Oestrich-Winkel

Oestrich-Winkel is a town in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany.

Location
This is a young town with roughly 12,000 inhabitants, having come into being in 1972 through the merger of the (until then) self-governing communities of Mittelheim, Oestrich and Winkel; it was further enlarged by Hallgarten’s amalgamation into the town in 1977 as part of municipal reform.

The coordinates 50°N, 8°E lie right in the constituent community of Winkel, whose name, coincidentally, is German for “angle”.

The town lies 17 km west of Mainz.

Neighbouring communities
Oestrich-Winkel borders in the north on the town of Lorch and the communities of Welterod (Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate), Heidenrod and Schlangenbad; in the east on the town of Eltville; in the south, across the Rhine, on the town of Ingelheim (Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate) and in the west on the town of Geisenheim.

Town council
The municipal election held on 26 March 2006, yielded the following results:

Town partnerships
The town of Oestrich-Winkel maintains partnerships with the following two places and one military unit:
 * 🇭🇺 Tokaj, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County, Hungary
 * 🇫🇷 Denicé, Rhône, France
 * 🇩🇪 2./ Fernmeldebataillon 283 (roughly, “signal corps”) in Lahnstein.

Coat of arms
The town’s arms might be described thus: Gules a Z reversed with cross stroke argent between two mullets of six Or.

The Z is a variant of a common German heraldic charge known in German as a Wolfsangel or Doppelhaken, and its appearance here apparently refers to its use for dealing with wolves in earlier times (the Wolfsangel is believed to have been used as a wolf trap). The arms themselves go back to the 17th century.

Wine culture
Oestrich-Winkel is characterized by winegrowing. The following places are cultivated:


 * Oestrich: Lenchen, Doosberg, Klosterberg, Pfaffenberg
 * Mittelheim: Edelmann, St. Nikolaus, Goldberg
 * Winkel: Dachsberg, Hasensprung, Gutenberg, Jesuitengarten, Bienengarten, Schloß Vollrads
 * Hallgarten: Jungfer, Würzgarten, Schönhell, Hendelberg, Mehrhölzchen

Sightseeing
The Oestricher Kran, Oestrich’s main landmark, is a former wine-loading crane from the 18th century for loading and unloading ships. Completed in 1745, it was working until 1926. Inside the crane are two treadmills in each of which two men used their body weight to work a winch, which could then lift loads onto or off ships. It is the last preserved wine-loading crane on the Rhine’s right bank. There were once also such cranes in Lorch, Eltville and Rüdesheim. These cranes can still be found in existence along the Rhine at Andernach (stone; loaded tuff, millstones and wine barrels) and Bingen (wood, loaded mainly wine barrels).

In Mittelheim is found one of Germany’s oldest stone churches, St.-Aegidius-Basilika (“Saint Giles’s Basilica”).

In Winkel stands Germany’s oldest stone house, the Graues Haus (“Grey House”). For a long time it was believed that Rabanus Maurus lived and in 856 died there. Schloss Vollrads, outside Winkel, with its ancient watertower likewise belongs among the noteworthy sights. On the town’s northeast limit near Hattenheim stands Schloss Reichartshausen (founded in the 12th century) with its outbuildings, which about 1900 were remodelled to look like follies. It nowadays houses the European Business School. In the middle of the community stands the Brentanohaus. Here, Goethe spent some time in 1814 as a guest of the Frankfurt banking family Brentano. The family’s children were Clemens, Gunda and Bettina Brentano. Karoline von Günderrode, a poet and one of Bettina’s friends, stabbed herself here in Winkel in 1806 on the Rhine’s bank out of lovesickness and life weariness. Since 2003, the barn across from the Brentanohaus has hosted the cultural and event venue Brentanoscheune (Scheune means “barn”).

Regular events
These include the Lenchenfest (a wine festival), the Dippemarkt (a market with a funfair the Christmas market (Weihnachtsmarkt) and Jazz Week (Jazzwoche).

Rheingau Musik Festival
The Rheingau Musik Festival has its office in Oestrich in a former winery, the presshouse (Kelterhalle) converted to a hall for intimitate concerts and events. Festival concerts have taken place in the basilica St. Aegidius, such as a recital of Elisabeth Scholl.

Education
Since 1980 Oestrich-Winkel has been the seat of the EBS Universität für Wirtschaft und Recht. Further educational institutions are, among others, the Clemens-Brentano-Schule (primary school and Hauptschule), the Rabanus-Maurus-Schule (primary school and Hauptschule with orientation level) and Hallgarten primary school.

Transport
Oestrich-Winkel lies right on Bundesstraße 42, which is particularly well developed towards the east, and which seamlessly feeds into the A 66 near Wiesbaden. The town lies on the Frankfurt am Main–Wiesbaden–Oestrich-Winkel–Koblenz railway line and belongs to the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund. Furthermore, between 6:00 and 21:00, a ferry shuttles across the Rhine between Mittelheim and Ingelheim, where there is a link with the A 60.

Sons and daughters of the town

 * Richard von Greiffenklau zu Vollrads (1467 – 13 March 1531), Archbishop and Elector of Trier, was born at Schloss Vollrads
 * Peter Spahn (22 May 1846 – 31 August 1925 in Bad Wildungen), German politician (ZENTRUM), Member of the Reichstag, Member of the Landtag (Prussia), Prussian Justice Minister, was born in Winkel

Others with links to the town

 * Rabanus Maurus (d. 856), important Carolingian academic, died in Winkel
 * Karoline von Günderrode (1780–1806), Romantic poet, committed suicide in Winkel
 * Andreas Joseph Hofmann, Metternich’s teacher, revolutionary, France’s agent in London, and in 1793 German history’s first Parliamentary president in the Rhenish-German National Convention

Documents

 * Bild von Oestrich aus J.F. Dielmann, A. Fay, J. Becker (Zeichner): F.C. Vogels Panorama des Rheins, Bilder des rechten und linken Rheinufers, Lithographische Anstalt F.C. Vogel, Frankfurt 1833
 * Bild von Mittelheim aus J.F. Dielmann, A. Fay, J. Becker (Zeichner): F.C. Vogels Panorama des Rheins, Bilder des rechten und linken Rheinufers, Lithographische Anstalt F.C. Vogel, Frankfurt 1833