Erbach im Odenwald

The town lies in the Mittelgebirge Odenwald at elevations between 200 and 560 m in the valley of the Mümling.

One geological peculiarity is the creek Erdbach's complete disappearance within Dorf-Erbach's community area. The Erdbach reappears near Stockheim. There are several places where the Erdbach disappears into the ground.

Erbach borders in the north on the town of Michelstadt, in the east on the market town of Kirchzell (in Miltenberg district in Bavaria), in the south on the community of Hesseneck and the town of Beerfelden and in the west on the community of Mossautal (all three in the Odenwaldkreis). A planned merger with the neighbouring town of Michelstadt was blocked in November 2007 by a referendum (Bürgerentscheid). For the time being, ways are being sought to deepen the two towns' cooperation, and possibly consider a merger once again in a few years' time.[3]

Since the amalgamations within the framework of municipal reform in 1972, the district seat of Erbach has been made up of twelve Stadtteile:

The municipal election held on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:

Buschmann was re-elected in 2012 with 52.7% of the votes.[5]

[6][7]

The town's arms might heraldically be described thus: Gules a bend wavy azure, thereon three mullets of six gules.

The wavy bend is taken to be a brook, and the mullets of six (six-pointed stars) were inspired by the arms formerly borne by the princely Counts of Erbach, who were lords of the Odenwald until 1806.

Erbach has partnerships with four towns in Europe:

• Ansião, Portugal
• Jičín, Czech Republic
• Königsee, Thuringia
• Le Pont-de-Beauvoisin, (Isère) and Le Pont-de-Beauvoisin (Savoie), France

• 
  Harness racing track
• 
  Counts' castle
• 
  Odenwaldkreis district council office
• 
  Timber-frame houses on the Mümling
• 
  Memorial to Count Franz I before the castle

Coat of arms of the County of Erbach, from the Scheibler Armorial (1450-80)

Erbach Palace

Erbach Palace, the castle of the princely Counts of Erbach, was built into a residence in the style of the times in the 18th century. Since the noble house did not have the needed materials on hand, only the middle wing of the planned three-winged building was ever built. The façade is to a great extent built out of not sandstone, but rather sheeting or wood coloured to look like it.

The antique collections at the castle have remained almost unchanged since Count Franz I's time (1754–1823).

In 2005, the state of Hesse bought the castle for €13,000,000.

Within the castle complex is the likewise Late Baroque orangery with the castle garden.

In the area of the orangery and the castle garden, a citizens' initiative in the 1970s managed to thwart plans to tear down the orangery and build a highrise hotel on the site

The memorial on the castle square to Count Franz I – the last ruling count – that was knocked off its pedestal and thereby broken was repaired and set back in place with support from two Darmstadt artists and some Erbach citizens. The work was financed through grants from the Landesamt für Denkmalpflege ("State Office for Care of Monuments") as well as donations.

The Erbacher Wiesenmarkt ("meadow market") was originally called the Eulbacher Markt or Eulbacher Wiesen(Vieh-)markt. Eulbach is an outlying centre of the neighbouring town of Michelstadt. It was once a regionally very important livestock, horse and farm market.

The livestock and farm market was only moved to Erbach sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century by the Counts of Eulbach. Until about 1960, the livestock and horse market with its associated horseracing and other horse sports was the main part of the Eulbacher Markt. The Schützenhaus ("Marksmen's House") standing on the way into the Wiesenmarkt, however, suggests that the Eulbacher Markt, at least in part, must already have been held in Erbach as early as the mid 19th century: it was here that the Democratic Revolutionaries met in 1848 and on what is now the market grounds beside the Schützenhaus that the Odenwald "Moot" (Volksversammlung) was held under the Michelstadt revolutionary and lawyer Ludwig Bogen's leadership.

The Deutsches Elfenbeinmuseum Erbach ("Erbach German Ivory Museum") has been in existence since 1966 and is unique in Europe. Its exhibits are almost exclusively ivory. Visitors can also watch the resident carvers as they go about their artistic work.

• Bosch Rexroth AG, Erbach works, Electric Drives and Controls division
• Rowenta, Erbach works (clothes iron manufacturing)
• Koziol GmbH, plastic articles

Erbach lies on Bundesstraßen 45 and 47, and also on the Odenwald Railway (RMV Line 65; Frankfurt–Darmstadt/Hanau–Erbach–Eberbach). A planned Bundesstraße 45 bypass proposed since the 1970s has once again been included in Hesse state planning.