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speyer

{{short description|Place in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany}}

{{other uses}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}

{{Infobox German location

|type = Stadt

|German_name = {{native name|pfl|Schbaija}}

| image_skyline = {{multiple image

| total_width = 290

| border = infobox

| perrow = 1/2/1/1

| caption_align = center

| image1 = Speyer Dom Luft.jpg

| alt1 = Speyer medieval centre

| caption1 = Medieval centre

| image2 = Speyer-08-Gedaechtniskirche-gje.jpg

| alt2 = Gedaechtniskirche

| caption2 = Gedächtniskirche

| image3 = Speyer, Altpörtel KDm IMG 2174 2022-05-23 19.02.jpg

| alt3 = Old Gate (Speyer)

| caption3 = Old Gate

| image4 = Speyer Dom Laengsseite.jpg

| alt4 = Speyer Cathedral

| caption4 = Speyer Cathedral

| image5 = Speyer - Altstadt - Altpörtel - Blick auf Gedächtniskirche und St. Joseph mit Sonnenuntergang.jpg

| alt5 = Old town skyline

| caption5 = Old town skyline

}}

|image_flag = Flag of Speyer.svg

|image_coa = DEU Speyer COA.svg

|coordinates = {{coord|49|19|10|N|8|25|52|E|format=dms|display=inline,title}}

|image_plan =

|state = Rheinland-Pfalz

|district = Kreisfreie Stadt

|elevation = 92

|area = 42.58

|postal_code = 67346

|area_code = 06232

|licence = SP

|Gemeindeschlüssel = 07 3 18 000

|divisions = 4 Stadtteile

|website ={{url|speyer.de}}

|mayor = Stefanie Seiler[https://www.wahlen.rlp.de/de/kw/direktwahlen/wahl-der-buergermeister-kreisfreier-staedte/ Wahl der Oberbürgermeister der kreisfreien Städte], Landeswahlleiter Rheinland-Pfalz, accessed 30 July 2021.

|leader_term = 2018–26

|Bürgermeistertitel = Oberbürgermeister

|party = SPD

| footnotes = {{designation list

|embed = yes

|designation1 = WHS

|designation1_offname = ShUM Sites of Speyer, Worms and Mainz

|designation1_date = 2021

|designation1_type = Cultural

|designation1_criteria = (ii)(iii)(iv)

|designation1_number = [https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1636 1636]

}}

}}

Speyer ({{IPA|de|ˈʃpaɪɐ|lang|De-Speyer.ogg}}, older spelling {{lang|de|Speier}}; {{langx|pfl|Schbaija}}; {{langx|fr|Spire}}), historically known in English as Spires, is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in the western part of the Federal Republic of Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the river Rhine, Speyer lies {{convert|25|km|abbr=in}} south of Ludwigshafen and Mannheim, and {{convert|21|km|abbr=in}} south-west of Heidelberg. Founded by the ancient Romans as a fortified town on the northeast frontiers of their Roman Empire, it is one of Germany's oldest cities. Speyer Cathedral, a number of other churches, and the {{lang|de|Altpörtel|i=no}} ("old gate") dominate the Speyer landscape. In the cathedral, beneath the high altar, are the tombs of eight Holy Roman Emperors and German kings.

The city is famous for the 1529 Protestation at Speyer. One of the ShUM-cities which formed the cultural center of Jewish life in Europe during the Medieval / Middle Ages, Speyer and its Jewish courtyard was inscribed on the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage List in 2021.{{cite web |url = https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1636 |title = ShUM Sites of Speyer, Worms and Mainz |website = UNESCO World Heritage Centre |publisher = United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization |access-date = 8 October 2022}}

History

{{Main|History of Speyer}}

File:Speyer - Dom ab 1025, Maximilianstraße.jpg in the background]]

The first known names were Noviomagus and Civitas Nemetum, after the Teutonic tribe, Nemetes, settled in the area. The name Spira is first recorded in the 7th century, taken from villa Spira, a Frankish settlement situated outside of Civitas Nemetum.

