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Forchheim

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Overview

Forchheim is a small town in Franconia with an interesting old town. Forchheim is most famous for its ten-day-long beer and music festival (Annafest) which takes place in late July in an idyllic wooded hillside, home to

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WBP almanac

External sources

Wikivoyage

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From Wikipedia1,526 words

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A Taste of Franconian Craftsmanship

Forchheim’s market square hosts a cluster of family‑run workshops where the legacy of metalworking and ceramic production still hums. Visitors who linger over the afternoon coffee can watch silversmiths shaping traditional Jugendstil pieces and potters glazing forms that echo the town’s historic guilds. The best way to engage is to ask for a brief demonstration; the artisans are proud to explain the subtle techniques that have survived since the Middle Ages. Pairing a tour with a stop at a nearby brewpub lets you sample a locally brewed amber ale, which is often poured into stoneware mugs made on site—a small but authentic immersion into the region’s hands‑on heritage.

Beyond the Walls: Walking the Via Staffarda

While the old fortifications frame Forchheim’s historic centre, the surrounding countryside is criss‑crossed by the Via Staffarda, a modest hiking route that follows ancient trade paths along the Regnitz river. The trail is gentle enough for a relaxed morning stroll yet offers rewarding views of terraced vineyards and Baroque farmsteads that are invisible from the town’s main streets. Early autumn brings a soft gold to the hop fields, and the occasional local farmer may invite you to sample a handful of freshly harvested hops—a pleasant surprise that adds a sensory layer to the walk. The route finishes near a modest chapel where you can pause for a moment of quiet before returning to the town centre.

Seasonal Rhythm of the “Bierevent”

Forchheim’s calendar is punctuated by a modest yet lively bi‑annual beer festival that differs from the larger Bavarian celebrations by focusing on craft brews from the surrounding Franconian region. Unlike the commercialised spectacles in Munich, this event is embedded in the town’s agricultural rhythm, with local hop growers displaying their latest yields and small breweries unveiling experimental batches. Attending the evening when the town’s historic brewery lights are switched on provides a subtle ambience, and the surrounding lanes fill with residents serving tavern‑style pretzels and regional cheeses. Planning your visit to coincide with the festival’s closing night rewards you with a communal toast that feels more like a neighbourhood gathering than a tourist showcase.

Introduction

For other places with the same name, see Forchheim (disambiguation). You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in German.  (May 2012) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the German article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must follow the LLM translation guideline, revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at [[:de:Forchheim]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|de|Forchheim}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation. This article is written like a travel guide. Please help rewrite it in a neutral, encyclopedic style or move its content to Wikivoyage. (July 2022) Town in Bavaria, GermanyForchheim TownCity hall Coat of armsLocation of Forchheim within Forchheim district Location of ForchheimForchheim Show map of GermanyForchheim Show map of BavariaCoordinates: 49°43′11″N 11°03′29″E / 49.71972°N 11.05806°E / 49.71972; 11.05806CountryGermanyStateBavariaAdmin. regionOberfranken DistrictForchheim Government • Lord mayor (2020–26) Uwe Kirschstein (SPD)Area • Total44.44 km2 (17.16 sq mi)Elevation266 m (873 ft)Population (2024-12-31) • Total33,017 • Density743.0/km2 (1,924/sq mi)Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET) • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)Postal codes91301Dialling codes09191Vehicle registrationFO, EBS, PEGWebsitewww.forchheim.de Forchheim (German pronunciation: [ˈfɔʁçhaɪm] ⓘ) is a town in Upper Franconia (German: Oberfranken) in northern Bavaria, and also the seat of the administrative district of Forchheim. Forchheim is a former royal city, and is sometimes called the Gateway to the Franconian Switzerland, referring to the region of outstanding natural beauty to the north east of the town. Nowadays Forchheim is most famous for its ten day long beer and music festival (Annafest) which takes place in late July in an idyllic wooded hillside, home to 24 beer gardens, on the outskirts of the town. Forchheim's population, as of December 2013, was 30,705, and its land area is 44.95 square kilometres (17.36 square miles). Its position is 49° 44' N, 11° 04' E and its elevation is 265 metres (869 feet) above sea level.

