Buchenbach

Buchenbach parish church

Coat of arms

Buchenbach

Location of Buchenbach within Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district

Coordinates: 47°57′39″N 08°00′34″E / 47.96083°N 8.00944°ECoordinates: 47°57′39″N 08°00′34″E / 47.96083°N 8.00944°E

Country

Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald

Government

• Mayor

Harald Reinhard

Area

• Total

38.99 km² (15.05 sq mi)

Elevation

420-1,156 m (−3,373 ft)

Population (2015-12-31)

• Total

3,081

• Density

79/km² (200/sq mi)

CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)

79256

07661

Website

Buchenbach is a municipality in the south west of the Black Forest in Germany. It is located in the district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald in Baden-Württemberg. It is made up of four communities, the main town of Buchenbach and the villages of Falkensteig, Unteribental and Wagensteig. The current municipality was formed by the merger of the former entities of Buchenbach and Falkensteig on 1 December 1971, with Wagensteig being joined to them on 1 August 1973 and Unteribental on 1 January 1975.

The municipality is located within the South Black Forest Natural Park, about 12 km as the crow flies east of Freiburg im Breisgau. It stretches from the lower end of the Höllental, below Rotbach to the valley of the Wagensteigbach, and Unteribental borders the St. Märgen plateau. A little to the west of Buchenbach, these two mountain streams merge to form the Dreisam, so Buchenbach is the starting point of the Dreisam valley.

Clockwise from the north, Buchenbach borders on the municipalities of Sankt Peter, St. Märgen, Breitnau, Oberried, Kirchzarten and Stegen.

Lying in the lower Wagensteig valley, Buchenbach is made up of numerous small settlements and isolated farmsteads. Constituent settlements include Ober- and Unterbuchenbach, and the village of Wiesneck, which was independent of the town until 1837. Wiesneck is in fact the oldest part of the municipality, with a castle that is first documented in 1079. This was owned by the counts of Haigerloch-Wiesneck. In 1118, Bruno von Haigerloch-Wiesneck founded the monastery of St. Märgen. The Haigerloch-Wiesneck line died out in 1170, and the castle fell into the possession of a branch of the Zollerns, who styled themselves as Counts of Hoheberg. In 1293 they sold the castle. In 1577 it fell into the possession of the Barons of Sickingen-Hohenburg. The castle was sacked in 1121 by the Zähringers and in 1646, during the Thirty Years War, by the French. Wiesneck grew up as a small settlement around the castle. Since the location fell within the state of Baden, Baron Wilhelm von Sickingen eventually sold his overlordship of the village to the state of Baden, which joined it to the larger town of Buchenbach.

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Wikipedia