FKK Hautnah Speyer (D)

Speyer

Name origin

Noviomagus (Celtic, = new market); Civitas Nemetum (Latin, = capital of the Nemetes tribe) --> Spira

First documented mention

150 AD

Population

51,000

Area

42.6 km²

Federal state

Rheinland-Pfalz

Vehicle registration

SP

River

Woogbach (Speyerbach)-->Rhein

The club FKK Hautnah is located in Speyer right next to the well-known Technik-Museum.

It was perhaps the great Palatinate statesman's last big hour: with the somewhat sentimental, but in any case great, reverence for great German history so typical of him, Helmut Kohl chose the Großer Zapfenstreich in front of the Dom zu Speyer for his farewell from state offices and honours in 1998. Of course, the spectacle could just as well have taken place in Worms, about 35 km further north. The two towns are not dissimilar and hold a similarly great significance for German history. So what makes these otherwise tranquil towns in the Oberrheinische Tiefebene so significant?

Worms and Speyer, together with Mainz, are the towns of the three Romanesque imperial cathedrals on the Rhein. The Mariendom zu Speyer is the largest surviving Romanesque church in the world and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981. The Wormser Dom, built between 1130 and 1181, is smaller and about a hundred years younger than the cathedrals in Speyer and Mainz. It is linked to the papal nomination of Leo IX in 1048, the Wormser Konkordat of 1122, which ended the Investiturstreit; to the wedding of Emperor Friedrich II to Isabella of England in 1235; and to the Reichstag zu Worms in 1521, during which Martin Luther had to answer before Emperor Karl V, which led to the split in the Western church. Worms is therefore also considered an important Lutherstadt. As early as the 9th century, Worms became the winter residence of Karl der Große; during this period, Reichstage of the Frankish Empire were also held there. In 1076, King Heinrich IV declared in Worms that Pope Gregor VII was deposed, which led to the Gang nach Canossa. Worms also plays an outstanding role in the Nibelungensaga and is therefore regarded as the Nibelungenstadt par excellence, which is commemorated in Worms through many street names, buildings, museums and festivals.

Speyer was a free imperial city in the Middle Ages and one of the most important cities of the Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation. The construction of the Dom zu Speyer was already commissioned around 1025 by the Salian king and later emperor Konrad II, with the aim of erecting the largest church in the Western world. Buried in its crypt, among others, are Konrad II and his consort Gisela von Schwaben, Heinrich III, Heinrich IV and his consort Bertha von Savoyen, Heinrich V, Beatrix von Burgund, the second wife of Friedrich Barbarossa, and her daughter Agnes, as well as Philipp von Schwaben, the son of Friedrich Barbarossa, Rudolf von Habsburg and Adolf von Nassau. Speyer moved to the centre of German history in the 16th century, when over 50 Hoftage, 5 Reichstage as well as several Reichsdeputationstage, Kurfürstentage and Reichsmoderationstage were held there. At the Reichstag of 1529, the Protestant princes protested against the imposition of the Reichsacht on Martin Luther, which is where the term Protestantism developed from.

Worms and Speyer both emerged from Celtic settlements, which in Roman times served as military bases for the troops moving in. In Worms, the settlement of Borbetomagus grew out of this in the post-Augustan era in the 1st century, while in Speyer the town of Noviomagus arose around 150 AD. Today, Worms competes with Augsburg, Trier and Kempten for the title of Germany's oldest city.

Both Worms and Speyer, with their direct location on the Rhein, are shaped by the history, tradition and legendary lore of the great German river. Worms is assigned to the two planning regions of Rheinpfalz and Rheinhessen-Nahe, while Speyer is part of the Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar, centred on Ludwigshafen, Mannheim and Heidelberg. To the west, the Deutsche Weinstraße and the Pfälzerwald border both towns.

Speyer and Worms look back together on a long and eventful history and have maintained friendly and partnership relations with one another since 1208 (!).