Name and coat of arms

[edit] When the coat of arms was bestowed upon the town at the beginning of the 13th century, people wrongly believed that their town's name, "Vorchheim" originates from the Old High German word vorhe (“trout”). This resulted in the coat of arms showing two trout (above). Although the rivers around the town were certainly home to a great number of trout in those days, it seems likelier that the town's name was actually derived from the Old High German word vorha, forha (Föhre=“pine”). Hence, the name means “pine home” with a probability bordering on certainty. The name most likely originates in the 7th century, when Frankish settlers first ensconced themselves in the region. They established many riverside towns with names ending in –heim.

Transport connections

[edit] Forchheim is directly connected to the Autobahn network by way of the A 73, via 2 Exits Forchheim-Nord and Forchheim-Süd. Through Forchheim run Federal Highways (Bundesstraßen) B 470. In 2011, the former B 4 which also ran through Forchheim was downgraded to a regional road because of its parallelity concerning the regional importance to the Autobahn A 73. Rail traffic from the station goes towards Bamberg, Nuremberg and Ebermannstadt. The railway line to Höchstadt was permanently closed on 1 April 2005. Since 2010, Forchheim is also connected to the Nuremberg S-Bahn; work began on this project in 2006. Local public transportation, such as buses and hailed shared taxis, is incorporated into the Greater Nuremberg transport area. The city lies right on the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal and lies roughly 30 minutes from Nuremberg Airport. Hauptstraße (pedestrian precinct)

History

[edit] In the 8th century, a royal court and a palace were built in Forchheim. In 805, the town was mentioned in the Diedenhofener Kapitular, a capitulary (royal order) from Charlemagne forbidding the two towns that it named – Magdeburg was the other – to trade weapons with the Slavs, issued at Diedenhofen (now Thionville, France). This is the first documentary evidence of the town's existence. Travel map from 1912 with Forchheim near bottom In the following centuries, Forchheim saw many imperial diets and princely gatherings. On 10 November, 911, Conrad I was elected and crowned the first "German" king. On 1 November 1007, Emperor Heinrich II granted Forchheim, then under Crown ownership, the Bishopric of Bamberg. By 1039, however, Emperor Heinrich III had brought the town back under Imperial administration until it was finally made part of the Bishopric of Bamberg on 13 July 1063, a status which lasted up until the secularization in 1802–1803. In Heinrich IV's time, Rudolf von Rheinfelden was chosen to be the Gegenkönig ("anti-king") on 15 March 1077, in Forchheim. Sometime between 1200 and 1220, Forchheim was raised to the status of a city, and was granted its current coat of arms. Owing to Forchheim's fortifications, it got through the Thirty Years' War without being overrun even once. The Prince-Bishop of Bamberg fled the Swedes in this war, seeking shelter for himself, and also for his cathedral treasure, in the strongly defended fortress town of Forchheim. The Swedes laid siege to the town several times from 1632 to 1634. It was also in this era of Forchheim's history that some of the townsfolk earned the rather unflattering nickname Mauerscheißer ("wall shitters"). This came from their practice of defecating over the city walls during the siege, to demonstrate to the Swedes that there was still enough to eat in the city, and that their siege was ineffective and pointless. On 6 September 1802, Forchheim was occupied by Bavarian troops and annexed to the Electorate of Bavaria. In 1889, Forchheim became a kreisfreie Stadt, conferring on it certain enhanced local powers. It lost this status in 1972 under Bavarian regional government reform, and was united with Landkreis Forchheim, the local district. Since then its title is Große Kreisstadt. Today[edit] In 2005, Forchheim celebrated its 1,200th anniversary of first documentary mention, on the occasion of which the Deutsche Post (German Post) issued special commemorative stamps worth 45 cents. In 2004, the city played host to the Bavarian provincial Exhibition. There were about 199,100 visitors.

