Bischofsheim is a municipality in Groß-Gerau district in Hesse, Germany with a population of more than 12,000.
Geography
Location
Bischofsheim lies south of the Main and east of the Rhine in the so-called Mainspitze triangle, a narrow piece of land between the Main and Rhine where the former empties into the latter.
Bischofsheim has only one constituent community, nevertheless it has with "An den Sportstätten" and "Dr.-Hans-Böckler-Siedlung two by train tracks / motorway divided additional parts.
History
In the Middle Ages, Bischofsheim was ruled by the Archbishop of Mainz, but fell to Hesse-Darmstadt in 1579. In 1930 it was incorporated to the city ofMainz, remaining a constituent community of that city until 1945. Due to its infrastructure Bischofsheim was subject to air raidsbombing of Mainz in World War II. Since the American and French occupying powers severed the links between Mainz and the so-called Rechtsrheinische Stadtteile von Mainz – the Rhine was the boundary between their two occupational zones – these six communities effectively ceased to be part of the city of Mainz. Whereas the three former constituent communities north of the Main were administered by Wiesbaden since then, Bischofsheim and neighbouring Ginsheim-Gustavsburg once again became independent municipalities in Groß-Gerau district.
Politics
Coat of arms
Bischofsheim's civic coat of arms might heraldically be described thus: Party per fess, above, a lion rampant striped alternately three times argent and three times gules, armed and crowned Or, langued gules, below, a pair of pince-nez eyeglasses with frame sable. The lion is the lion of Hesse, seen in Hesse's own arms, and many civic coats of arms throughout Hesse. The eyeglasses are a mystery. It is not known how they became a symbol of Bischofsheim, but they first appeared in seals in the 16th century and afterwards on other things of civic importance, such as municipal limit markers. One suggestion is that they derive from the two-wheels-and-cross charge in Mainz's coat of arms, seen here. Leave to bear these arms was granted by the People's State of Hesse on 27 October 1926.
is the centre of a railway hub with a marshalling yard, called Mainz-Bischofsheim, as Bischofsheim was formerly part of Mainz. The hub itself is formed by a junction of the Mainz–Frankfurt and Wiesbaden–Darmstadt lines. The community is directly reachable by Autobahnen A 60 and A 671. Bischofsheim's location near two important rivers affords waterborne transportation as well.
