Bacharach
His successor Konrad von Staufen’s daughter secretly wed at Stahleck Castle a son of the Welfs, who were family foes, leading to Bacharach’s, and indeed the whole County Palatine’s, falling for a short time to Henry of Brunswick. Together with the Unteramt of Kaub they received here their most important toll and revenue source.
Furthermore, Bacharach was the most important transfer point for the wine trade, as barrels were offloaded here from the smaller ships that were needed to get by the Binger Loch (a quartzite reef in the Rhine upstream near Bingen) and loaded onto bigger ones. The timber trade from the Hunsrück also brought Bacharach importance, and in 1356, Bacharach was granted town rights.
Wernerkapelle in an engraving by William Tombleson
Widely visible is the Wernerkapelle, a Rheinromantik landmark of the town, lying on the way up to Stahleck Castle from the town.
It is the expanded Kunibertkapelle, and is still an unfinished Gothic ruin today. Its namesake is the former “saint” Werner von Oberwesel, known for his anti-Semitic associations.
According to the Christian blood libel, which was typical of the times, the 16-year-old was murdered on Maundy Thursday 1287 by members of the local Jewish community, who then used his blood for Passover observances. On the grounds of this alleged ritual murder, there arose an anti-Semitic mob who waged a pogrom, wiping out Jewish communities not only on the Middle Rhine, but also on the Moselle and in the Lower Rhine region.
In folk Christianity arose the cult of Werner, which was only stricken from the Bishopric of Trier calendar in 1963.
In 1344, building work began on the town wall, and was already finished about 1400. In 1545, the town, along with the Palatinate, became Protestant under Count Palatine Friedrich II.
Stahleck Castle and the town wall could not stop Bacharach from undergoing eight changes in military occupation in the Thirty Years' War, nor the war’s attendant sackings. Then, in 1689, French troops fighting in the Nine Years' War blew Stahleck Castle and four of the town wall’s towers up.
Bacharach about 1832 in an engraving by William Tombleson
In 1794, French Revolutionary troops occupied the Rhine’s left bank and in 1802, Bacharach became temporarily French.
Recalling this event is a monument stone somewhat downstream, across from Kaub. After the Congress of Vienna, the town went, along with the Rhine’s left bank, up to and including Bingerbrück, to Prussia.
The Wernerkapelle ruin is under monumental protection and before it a plaque has been placed recalling the inhuman crimes against Jewish residents and also containing a quotation from a prayer by Pope John XXIII for a change in Christians’ thinking in their relationship with the Jews:
“We recognize today that many centuries of blindness have shrouded our eyes, so that we no longer saw the goodliness of Thy Chosen People and no longer recognized our firstborn brother’s traits. We discover now that a mark of Cain stands on our forehead.
Forgive us the curse that we unrightfully affixed to the Jews’ name. Forgive us for nailing Thee in their flesh for a second time to the Cross.
Not to be overlooked, however, are problems arising from a shrinking population, itself brought about by a lack of prospects.
Amalgamations
On 7 June 1969, the formerly self-administering municipality of Steeg was amalgamated with Bacharach.
Town partnerships
Overijse, Flemish Brabant, Belgium
Santenay, Côte-d'Or, France
Coat of arms
The town’s arms might be described thus: Per fess at the nombril point sable a lion rampant Or armed, langued and crowned gules, and bendy lozengy argent and azure.
Economy and infrastructure
Transport
Bacharach lies on the Rhine’s left bank and can be reached by Bundesstraße 9 or the Rhine. A whole row of them borders Bacharach along with the town wall along the Rhine.
Altes Haus (“Old House”), mediaeval timber-frame house from 1368
Haus Utsch from 1585; in its time, Friedrich Wilhelm Utsch, the Jäger aus Kurpfalz (“Hunter from the Electoral Palatinate” – a character in a well known song) lived there.
Old postal station
Old marketplace
Electoral Palatinate Amt wine cellar
Former Electoral Palatinate mint
Toll yard with Saint Nicholas’s Catholic Church
Saint Peter’s Evangelical Church
Ruin of the Gothic Wernerkapelle
Town wall ringing Bacharach, parts of which may be visited
Town wall towers: Diebesturm (“Thief’s Tower”, remnants), Zehnt-turm (“Tithe Tower”), Spitzenturm (“Pointed Tower”, remnants), Postenturm (“Post Tower”), Holztor (“Wooden Gate”, also called Steeger Tor), Liebesturm (“Love Tower”), Halbturm (“Half Tower”, remnants), Kühlbergturm (“Kühlberg Tower”, remnants), Sonnenturm (“Sun Tower”, remnants), Hutturm (“Hat Tower”), Zollturm (no longer existing), Kranentor, Markttor (“Market Gate”), Münztor (“Mint Gate”), Winandturm (“Winand’s Tower”).
126-128
Guillaume Apollinaire: poem LA LORELEY In: Œuvres poétiques, Gallimard, Paris 1965, S. 48f.- set to music by Dmitri Shostakovich
Regular events
Impression of the Vierthälermarkt 2007
Kulinarische Sommernacht (“Culinary Summer Night”, every fourth weekend in August)
Boules tournament
Tal to Tal – car-free adventure day, upper Rhine Gorge (every last Sunday in June)
Vierthälermarkt – mediaeval market in Bacharach
Famous people
Sons and daughters of the town
Gerhard von Kügelgen, painter
Karl von Kügelgen, landscape and historical painter, Russian court and cabinet painter
Hans Meinhard von Schönberg, Electoral Palatinate and Electoral Brandenburg field colonel (Feldobrister) and the Winter King’s Hofmeister
Images
Further reading
Friedrich Ludwig Wagner (publisher): Bacharach und die Geschichte der Viertälerorte: Bacharach, Steeg, Diebach und Manubach.
In: Friedrich Wilhelm Oediger (Bearb.): Die Regesten der Erzbischöfe von Köln im Mittelalter.