Heiligenstadt in Oberfranken (, ; officially: Heiligenstadt i. OFr.) is a community with market rights in the Upper Franconian district of Bamberg. The town clusters round the base of Schloss Greifenstein.

To further tourism the old school was converted into today's town hall, the historic marketplace was remodelled, and at Easter it is adorned with an Easter fountain. Furthermore, an old barn was converted into a community centre.

The community includes houses under memorial protection and a historic church.

Visitors are especially numerous at Easter when many come to see the Franconian Switzerland’s Easter fountains.

The Evangelical St.-Veit- und St.-Michaels-Kirche (church) goes back to a former tithe barn. The freestanding belltower stands on what is left of a former castle. Unusual for an Evangelical church is the elaborate Baroque painting on the wooden galleries and the panelled ceilings.

Geography Heiligenstadt lies in the Bamberg district’s southeastern corner. The 24 Gemeindeteile lie along the Leinleiter Valley and on the abutting Jura Plateau. Veilbronn lies 329 m above sea level. The greatest elevation is the Altenberg (mountain) behind Zoggendorf at 583 m above sea level. The villages on the heights from Volkmannsreuth to Teuchatz belong to the Lange Meile ("Long Mile"). The North Jura joins with the Seigelstein near Lindach. The mountain villages east of the Leinleiter are part of the Aufseßer Gebirge (mountain range).

Heiligenstadt, in the Naturpark Fränkische Schweiz-Veldensteiner Forst (nature park), is the most important place in the Leinleiter Valley.

Constituent communities Heiligenstadt is a small centre with 24 constituent communities (Gemeindeteile). Within municipal limits is an area of 77 km2 making Heiligenstadt the district's third biggest community; however, it belongs to the more thinly populated areas. In all of Heiligenstadt's centres live roughly 3,500 inhabitants.

Brunn has an area of 5.57 km2, lying on a plateau between Hohenpölz and Schloss Greifenstein. 111 inhabitants Burggrub lies on the ridge of the Altenberg and below the 525-m high Eichenberg in the Leinleiter Valley, 378 m above sea level. 158 inhabitants The hamlet of Geisdorf lies roughly 500 m above sea level on a terrace of the Jura. 34 inhabitants Schloss Greifenstein lies 502 m above sea level and is the seat of the noble Stauffenberg family. 6 inhabitants Heiligenstadt is the community's main and namesake centre, dwarfing all of its outlying centres with a population of 1,333. 1,422 inhabitants The Heroldsmühle lies near the Leinleiter's source. 10 inhabitants Herzogenreuth lies 566 m above sea level, making it the Bamberg district's highest village. 129 inhabitants Hohenpölz with its 30-metre high church belltower can be seen from almost everywhere in the heights of the Franconian Jura. It has an area of 7.57 km2. 143 inhabitants Kalteneggolsfeld has an area of 4.18 km2 and an elevation of 520 m. It lies on the edge of the Lange Meile (“Long Mile”). 139 inhabitants Leidingshof 35 inhabitants Lindach was until administrative reform Bavaria's smallest community. 72 inhabitants Not far from Neudorf begins the Wein Valley, which leads to Veilbronn. 47 inhabitants The Neumühle lies on the Volletsbach 370 m above sea level below Schloss Greifenstein (castle) and is included in most depictions of the castle. 22 inhabitants Oberleinleiter lies 386 m above sea level. The village's landmark is the 520-m high Kreuzsteinfelsen, from which there is a panorama over the countryside as far as the villages of the Bamberger Jura. 155 inhabitants Oberngrub has an area of 3.7 km2. It is part of the Lange Meile (“Long Mile”). 174 inhabitants Reckendorf lies in a side valley of the Leinleiter running north–south, two kilometres north of Heiligenstadt. 70 inhabitants Siegritz has an area of 9.24 km2. It lies near the Wern Valley on the Alb plateau about 456 m above sea level in the Bamberg district's southeasternmost reaches. 174 inhabitants Stücht once belonged to the Lords of Stauffenberg at Schloss Greifenstein. 68 inhabitants Teuchatz lies in a small basin (545 m above sea level) on the edge of the western heights of the Franconian Jura. 212 inhabitants Tiefenpölz has a noteworthy St. Martin's Parish Church that rises over the village. 140 inhabitants Traindorf lies in the Leinleiter Valley hardly a kilometre south of Heiligenstadt. 144 inhabitants Veilbronn lies in the Leinleiter Valley south of Heiligenstadt and is well known as a holiday village. 74 inhabitants Volkmannsreuth lies on the plateau. 52 inhabitants Zoggendorf lies in the Leinleiter Valley. Towering over it is the 585-m high Altenberg. 106 inhabitants All population figures are as at 1 February 2021.

History Prehistoric finds establish that the market community's municipal area was already populated thousands of years ago, at least at times. However, permanent small communities only arose about the year 500 at the time of the Migration Period (or Völkerwanderung). Documentary mention, though, came only much later.

The community's villages arose about a thousand years ago. Heiligenstadt itself already existed before the Bishopric of Bamberg was founded in 1007.

In the Leinleiter Valley were lordly seats of the Knights of Streitberg. In 1525, the peasants revolted and inflicted heavy damage upon the castles. In 1541, the Emperor granted Heiligenstadt market privilege.

In 1580, the Reformation was introduced into Heiligenstadt and Unterleinleiter. In 1690, the Prince-Bishop of Bamberg, Marquard Sebastian Schenk von Stauffenberg inherited the knightly estates of Greifenstein and Burggrub together with patronage over Heiligenstadt. The Counts Schenk von Stauffenberg still live at Greifenstein Castle and the palatial estate of Burggrub today. The villages in the community's northern area grew out of the former Bamberg Ämter. Here there was no change in the prevailing religion.

