Sommerkahl

Sommerkahl
Sommerkahl
Location of Sommerkahl within Aschaffenburg district
Coordinates	50°04′N 9°16′E
Administration
Country	Germany
State	Bavaria
Admin. region	Lower Franconia
District	Aschaffenburg
Municipal assoc.	Schöllkrippen
Local subdivisions	2 Ortsteile
Mayor	Arnold Markert (CSU)
Basic statistics
Area	5.46 km2 (2.11 sq mi)
Elevation	226 m  (742 ft)
Population	1,140 (31 December 2011)
- Density	209 /km2 (541 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	AB
Postal code	63825
Area code	06024
Website	www.gemeinde-sommerkahl.de

Sommerkahl is a community in the Aschaffenburg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany and a member of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft (Administrative Community) of Schöllkrippen.

Constituent communities

The community’s Ortsteile are Sommerkahl and Vormwald.

Politics

Community council

The council is made up of 13 council members, counting the part-time mayor.

	CSU	SPD	FWG	Total
2002	6	4	3	13 seats

(as at municipal election held on 3 March 2002)

Coat of arms

The community’s code of arms might be described in the following way: Gules a fess wavy at the nombril point above which a hammer and pick in saltire reversed argent, in base an oakleaf in fess Or, the stem towards dexter.

The two tools, the hammer and pick, stand for the miners who worked at copper and iron mining, industries confirmed as having existed in the municipal area by 1542. The mining works, however, were shut down in 1922, and the shutdown is symbolized by the tools being upside down (“reversed”; this charge, quite common in German mining towns’ arms, is usually shown with the tools’ heads uppermost). The wavy fess (horizontal stripe) stands for the community’s location on the river Kahl. The oakleaf refers to the Spessart, which is thickly wooded with oaks. Sommerkahl was an Electoral Mainz holding from 982 to 1803; the tinctures gules and argent (red and silver) were Mainz’s colours.

The arms were conferred on 7 February 1972.

Parish church

Town Hall

Buildings

• Catholic parish church
• Town Hall
• Grube Wilhelmine, a former coppermine. From 1542 to 1922, copper was mined here, first on the surface, and then beginning in 1871 underground. The mine may be visited upon notification.

Famous people

Sons and daughters of the town

From Sommerkahl come the Berglöwe (“Mountain Lion”, “Cougar”) Herbert Stenger, a champion hillclimber, and the German national footballer Heiko Westermann, who currently plays for Hamburger SV.

External links

• Wilhelmine coppermine (German)

This article incorporates information from the German Wikipedia.