Wikipedia:School and university projects/Quenstedt-Gymnasium Mössingen

In my English class at the Quenstedt-Gymnasium Mössingen, Germany, I am going to ask students to expand the existing article about Mössingen in the English Wikipedia. We will translate parts of the existing German article.

There will be around 10 groups of 3-4 students each. Each student will have a separate Wikipedia account, and each group will be asked to choose a paragraph of the German article about Mössingen and translate it into English. The compiled translations will be added to the existing English article.

Supervisors: I, Mr. Bayer will take care of introducing studends to Wiki and ensuring they and the project are working within the bounds of Wikipedia guidelines.

Start date: The project has started on 10th of March, 2009

Status: We have started

Participating groups:
A2 - Julia, Rebecca, Susanne, Jana geographical position B1 - Franzi: Spa gardens, Jannis: the landslide "am Hirschkopf", Daniel B2 - Thomas, Lisa, Lisa, Hanna
Education in Mössingen
C2 - Damaris, Tatjana, Dominic, Anna, Tamara:
General demonstration and Mössingen as a chief town of a district
D2 - Lena, Elisabeth, Daniel:fauna in Mössingen E2 - Sinem, Karina, Yannick, Madeline, Lisa, Ira: Belsen, Bästenhardt, etc. ... Isabelle, Theresa, Shannon: Flowertown (not finished yet)

Geographical Position

Mössingen is a town in the district of Tübingen, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated north of the Swabian Alb, about 13 km south of Tübingen. Mössingen lies in the valley of the river Steinlach which is an influent of the Neckar. The total area of Mössingen covers 50,5 km² and is divided into five districts. The highest point of Mössingen is the mountain 'Dreifürstenstein' with a height of 853.5 m NN. The lowest point with 435 m NN is at the Lower Mill (Unteren Mühle) at the river Steinlach.

Mayor District Town

On 1. January 2009 Mössingen was announced a Mayor District Town of the district of Tübingen. With about 20.000 inhabitants and a well developed infrastructure, Mössingen received the status of the 91. chief town of Baden-Württemberg. A day before the new place-name signs should be put up the old ones had been stolen.

Education

Mössingen is an important local centre of education. Already in 1957, the Gottlieb-Rühle-Hauptschule, a secondary general school, was built. In 1967 the intermediate secondary school Friedrich-List-Realschule was founded. Later, in 1973 the Quenstedt-Gymnasium, a grammar school, and the Flattich-Sonderschule, a school for mentally handicapped children were built. Only two years later also a school for physically handicapped children was built. Some additional primary schools and secondary general schools are situated in Bästenhardt, Belsen, Öschingen and Talheim. The Protestant Church built the Evangelische Firstwald-Gymnasium, a private boarding school, between 1962 and 1965.

Quenstedt Gymnasium In 2009 about 1000 pupils are members of the Quenstedt Gymnasium. The school is named after Mr Friedrich August Quenstedt who was a Professor of Geology at the University of Tübingen.

Belsen

The old farm-village Belsen is towered by the Belsener Kapelle, a small church dating from the 12th century. It was established on a Romanesque predecessor's construction and is the oldest religious building in Mössingen. The chapel of Belsen forms the centre of the cemetery of Belsen which was established 1826 in semicircle around the chapel. The village itself has kept its rural imprint despite of a larg new housing estate. It is embedded in meadows, little brook valleys and traditional orchards. A landmark of Belsen was a famous lime-tree in the middle of the village. Unfortunately, the old tree was destroyed by the hurricane Kyrill on the 18th of January 2007. South of Belsen, a large Celtic rectangular enclosure was discovered but not excavated by archaeologists.

Museums

In Mössingen there are four museums

1 Historical Knife Forge (Historische Messerschmiede) In a 16th century house two traditional working places are preserved, one from the late 19th century the second one from 1920. Between April and October regular courses about blade forging take place.

2 Museum of Woodcuts (Holzschnitt-Museum Klaus Herter) 1500 wood- and metal prints, old wood blocks, printing presses, and other implements are exhibited in the museum.

3 Barn of Culture (Kulurscheune) Typically, there are two specific exhibitions about the history of Mössingen and a traditional Christmas exhibition per year.

4 House of Rake Makers (Rechenmacherhaus) Before the 2nd world war, Mössingen was a centre of rake making. During its' heyday up to 30 rake makers worked in this building at the same time.