Things to see

[edit] Rathaus (City Hall), 14th–16th centuries with décor by Hans Ruhalm, 1523. Forchheim town hall +49 9191 7140 https://www.google.com/maps?q=Forchheim+town+hall,+Hauptstra%C3%9Fe+24,+91301+Forchheim,+%EB%8F%85%EC%9D%BC&ftid=0x47a1f661b8ca41cf:0xe7fd270bbb36bee&hl=ko-KR&gl=kr&entry=gps&lucs=a2 Kaiserpfalz, prince-bishop's palace, 14th century. Pfalzmuseum Forchheim +49 9191 714326 https://www.google.com/maps?q=Pfalzmuseum+Forchheim,+Kapellenstra%C3%9Fe+16,+91301+Forchheim,+%EB%8F%85%EC%9D%BC&ftid=0x47a1f6616ca1e941:0x31fec517a04d2292&hl=ko-KR&gl=kr&entry=gps&lucs=a2 Martinskirche (church), 12th–15th centuries. Marienkapelle (chapel), 12th century. Festungsmauer (fortification wall), 1560–1750 with mediaeval Saltorturm (tower). Kammerersmühle (a quaintly leaning old mill, now used as a wine bar), 17th century. Das schiefe Haus https://www.google.com/maps?q=Das+schiefe+Haus,+Wiesentstra%C3%9Fe+10,+91301+Forchheim,+%EB%8F%85%EC%9D%BC&ftid=0x47a1f719e7d9eec3:0xe0075900bbb5152f&hl=ko-KR&gl=kr&entry=gps&lucs=a2 Katharinenspital (hospital), 1611 and Spitalkirche (hospital church), 1490 Spitalkirche St. Katharina https://www.google.com/maps?q=Spitalkirche+St.+Katharina,+91301+Forchheim,+%EB%8F%85%EC%9D%BC&ftid=0x47a1f79908cbab9b:0x86f425ae7e96b788&hl=ko-KR&gl=kr&entry=gps&lucs=a2 Klosterkirche and Kloster (monastery church, and monastery) 17th century. Klosterkirche St. Anton Klosterverein St. Anton e.V. +49 9191 7169311 https://www.google.com/maps?q=Klosterkirche+St.+Anton+Klosterverein+St.+Anton+e.V.,+Klosterstra%C3%9Fe+12,+91301+Forchheim,+%EB%8F%85%EC%9D%BC&ftid=0x410cb2628ac6418b:0xf90c7eea5c6d9731&hl=ko-KR&gl=kr&entry=gps&lucs=a2 Stadtpark (Citypark), surrounded by the old city wall, big grassed area. Martinskirche Stadtpark https://www.google.com/maps?q=Stadtpark,+91301+Forchheim,+%EB%8F%85%EC%9D%BC&ftid=0x47a1f66274a00925:0x13e861fd3db36989&hl=ko-KR&gl=kr&entry=gps&lucs=a2

Regular events

[edit] January/February: Carnival festival and Carnival parade April/May: Theatertage (“Theatre days”) June: Altstadtfest (“Old Town Festival“) July/August: Annafest December: Schönster Adventskalender der Welt (“World’s loveliest Advent calendar”)and actually the biggest one in the world (Entry in the "World Guinness Book Records") Besides those big and famous events, Forchheim offers a plenty of different festivals around the year. Especially in the summer there is a lot going on in the city. Africafestival, Streetmusicfestival, Winefestival or even some special Neighborhood- or Streetfestivals with live music are pretty common. The so-called "Jahn Halle", a kind of "Townhall," offers live music performances during the year.

Notable people

[edit] Johann Philipp Anton von Franckenstein Johannes Fabri [de] (died 1480), Roman Catholic theologian Johann Salver (around 1670–1738), copper cutters Johann Philipp Anton von Franckenstein (1695–1753), bishop Hilmar Wäckerle (1899–1941), National Socialist, first commander of Dachau Concentration Camp Wolfgang Droege (1949–2005), Canadian-German right-wing extremist Klaus Kreuzeder (1950–2014), saxophonist Horst Kummeth (born 1956), actor, director and author Mustafa Özkan (born 1975), German-Turkish footballer Roberto Hilbert (born 1984), footballer Andreas Sponsel (born 1986), soccer goalkeeper El Hotzo (born 1996), satirist Moritz Löhner (born 1998), racing driver