Through the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss in 1803, the community passed to Bavaria.

In the course of administrative reform in Bavaria, the communities of Brunn, Burggrub, Hohenpölz, Oberleinleiter, Siegritz, Stücht, Traindorf and Zoggendorf joined the market community of Heiligenstadt.

Wars

Hussite storm (1430) The first major war of which anything exact is known was the Hussite War in 1430. The Heiligenstadt parish chronicle reports that in 1429, single Bohemian cohorts destroyed parts of Heiligenstadt and the whole of Burggrub and Zoggendorf. By paying an immense sum of money, the Margrave Friedrich, who had been summoned for help, managed to get the Hussite leader Prokop to turn away. The money had to be made up through special taxes paid by the subjects.

German Peasants' War (1525) During the German Peasants' War of 1525, peasants from the Bamberg area plundered and burnt the castle at Burggrub. A cohort from Ebermannstadt plundered the castle at Veilbronn. Once the revolt had been quelled by the Swabian League, five of the peasants’ leaders were beheaded at the market in Hollfeld.

Second Margrave War (1552–1554) The Second Margrave War was set off in 1552 by the Margrave Albrecht Alcibiades of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. In April 1553, the Margrave's horsemen laid waste to the village of Herzogenreuth. Hohenpölz was supposed to pay protection money to receive a charter to avoid the worst.

Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) The Thirty Years' War caused the most damage of all wars. On 10 September 1632, the Mistendorf clergyman reported the plunder of the villages of Teuchatz and Tiefenpölz, both served by him. The perpetrators, however, were not the Swedes, but Imperial troops who were fighting on the Catholic side. The Kastner (“bursary officer”) of the Streitburg wrote in 1633 to the Margrave in Kulmbach telling him that “the subjects had all their livestock and grain taken away and many were horridly murdered. In some villages more than half the subjects are said to have died wretchedly.” Farms were forsaken in Volkmannsreuth, Brunn, Oberleinleiter, Burggrub and Stücht. Meanwhile, times had become so uncertain that hardly any more written records were kept. Moreover, no-one knew anymore who was fighting for or against whom. On 12 June 1634, Weimar horsemen plundered the villages and took the farmers’ livestock away. An eyewitness wrote: “On the same day we saw on the mountains near Hollfeld in three places villages burning; the flames reached up to the clouds.”Dieter Zöberlein: Gemeindechronik Markt Heiligenstadt i. OFr. In connection with this, Heiligenstadt may also have been affected.

Seven Years' War 1756–1763 The Seven Years' War between Prussia and Austria was about supremacy in Central Europe. The Prussians moved by way of Fürth towards the north and in the summer of 1757 they were quartered in Ebermannstadt, which they plundered before they then moved up the Leinleiter. On the way, they extorted all that there was to have: money, livestock, food. Under the soldiers’ march, Veilbronn and Traindorf both suffered. Barely a year later came the Prussians’ next invasion, and a year after that came a third. In November 1762, Prussian troops stayed in the area around Heiligenstadt for three weeks.

Napoleonic Wars (1796) In the Napoleonic Wars, an army corps under General Jourdan on a retreat overran the Franconian Switzerland. French military police rode through the villages and extorted protection money from the peasants – sometimes many times in quick succession.

Franco-Prussian War (1870) With the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine, many of those called up for military service were stationed at the Metz garrison, some of whom stayed for ever and took wives. Among these was Jean Puff from the Heroldsmühle.

First World War Even though the First World War took place far from Heiligenstadt, the human losses were roughly as high as they had been in the Thirty Years' War.

Second World War As the Second World War was drawing to an end, the villagers hid with their livestock while the village elders approached United States troops with a white flag to surrender their village. The Americans established a military government, ordering, on pain of death, the surrender of all firearms. Near Teuchatz, a bomb disposal site was set up, where Wehrmacht munitions were destroyed.

Chronology 1541 Market privileges 1580 Reformation in Heiligenstadt and Unterleinleiter 1803 Heiligenstadt passes to Bavaria 1915 Railway connection by way of Ebermannstadt to Forchheim 1968 Abandonment of railway 1971 Administrative reform

Community’s name

The placename Heiligenstadt has nothing to do with the German word heilig (“holy”). It is merely another example of how names can change over time. The community was first mentioned in 1365 as Haldenstat, meaning “town at the slope” (Halde is still a German word for “slope”).

In a report from the time of the Franconian Switzerland's discovery (that is, as a tour destination), Dr. Gottlieb Zimmermann describes in 1840 a hiking route along the Leinleiter wherein he shows by mentioning the community's old name that the name Heiligenstadt has nothing to do with Heiligen (“Holy Ones” or “Saints”), but rather with the word Halde:

„Heiligenstadt, auch das lutherische Hallstadt genannt, ist ein hübscher Marktflecken im Thale, wo die Reisenden mehrere und ziemlich gute Wirthshäuser finden.“

The community was called Lutherisches Hallstadt to distinguish it from Hallstadt near Bamberg, which was (and is) mostly Catholic.

Religion Within the market community's limits, Catholic and Evangelical villages lie in the area of the Archdiocese of Bamberg: In Leidingshof there is not a single Catholic, in the villages of the parish of Tiefenpölz, almost nobody is Evangelical. In the heart of the main community, mostly Lutherans live, whereas in the outlying newer developments, most people are Catholic. All together, the ratio between the two faiths stands at roughly 1:1.

Churches

Roman Catholic church