Waldkirch () is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located 15 kilometers northeast of Freiburg im Breisgau. While the English translation of its name is Forest Church, it is known as the "town of mechanical organs", where fairground organs played on the streets were long manufactured by such well-known firms as Carl Frei (later of Breda, Netherlands), Andreas Ruth and Son, and Wilhelm Bruder and Sons. The largest employers today are SICK AG, which manufactures optical sensors, Faller AG, which prints pharmaceutical packages and inserts, and Mack Rides, which exports amusement park and water park rides worldwide. Cultural events include the Klappe 11 Cinema festival, the Organ Festival and the Peter Feuchtwanger Piano Masterclass.
Geography
Geographic location Waldkirch is located directly at the foot of the Kandel mountain, which is 1241 meters high. The lowest point of Waldkirch is 243 meters above sea level, so the difference in altitude in the district is 998 meters. The town lies alongside the Elz River in the south-western part of the Black Forest. The neighbouring municipalities in the Elz valley are Freiamt, Gutach im Breisgau and Simonswald, in the south-eastern branch of the Simonswälder valley. The district is bordered by Sankt Peter, Glottertal, Denzlingen and Sexau.
Due to its location in the Upper Rhine Plain Waldkirch experiences small earthquakes occasionally. The last major earthquake with a magnitude of 5.4 on the Richter scale occurred on December 5, 2004, with the epicenter below the Kandel massif.
Subdivisions of the town The districts districts (Ortsteile) of Waldkirch, alemannische-seiten.de Buchholz, Kollnau, Siensbach including the road towards it ("Siensbacher Weg"), Suggental and Waldkirch belong to the town of Waldkirch. The boundaries of the districts are the same as those of the former independent municipalities. With the exception of the Waldkirch district, the official name of the districts is given by prefixing the name of the city and connecting it to the name of the respective district by a hyphen. The districts Buchholz, Kollnau, Siensbach as well as Suggental are localities ("Ortschaften") according to the Baden-Württemberg municipal regulations. The local councillor ("Ortschaftsrat") and the local head of town ("Ortsvorsteher") are directly elected by the eligible voters in local elections. In the villages there are administrative offices called "Stadt Waldkirch - Ortsverwaltung". The Buchholz district includes the village of Buchholz and the hamlet of Batzenhäusle. The Kollnau district includes the village of the same name and the farms Harnischwald, Kohlenbach and Übental. The Siensbach district, including the Siensbacher Weg, includes the hamlets of Obertal (Dobel), Untertal and Zinken, the Biehl and Mühletal farms as well as the residential areas Beim Rechen and Eichbühl. The Waldkirch district includes the town of the same name, the hamlet of Heimeck, the farms of Dettenbach, Eschbach, Petershöfe and Wegelbach as well as the residential areas of Altersbach, Forstsiedlung and Kandelrasthaus. The Waldkirch district also includes the hamlet of Stahlhof, which until 1936 was an independent district together with the districts of Dettenbach, Heimeck, Petershöfe and Wegelbach, the castles of Kastelburg and Schwarzenburg as well as the abandoned ruins of the castles of Küchlinsburg (of the Küchlin family) and Kyffelburg and the abandoned town of Weiler.
History The earliest known mention of Waldkirch is the foundation of the Saint Margaret convent, by the Swabian duke Buchard II around the year 918. The settlement was later under the rule of the Schwarzenbergs, who in the 13th century built the Kastelburg and the Schwarzenburg castles alongside the settlement, also adding a city wall. Schwarzenberg governors gave town privileges to Waldkirch on the 8th of August 1300. The von Rechbergs inherited the territory in 1457, followed by Sebastian von Ehingen in 1546 and Hans Raphael of Reischach in 1560. In 1567 Archduke Ferdinand of Austria gained rule over Schwarzenberg with the town of Waldkirch and from 1805 onwards, Waldkirch was an administrative seat of Outer Austria. The city then fell to the Grand Duchy of Baden and was an administrative seat of the district of Baden until 1936. Since then it has belonged to the district of Emmendingen. After World War II, which the town survived largely undamaged, Waldkirch belonged to the federal state of (South) Baden and thus lay within the federal state Baden-Württemberg newly consituted in 1952. The present day town was enlarged as part of the municipal reform on 1 January 1975. The reform unified the town Waldkirch with the towns Buchholz and Kollnau. The city was renamed Waldkirch–Kollnau on the day of reform. On 1 July 1971 and 1 January 1973, respectively, Suggental and Siensbach were also incorporated into Waldkirch. On 1 January 2009 Waldkirch was raised the rank of a major district seat.
Coat of arms Description The arms of Waldkirch is in the canting arms style. The field of light blue has centered between supporters of lime (left) and oak (right) branches a silver church with a red roof and golden cross topping six hills in dark blue. The church refers to the name of the city. The six hills are based on the coat of arms of the Barrens of Swarzenberg. The arms is based on the oldest known seal from the 13th Century and was given to the city on 5 May 1976.
Old coat of arms Between 1634 and 1976 the city used a coat of arms without the six hills. This arms had a blue and green background above and below the depicted double towered church, the right and left lined with two silver trees. Shown at the bottom of the coat of arms were three more silver trees.
