruchsal, Friedrich Hecker, führender Revolutionär und Volksheld der Freiheitsbewegung 1848, stammt aus Eichtersheim
- The Melanchthon House in Bretten is dedicated to Philipp Melanchthon: Martin Luther's fellow combatant was the wisest man of the 16th century
- Hölderlin was born in Lauffen am Neckar
- "Strange" sculptures from the artist Jürgen Goertz (who lives in Angelbachtal) can be found in the local Castle Park and throughout the entire region
- Brackenheim, Germany's largest red wine municipality, is the birthplace of the first Federal President, Theodor Heuss
- Knittlingen highlights the alchemistic magic of the native town of Dr. Faust (immortalised in literary terms by Goethe)
- The first German peasant leader Joß Fritz (14th/15th centuries) came from Untergrombach near Bruchsal; Friedrich Hecker, a leading revolutionary and folk hero of the 1848 freedom movement, came from Eichtersheim
You might say the Kraichgau-Stromberg region is a "model Baden-Württemberg": There are people originating from the provinces Baden, Electoral Palatinate, Franconia, Württemberg - and also Waldensians, the religious refugees from France.
How does one get there?
Four motorways (MA-KA, KA-M, MA-N, HN-S) are located around the region; federal and urban railways are located throughout the area.
When are you coming to the gentle "Land of 1,000 Hills"?
