Gundelfingen

Gundelfingen
Coat of arms
Gundelfingen
Location of Gundelfingen within Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district
Coordinates: 48°3′N 7°52′E / 48.050°N 7.867°E / 48.050; 7.867Coordinates: 48°3′N 7°52′E / 48.050°N 7.867°E / 48.050; 7.867
Country	Germany
State	Baden-Württemberg
Admin. region	Freiburg
District	Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald
Government
• Mayor	Raphael Walz
Area
• Total	14.28 km2 (5.51 sq mi)
Elevation	266 m (873 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	11,555
• Density	810/km2 (2,100/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	79194
Dialling codes	0761
Vehicle registration	FR
Website	www.gundelfingen.de

Gundelfingen im Breisgau is a municipality directly north of the city Freiburg in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany.

Gundelfingen is one of the larger municipalities in the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district. It consists of the old place Gundelfingen and the village Wildtal, which was included in the municipality in the 1970s.

Gundelfingen was founded in the 4th century, so at least the suffix "-ingen" suggests. The name means that some Alamannic chief by the name of Gundolf settled there with his folk. The first sure sign of Gundelfingen's existence is found in a 1008 treaty, where a place called Gondalvingen is named.

In 1327, Gundelfingen was sold by Counts Konrad and Friedrich of Freiburg to Schnewelin Bernlapp. In 1507, his successor Balthasar von Blumeneck sold Gundelfingen again, this time to Margrave Christopher I of Baden. Since then it was part of Baden.

In the 16th century, some 350 inhabitants lived in Gundelfingen. In 1825 it was 620, in 1950 1,817. Only in the 1960s and 1970s the numbers started to expand quickly to 5,016 inhabitants in 1970 and 11,000 inhabitants in 2002.

Wildtal was first named in a document in 1273 as Wülptal (whelp dale) or Wolfstal (wolf's dale). The present name just translates as "wild dale".

In 1972, Wildtal was included into the municipality of Gundelfingen, after three quarters of its citizens voted for this inclusion.

The Mayor of Gundelfingen is at the same time the Mayor of the neighboring village Heuweiler which is associated for administrative purposes.

On the territory that belongs to the municipality of Gundelfingen you can, inter alia, find the following:

Since 1993 storks are nesting again in Gundelfingen. Their nest is on the steeple of the Protestant church at the corner of the streets Kirchstraße and Kirchenwinkel.

The "Luthereiche" (Luther's oak) which was planted next to the protestant church in 1883 on the occasion of 400th birthday of the reformer Martin Luther was the first natural monument of Gundelfingen. A plaque commemorating it is on the outside wall of the church. The tree of a height of 50 ft was felled in 2011 because of dry rot. It is highly likely that a new oak will be planted in its place, perhaps in 2017 when the 500th anniversary of the protestant reformation will be celebrated. Such an oak has the function of a monument commemorating the reformation. The very first oak with that purpose was planted in Wittenberg on the same spot where Luther had publicly burned the papal bull.