=Timeline=

{{prose|date=April 2024}}

  • In 10 BC, the first Roman military camp is established (situated between the town hall and the episcopal palace), guarding the northeast frontier of the Roman Empire against Germanic barbarian tribes across the river to the east in Germania
  • In AD 150, the town appears as Noviomagus on the world map of the Greek geographer Ptolemy.
  • In 346, a Western Christian / Roman Catholic bishop for the town is mentioned for the first time.
  • 4th century, Civitas Nemetum appears on the Peutinger Map.
  • 5th century, Civitas Nemetum is destroyed.
  • 7th century, the town is re-established, and named Spira after a nearby Frankish settlement.
  • In 1030, emperor Conrad II starts the construction of Speyer Cathedral, today one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Also in the 11th century, the first city wall is built.
  • In 1076, emperor Henry IV of the Holy Roman Empire embarks from Speyer, his favourite town, for Canossa.
  • In 1084, establishment of the first Jewish community in Speyer.
  • In 1096, as Count Emicho's Crusader army on their journey in the First Crusade (also known as the People's Crusade) to the Muslim-occupied Holy Land, rages across the Rhineland slaughtering innocent Jewish communities in the Rhineland massacres. Speyer's Bishop John, with the local leader Yekutiel ben Moses, manages to secure the community's members inside the episcopal palace and later leads them to even stronger fortifications outside the town. It was ruled that anyone harming a Jew would have his hands chopped off.Simon Schama, The History of the Jews, Vintage Books 2014 p.298
  • In 1294, the Roman Catholic bishop loses most of his previous rights, and from now on Speyer is a Free Imperial Town of the Holy Roman Empire.
  • In 1349, the Jewish community of Speyer is wiped out in a persecution pogrom.
  • Between 1527 and 1689, Speyer is the seat of the Imperial Chamber Court.{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Spires |volume=25 |page=694}}
  • During the 16th century Protestant Reformation era in 1526, at the first Diet of Speyer (1526) interim toleration of Lutheran teaching and worship is decreed by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.
  • In 1529, at the second Diet of Speyer (1529) the Evangelical Lutheran states and supporting princes / electors of the Holy Roman Empire protest against the anti-Reformation resolutions (19 April 1529 Protestation at Speyer, hence the beginnings of the use of the descriptive term "Protestantism" / "Protestants").
  • In 1635, Marshal of France Urbain de Maillé-Brézé, together with Jacques Nompar de Caumont, duc de La Force, conquers Heidelberg and Speyer at the head of the Army of Germany.
  • In 1689, the town is heavily damaged by invading Royal French troops.
  • Between 1792 and 1814, Speyer during the long period of the French Revolutionary Wars and subsequent Napoleonic Wars is under French occupation and jurisdiction under the First French Republic and following First French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte (Emperor Napoleon I), continuing earlier during the 18th century, by Royal French troops of the Kingdom of France, after the Battle of Speyerbach, a century before in 1703 during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714).
  • In 1816, (following the fall of Napoleon), Speyer becomes the seat of administration of the Palatinate and of the government of the Rhine District of the Kingdom of Bavaria (later called the Bavarian Palatinate), and remains so for 129 years until the end of World War II in 1945.
  • In 1861, at the Speyer Cathedral, Edward VII was introduced to his future wife Alexandra by Crown Princess Victoria.{{cite web |url=https://www.royal.uk/edward-vii |title = Edward VII (r.1901-1910)|publisher=The Royal Family |access-date = March 16, 2025}}
  • Between 1883 and 1904, the Memorial Church is built in remembrance of the Protestation of 1529 at the Diet of Speyer
  • In 1947, during post-World War II western Allied Powers-occupied Germany, the State Academy of Administrative Science is founded (later renamed German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer[https://web.archive.org/web/20120414204816/http://www.dhv-speyer.de/ENGL/ German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer]).
  • In 1990, Speyer celebrates its 2000th anniversary, on the eve of a reunified Federal Republic of Germany, following the ebbing close of the Cold War.

Main sights

File:Speyer 3.jpg]]

File:View of Speyer from its Cathedral.jpg]]

Transportation

Speyer lies on the Schifferstadt-Wörth railway and offers hourly connections to Karlsruhe and cities in the Rhine-Neckar area (of which Speyer is also a part)

Speyer Airfield (German: Flugplatz Speyer) (ICAO: EDRY) is a general aviation airfield located 4 km south of the central business district of the city of Speyer.

