Kulmbach

Kulmbach
Coat of arms
Kulmbach
Location of Kulmbach within Kulmbach district
Coordinates: 50°06′N 11°26′E / 50.100°N 11.433°E / 50.100; 11.433Coordinates: 50°06′N 11°26′E / 50.100°N 11.433°E / 50.100; 11.433
Country	Germany
State	Bavaria
Admin. region	Oberfranken
District	Kulmbach
Government
• Mayor	Henry Schramm (CSU)
Area
• Total	92.77 km2 (35.82 sq mi)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	25,933
• Density	280/km2 (720/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	95312–95326
Dialling codes	09221
Vehicle registration	KU
Website	www.stadt-kulmbach.de

Kulmbach is the capital of the district of Kulmbach in Bavaria in Germany. The town is famous for Plassenburg Castle, which houses the largest tin soldier museum in the world, and for its famous sausages, or Bratwürste.

Kulmbach is located in the middle of the Bavarian province of Upper Franconia, about 25 kilometres (15.5 miles) northwest of the city of Bayreuth. To the south of Kulmbach, the River Main begins at the confluence of its headstreams, the White Main and Red Main.

Kulmbach is divided into the following districts (with population in brackets):

From about 900 AD there was a small settlement in what is now the district of Spiegel, which consisted of a forest lodge and a fortified tenant farm (Fronhof) to protect the River Main crossing at Grünwehr. The area later passed into the hands of the Count of Schweinfurt, whose power was usually exercised through the office of the .

Kulmbach was first mentioned as Kulma in a deed of gift in the Alcuin Bible between 1028 and 1040. The name comes from a stream that comes descends the mountain (Culmin-aha, Culmna). This stream was later renamed Kohlenbach due to a misunderstanding.

When the male line of the Schweinfurt counts died out, Kulmbach passed to the Dießen line of the Andechs family through the marriage of the Schweinfurts' daughter and heiress, Gisela, to Count Arnold of Dießen.

The counts acquired other lands around Kulmbach, built the first fort, the Plassenburg, in the first third of the twelfth century and founded a market town and a church in today's upper town (Obere Stadt). In 1180 the House of Andechs was elevated to an imperial princedom by the Emperor Barbarossa and given the title of Duke of Merania after the town of Marano between Venice and Trieste (now Marano Lagunare).