ID: 7012352
Record Type: administrative
Zweibrücken (inhabited place)
Coordinates:
Lat: 49 15 00 N degrees minutes Lat: 49.2500 decimal degrees
Long: 007 22 00 E degrees minutes Long: 7.3667 decimal degrees
Note: The town of Zweibrücken is located on the Schwarzbach river some 53 miles west southwest of Mannheim. It was an independent countship and noted medieval center, receiving its charter in 1352/ It passed to the Wittelsbach family in 1385. It produced famous early editions of Roman and Greek classic texts, the Editiones Bipontinae. In 1410 it became a duchy and in 1477 passed into the possession of the house of Pfalz-Zweibrücken. Possession passed to Bavaria in 1816. The town was almost totally destroyed in World War II, but has been mostly rebuilt. Its surviving historic architecture includes the late Gothic Church of St. Alexander, the castle built in 1720-1725, and the Baroque town hall built 1779-1785. The modern town bears the nickname "the town of roses and horses" after its famous Garden of Roses east of the town and its local horse breeding and racing industry. Other industries include metalworking and the production of wood products, textiles, machinery, and footwear. The calculated population for 2005 was 35,970.
Names:
Zweibrücken (preferred, C,V,N) ............ meaning "two bridges," various forms of the name were used since Middle Ages
Deux-Ponts (H,O,N) ............ used in medieval documents written in French
Deuxponts (H,O,N)
Bipontium (H,V,N) ............ Latin name, recorded in medieval documents
Hierarchical Position:
World (facet)
.... Europe (continent)
........ Deutschland (nation)
............ Rheinland-Pfalz (state)
................ Rheinhessen-Pfalz (national district)
.................... Zweibrücken (inhabited place)
Place Types:
inhabited place (preferred, C) ............ developed as independent countship, town was chartered in 1352
town (C)
manufacturing center (C)
agricultural center (C) ............ noted for famous rose garden & for breeding of horses since 18th cen.
sporting center (C) ............ specializing in horse racing
publishing center (C)
noble residence (H) ............ of House of Pfalz-Zweibrücken, from 1477
Sources and Contributors:
Bipontium.......... [VP]
.................... Webster's Geographical Dictionary (1988) 1376
Deux-Ponts.......... [VP]
....................... Encyclopaedia Britannica (1988) XII, 945
Deuxponts.......... [VP]
.................... Canby, Historic Places (1984) II, 1051
Zweibrücken.......... [BHA, VP]
....................... Encyclopaedia Britannica (1988) XII, 945
....................... NIMA, GEOnet Names Server (1996-1998)
....................... USBGN: Foreign Gazetteers
Subject: ..... [BHA, VP]
Note: .......... [VP]
.................. Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary. 3rd ed.(2001) 1343
.................. World Gazetteer [online] (1990-) (1 Jan. 2005)