Sights The Catholic Church St. Magarethen The ruin of the Kastelburg The market place with the town hall Elztalmuseum, many examples of the mechanical organs built in the town
Twin towns – sister cities
Waldkirch is twinned with: Charleroi, Belgium Chavanay, France Liestal, Switzerland Sélestat, France Worthing, England, United Kingdom
Economy and Infrastructure
Waldkirch has a long history of industry and craftsmanship. The tradition of gemstone cutting, which reaches back to the Middle Ages, is still upheld today by the Wintermantel company. Organ building in Waldkirch, first established by Matthias Martin in 1799, grew to include barrel organs and orchestrions in the 19th century, gaining worldwide renown well into the 1920s. The organ builders Jäger and Brommer, Paul Fleck Söhne, Achim Schneider and Wolfram Stützle continue the tradition to this day. During the industrial revolution, Waldkirch - along with the entire Valley of the Elz - was an important location of the textile industry. Of this tradition, all that remains today is the Gütermann company in the neighboring community of Gutach. In contrast, optical and electrical manufacturing, represented in Waldkirch by the company SICK AG, has been enjoying steady growth since World War II, as has paper manufacturing represented by the company August Faller GmbH. Since 1877, a successful viticulture has been established in the district of Buchholz, which is also known trans-regionally for its cultivation of fruit and berries. In the district of Suggental, several silver mines were in use during the Middle Ages. Some parts of the mines are being uncovered and made accessible again by the mining research team Suggental, and tourist visits can be arranged ("Silberbergwerk Suggental"). Tourism is another important economic sector for Waldkirch, which is located alongside the German Clock Road ("Deutsche Uhrenstraße"), and is also a part of the Network of German Organ Road ("Kulturnetzwerk Deutsche Orgelstraße"). Friends of winter sports will enjoy the ski lifts on the local mountain, the Kandel. The most challenging slope is the partial valley run "Nordhang" (northern slope). Since April 30, 2016, Waldkirch has a new public open-air swimming pool in the district of Kollnau.
Transportation
Waldkirch is located along the Federal Highway ("Bundesstraße") 294 between Bretten and Freiburg im Breisgau. The road circumvents the town through the Hugenwaldtunnel to the south. The Kandel road ("Kandelstraße"), which starts at the northeastern edge of town, has connected Waldkirch to the Kandel since its construction in the 1930s, and was extended in the 1950s to the village of St. Peter. Waldkirch train station can be reached by the Elz Valley Railway ("Elztalbahn"), which is serviced by the regional railway operator "Breisgau S-Bahn" and runs half-hourly between Freiburg im Breisgau and Elzach. In addition, Waldkirch is serviced by two regional bus lines. The nearest railway station with access to long-distance trains is "Freiburg Hauptbahnhof" (Freiburg main station). Waldkirch is part of the regional public transportation authority "Regio-Verkehrsverbund Freiburg". The nearest international Airports are the EuroAirport Basel/Mulhouse/Freiburg, Zurich, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, the Airport Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden and Strasbourg.
Local Businesses
Some of Waldkirch's businesses are well-known beyond the immediate area, and a few operate worldwide - even as global market leaders in their field. Organ building is still an active trade, conducted by Jäger and Brommer, Paul Fleck Söhne, Achim Schneider and Wolfram Stützle. Mack Rides, a family business founded in Waldkirch in 1780, is one of the leading suppliers of amusement rides. Its former exhibition area in Rust is now home to the Europa Park, Germany's largest theme park. Another company located in Waldkirch is SICK AG, a manufacturer of industrial sensors and optical technology, with more than 8000 employees worldwide. The local company Ganter Interior is an owner-operated family business with a global market presence in interior construction and shop fitting. August Faller GmbH is another family business with its headquarters in Waldkirch, which was founded in 1882. It is one of the market leaders in pharmaceutical secondary packaging in German-speaking countries.
Courts and Administration
Waldkirch is the seat of the Waldkirch district court ("Amtsgericht Waldkirch"), which is part of the state court district of Freiburg im Breisgau, and the higher state court ("Oberlandesgericht, OLG") district of Karlsruhe, as well as the Notary's office for the municipalities of the Elztal. The former court prison next to the district court building was used as a branch of the Freiburg Prison ("JVA Freiburg"), housing day release prisoners. Since the closure of the prison branch, the building has been used as an office complex. Up until 2007, the city also housed the seat of a deanery for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Freiburg
Education
Schools located in Waldkirch include the Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium, the Realschule Kollnau, the primary school Schwarzenbergschule, the primary school and Hauptschule Kastelbergschule, the primary school and Hauptschule Buchholz, and the primary school and Hauptschule Kollnau. It also houses a centre for special education for students with learning difficulties, as well as a special needs school for students with visual impairments, the "Staatliche Schule für Sehbehinderte St. Michael", and finally, the vocational school center "Berufliches Schulzentrum Waldkirch". Another important educational facility is the municipal music school ("Städtische Musikschule"). There is also a private school, the "Freie Schule Elztal". Additionally, the city runs a full-day program at the primary school and Hauptschule Kastelbergschule, as well as a child day-care center. So childcare for all ages between 0–16 years is being provided all under one roof.
Culture and sights Waldkirch is situated on the German Clock Road, which passes many exhibition venues of ancient clocks and watch factories.