Mayors

Since 1923 the mayor was a Lord Mayor.[http://www.dom-speyer.de/index.html Der Kaiserdom zu Speyer – Startseite]

valign="top" |

  • Philipp Lichtenberger (1855–1918) (1904–1911)
  • Ernst Hertrich (1911–1914) (first full-time mayor)
  • Otto Moericke (1880–1965) (1917–1919)
  • Karl Leiling (1919–1943)
  • Rudolf Trampler (1898–1974) (1943–1945)
  • Karl Leiling (1945–1946)
  • Hans Hettinger (1946)
  • Paul Schaefer (1946–1949)
  • Paulus Skopp (1905–1999) (1949–1969)
  • Christian Roßkopf (born 1930) (1969–1995)
  • Werner Schineller (born 1948) (1995–2010)
  • Hansjörg Eger (born 1964) (2011–2018)
  • Stefanie Seiler (born 1983) (since 2018)

Twin towns – sister cities

{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany}}

Speyer is twinned with:{{cite web |title=Städtepartnerschaften|url=https://www.speyer.de/sv_speyer/de/Rathaus/St%C3%A4dtepartnerschaften/|website=speyer.de|publisher=Speyer|language=de|access-date=2019-11-28}}

{{div col|colwidth=20em}}

  • {{flagicon|UK}} Spalding, United Kingdom, since 1956; discontinued 2021
  • {{flagicon|FRA}} Chartres, France, since 1959
  • {{flagicon|RUS}} Kursk, Russia, since 1989
  • {{flagicon|ITA}} Ravenna, Italy, since 1989
  • {{flagicon|POL}} Gniezno, Poland, since 1992
  • {{flagicon|ISR}} Yavne, Israel, since 1998
  • {{flagicon|RWA}} Rusizi District, Rwanda, since 1982/2001
  • {{flagicon|CHN}} Ningde, China, since 2013
  • {{flagicon|UK}} Chichester, United Kingdom, since 2023

{{div col end}}

Notable people

=Born before 1900=

File:Carl Jakob Adolf Christian Gerhardt.jpg

File:Wilhelm Meyer.jpg

File:Anselm Feuerbach, Selbstbildnis, 1873.jpg

File:Detzner-T.JPG

=Born after 1900 (20th century)=

See also

Notes

{{reflist}}

Further reading

  • {{cite web | title=Rede: UNESCO-Welterbe-Urkunde für die SchUM-Stätten | website=Der Bundespräsident | url=https://www.bundespraesident.de/SharedDocs/Reden/DE/Frank-Walter-Steinmeier/Reden/2023/02/230201-Welterbe-SchUM-Staetten.html | language=de | access-date=1 February 2023}}

External links

{{commons category|Speyer}}

{{wikivoyage|Speyer}}

  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20030811084011/http://www.speyer.de/de/tourist?switch_language=en speyer.de] the town website (partly in English)
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20070217202602/http://museum.speyer.de/en/histmus/museum/ museum.speyer.de] Historical Museum of the Palatinate {{in lang|en}}
  • [http://www.dom-speyer.de/ dom-speyer.de] website of Speyer Cathedral {{in lang|de}}
  • [https://artsandculture.google.com/story/RQXxI7t9n8C-IQ Explore the ShUM Sites of Speyer, Worms and Mainz in the UNESCO collection on Google Arts and Culture]
  • [http://www.hoernersburg.net/images/Hoerner/Speyer_Germany.jpg Model Map of Medieval Speyer]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20150513080711/http://members.iinet.net.au/~igmaier/601-spey.pdf Speyer, its cathedral and the library of its chapter]
  • [http://www.museumspeyer.de/ Technical (Transport) Museum]
  • [http://www.speyer.de/sv_speyer/en/Tourism/Activities%20and%20Guided%20Tours/City%20and%20subject%20tours%20for%20groups/Guided%20walking%20tours%20.../ www.speyer.de: living history in past times]
  • [http://www.speyer-tour.de www.speyer-tour.de: Guided tours through Speyer]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20150504232914/http://www.go-2-nice-places.com/2014/09/speyer.html City overview and photos]

{{Germany districts rhineland-palatinate}}

{{Germany tourism Heidelberg area}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1792 disestablishments

Category:History of the Palatinate (region)

Category:States and territories established in 1294

Category:Palatinate (region)

Category:Urban districts of Rhineland-Palatinate

Category:Free imperial cities