Open Air Museum and fossils
Nowadays Bad Sobernheim is a sleepy small town in a rural setting, but the towns stately buildings and it market place with its prestigious outlay indicate that Bad Sobernheim once was an important administrative centre of the archbishopric of Mainz in the Nahe region since medieval times.
The name of Bad Sobernheim was first recorded in official documents in 1074, and in 1292 the place was granted town rights. During its interesting history the town belonged to the Kurpfalz, even to France (starting in 1789), later on was part of Prussia (1815) and today is part of the federal state of Rheinland-Pfalz.
Being connected to the rail system of Germany in 1860 when the line Bingerbrück-Saarbrücken was completed, Bad Sobernheim experienced a slight economic boom. The town even became home of a few factories, but nonetheless, if anyone would like to shoot a film about the sleepy and “gemutlich” Biedermeier era, Bad Sobernheim would be a perfect stage. Near the Market Place and the Old Town Quarter with its half-timbered and quarry-stone houses, time seems to stand still for centuries.
The Market Place with the Town Hall stemming from the 16th century are the best place to start a stroll through the charming Old Town Quarter, where the catholic church “St. Matthäus” can be marvelled at as much as the Disiboden Chapel (1493) and the protestant church “St. Matthias”, which, originally, was built around the year 1000 AD. But the real sight of Bad Sobernheim are its many old and beautiful houses and the “Rheinland-Pfälzisches Open Air Museum” nearby, where about 25 historic houses from all corners of the federal state where relocated to form a very impressing museum.
As its name indicates, “Bad” Sobernheim also offers a few thermal water therapy centres, of which the most important are the Asklepios Katharina Schroith Klinik Bad Sobernheim, the Romantikhotel Bollant´s im Park mit Therme und Kurhaus and the Menschel Vitalresort (near Meddersheim).
Last but not least Bad Sobernheim is part of the wine region “Nahe”, belonging to the subregion “Paradiesgarten” and boasting of the vineyards Domberg and Marbach. In Bad Sobernheim the grape variety “Riesling” is cultivated, promising high-quality wines resembling the ones from the banks of the Rhine River. In autumn, Bad Sobernheim harbours a major market for grapes and fruits.
Bad Sobernheim is connected to the Nahe Bike Trail, the Wine Trekking Trail Rhein-Nahe, and to the Automobile Route Naheweinstraße.
More information (in German): http://www.bad-sobernheim.de/ferienregion
Bad Sobernheim is twinned with the cities of Louvres in France and Edelény in Hungary.
Photo: Christopher Kubaseck