Bad Sebastiansweiler

The prefix 'Bad' in front of German names indicates the existence of a mineral spring. The springs in Bad Sebastiansweiler are sulphurous and were used as therapeutic baths already in the 16th century. The sulphur is dissolved from shale layers at the edge of the Swabian highlands and is by its unusual sulphur content of especially high quality. In Bad Sebastiansweiler is a professional clinic for medical / orthopaedic and geriatric rehabilitation

After the plague struck Mössingen in 1566 the springs in this time called 'Butzenbad' were closed. Since 1947 the springs are in use again and today there is a clinic for medical, orthopaedic and geriatric rehabilitation in Bad Sebastiansweiler. The re-established bath at the sulphur springs is the result of the work of Dr. Hermann Autenrieth, a professor of medicine at the University of Tübingen. He acquired the area in 1829 and made Bad Sebastiansweiler known as a place for recovery and rebound. With the herb garden as well as an extensive health resort park including a barefoot loop road and a mini-golf arrangement Bad Sebastiansweiler is also popular for day tourists.

Öschingen

Öschingen was first mentioned in a document under the name Eskingen in the year 1100. The castle ‘First’ towering above the village on the Firstberg was already mentioned in 1075 but pulled down in 1756. At that time the village belonged to the county of Achalm. However, the village was sold several times until it finally became part of the kingdom of Württemberg. On the 1st December 1971 the village became a part of Mössingen. In the village the Museum of Woodcuts, the Historical Knife Forge and the Barn of Culture with varying exhibitions on the town’s history are situated. Öschingen won several medals in the competition ‘Our nicest village’. The outdoor swimming pool lies within a forest is one of the oldest outdoor swimming pools of the Swabian highlands. It was founded in 1934 by a village teacher. At that time it was a simple basin which was only concreted partly. Today it is run by the association of the ‘Friends of the outdoor swimming pool of Öschingen’.

Talheim

Talheim - home in the valley. Thus the village in the origin of the Steinlach was called in former times. The first documentary mention is found in the year 765. Since the 1st of January, 1971 the place belongs to Mössingen. With valley home there is 820 metre of high house mountain of Mössingen, the mountain Farren with the ruin of the castle Andeck.

Bästenhardt

Bästenhardt is the latest quarter of Mössingen, because Bästenhardt was only founded in 1950. However archaeological excavations are concluding, that there were also peoples living earlier there. So, there were found grave mounds from Hallstatt- and Celtictime (at 800 to 500 before Christ.)

General Strike

On the 31st of January in 1933, one day after Hitler had become "Reichskanzler", there was the "General Strike" in Mössingen. The workers in Mössingen were the only people in Germany who made a demonstration against Hitler. About 100 people started at 1.00 pm at the gym and at 1.45 pm the workers arrived at the "Pausa", a large fabric in Mössingen. The workers there joined the demonstrators and at 4.00 pm the "General Strike" ended. 58 people were arrested and against 98 there was a trail because of high treason. (References: Article of the "Südwestpresse" of the 17.04.1982)

Fauna

In Mössingen you can find a lot of rare birds, like the grey woodpecker, the collared flycatcher and the wood lark. Their living space are the public orchads. A group of bats also live in these orchads. Mainly the Bechstein's bat. Peregrines breed on the steep face of the "landslide". In the pools of the "landslide" you can find some amphibians, like frogs (common toad) and the spotted salamander. 39.4 hectare are nature-sanctuary.

The landslide "am Hirschkopf"

On 12th April 1983 the biggest landslide in Baden-Württemberg arose. Three days long, there were continuing heavy rains, so the rocks began to skidding. Hundret of tons of stones abandoned and a rock face emerged. Today you can see a very big white barrier there with a lot of flowers and trees around it. There are animals too, which had to start a new life after the formation of the landslide. You can make a promenade or a walking-tour there. Therefore you have to come to Mössingen and see the landslide "am Hirschkopf".

Spa Gardens

Bathing is used in Mössingen's smallest quarter for a long time. In the Middle Ages Bad Sebastiansweiler got the national acceptance "therapeutic bath" in 1933. The brimstone water arose in shale on the brink of the "Schwäbischen Alb" and is because of its extraordinary sulfur content of particular quality. Bad Sebastiansweiler is also very popular for day tours. There is a new bar pavilion including a boozer, a medicinal herbs garden as well as a shoeless parc and a miniature golf annex.