Bischofsheim (Mainspitze)
Bischofsheim is a community in
Groß-Gerau district in
Hesse,
Germany with a population of more than 12,000.
Location
Bischofsheim lies south of the
Main and north of the
Rhine in the so-called
Mainspitze triangle, a narrow piece of land between the Main and Rhine where the former empties into the latter.
Neighbouring communities
Bischofsheim borders in the north on the town of
Hochheim (
Main-Taunus-Kreis), in the east on the town of
Rüsselsheim, and in the south and west on the community of
Ginsheim-Gustavsburg.
Constituent communities
Bischofsheim has only one constituent community.
In the
Middle Ages, Bischofsheim was ruled by the
Archbishop of Mainz, but fell to
Hesse-Darmstadt in
1579. In
1930 it was incorporated to the city of Mainz, remaining a constituent community of that city until 1945. Since the
American and French occupying powers severed the links between Mainz and the so-called
Rechtsrheinische Stadtteile von Mainz (Mainz constituent communities on the Rhine's right bank) â€" the Rhine was the boundary between their two occupational zones â€" these six communities effectively ceased to be part of the city of Mainz. Whereas the three former constituent communities north of the Main were assigned to
Wiesbaden, Bischofsheim and neighbouring Ginsheim-Gustavsburg once again became independent municipalities in Groß-Gerau district.
Coat of arms
Bischofsheim's civic
coat of arms might heraldically be described thus: Party per fess, above, a lion rampant striped alternately three times argent and three times gules, armed and crowned Or, langued gules, below, a pair of pince-nez eyeglasses with frame sable.
The lion is the lion of Hesse, seen in Hesse's own arms, and many civic coats of arms throughout Hesse.
The
eyeglasses are a mystery. It is not known how they became a symbol of Bischofsheim, but they first appeared in seals in the
16th century and afterwards on other things of civic importance, such as municipal limit markers. One suggestion is that they derive from the two-wheels-and-cross charge in Mainz's coat of arms, seen here.[
1]
Leave to bear these arms was granted by the People's State of Hesse (
Volksstaat Hessen) on
27 October 1926.
Partnerships
*
Dzierżoniów,
Poland*
Crewe and Nantwich,
United KingdomTransport
Bischofsheim is a
railway hub with a
marshalling yard, called Mainz-Bischofsheim, as Bischofsheim was formerly part of Mainz. The hub itself is formed by a junction of the
Mainzâ€"
Frankfurt and
Wiesbadenâ€"
Darmstadt lines.
The community is directly reachable by
Autobahnen
A 60 and
A 671.
Bischofsheim's location near two important rivers affords waterborne transportation as well.
Things worth seeing are the
Baroque Evangelical church, the early modern
Roman Catholic Christ the King church (
Christkönigskirche) by
Dominikus Böhm and the historic
half-timbered houses. In one of these, the Old Town Hall (
Altes Rathaus), is housed the local history museum.
Bischofsheim is sometimes also called:
Bischofsheim (Kreis Groß-Gerau), for instance, in the information given out by the Rhine-Main Transport Association (
Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund);
Mainz-Bischofsheim, for instance, in the information given out by
Deutsche Bahn;
Bischofsheim bei Rüsselsheim, for instance, in
Deutsche Telekom AG's directories.
*
Bischofsheim*
Museum Bischofsheim at the Old Town Hall
