Zweibrücken, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

🇩🇪 Zweibrücken is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach river.

History The town was the capital of the former Imperial State of Palatine Zweibrücken owned by the House of Wittelsbach. The ducal castle is now occupied by the high court of the Palatinate (Oberlandesgericht). There is a fine Gothic Protestant church, Alexander's church, founded in 1493 and rebuilt in 1955.

From the end of the 12th century, Zweibrücken was the seat of the County of Zweibrücken, the counts being descended from Henry I, youngest son of Simon I, Count of Saarbrücken (d. 1182). The line became extinct on the death of Count Eberhard II (1394), who in 1385 had sold half his territory to the Count Palatine of the Rhine, and held the other half as his feudal domain. Louis (d. 1489), son of Stephen, founded the line of the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken. In 1533, Wolfgang, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken converted Palatine Zweibrücken to the new Protestant faith. In 1559, Wolfgang founded the earliest grammar school in the town (Herzog-Wolfgang-Gymnasium), which lasted until 1987.

Economy Weaving, brewing and the manufacture of machinery, chicory, cigars, malt, boots, furniture and soap were the chief industries before World War II. Nowadays Terex cranes and bulldozers and John Deere harvesting equipment are the chief industries.

The Hochschule Kaiserslautern, one of the largest universities in the Rhineland-Palatinate, with more than 6,000 students is also located in Zweibrücken.

Culture and sights The city of Zweibrücken is represented at various cultural events by the Rose Queen, who is elected every two years.

Parks Zweibrücken has one of the largest Rosariums in the World with 45000 Plants and 1500 Species. It consists of 2 gardens with the main garden having a area of 50.000 square meters. The second, smaller garden is accessible without entry fee and is located at the Fasanerie and contains Wild Rose plants. Due to this the city is allowed to have the title of "Rose City".

Museums The Zweibrücken City Museum has a permanent exhibition in the former residence of court gardener Ernst August Bernhard Petri, documenting the eventful history of Zweibrücken. In addition, special exhibitions take place regularly, e.g. on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the State Stud.

Libraries The Bibliotheca Bipontina is a scientific regional library in Zweibrücken, whose holdings mainly go back to rescued parts of the ducal libraries and therefore partly houses very valuable first editions from the 16th century. It is part of the Landesbibliothekszentrum Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate State Library Centre) and one of the most important old holdings libraries in the state. The Bibliotheca Bipontina is housed in the building of the Helmholtz-Gymnasium Zweibrücken. The Zweibrücken City Library, which has existed since 1903, is housed in an adjoining building of the town hall and has a stock of around 50,000 volumes. Branches are the youth library and the Rimschweiler branch.

Buildings • Das Schloss Zweibrücken – the Zweibrücken Castle, built in its present form in 1725, is the largest Palatine secular building in the Baroque style of Nordic coinage. It was built in 1720-1725 by master builder Jonas Erikson Sundahl and is the former residence of the Dukes of Zweibrücken. Destroyed in World War II, it was rebuilt in 1965 and is now the seat of the Palatinate Higher Regional Court. • Herzogvorstadt – The so-called Herzogvorstadt consists of several baroque buildings built between 1762 and 1772. The entire complex is based on plans by Christian Ludwig Hautt. The buildings, which were not destroyed during the last war, house the city administration, the district court, the city archive and the city museum. • Alexanderskirche – Alexander's Church (Alexanderskirche) is the oldest church in Zweibrücken, whose crypt is the burial place of numerous counts/dukes of the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken. A late-Gothic Protestant hall church, construction began in 1493, as a gift from Alexander, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken on his return from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. • Karlskirche – The Karlskirche was built between 1708 and 1711 by the architect Haquinus Schlang from Sweden on behalf of the Swedish King Charles XII in his capacity as Duke of Zweibrücken. After its destruction in the Second World War, it was rebuilt as a community centre on the basis of the original plans and reopened on 1 November 1970. • Heilig Kreuz Kirche – The third church in the inner city is the Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche, which was built much later than the other two churches. • Gasthaus „Zum Hirsch“ – The former guesthouse is the oldest building in the city centre. • Villa Ipser – Built in 1908 for a shoe manufacturer, Villa Ipser is situated on the Rothenberg and features typical late historicist architecture with clear Art Nouveau influences. • Zweibrücker Stollen und Felsenkeller • Himmelsbergstollen – The Himmelsbergstollen is a cellar complex carved into the sandstone on the Himmelsberg, in the southern part of the city centre. • Zweibrücken Observatory - an observatory at the university • Lustschloss Tschifflik/Fasanerie - built by Polish King Stanisław Leszczyński. The complex is inspired by time the monarch spent in Bessarabia, hence the Turkish name Tschifflik. The paintings of King Stanisław, his wife Katharina as well as his two daughters Anna and Maria adorn the walls of the fireplace room.

Zweibrücken Air Base On the outskirts of the town, Zweibrücken Air Base was home during the Cold War to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) until early 1969, then to the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) from 1969. The RCAF stationed No. 3 Fighter Wing of No.1 Canadian Air Division at Zweibrücken AB. During the years 1953 to 1968, it was the home to the RCAF's 413, 427 and 434 Fighter Squadrons flying F-86 Sabre jets, and 440 Squadron, which flew the CF-100 Canuck, then the CF-104 Starfighter. When the RCAF transferred the wing 100 km (62 mi) south-east to CFB Baden–Soellingen, the USAFE moved onto the base with Phantom RF-4C aircraft, under the 38th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron of the 26th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing. These were photo-reconnaissance aircraft with missions all over Europe and used in Operation Desert Storm.

The Short C-23 Sherpa, a small prop-driven transport plane, also flew out of the base in the 1980s under the 10th Military Airlift Squadron, a tenant Military Airlift Command unit. The squadron's mission was to deliver high-priority aircraft parts to bases in USAFE to ensure a maximum number of aircraft were combat-ready. Today Zweibrücken Air Base has been transformed into the modern Zweibrücken Airport, an international airport with flights to Palma de Mallorca, Antalya, Gran Canaria, Teneriffe, Rhodos, Heraklion and Fuerteventura (TUIfly), Istanbul (Pegasus Airlines).

On the other side of the town was Kreuzberg Kaserne, home to various units of the United States Army. Only one combat unit was located there: Battery A, 2nd Battalion, 60th Air Defense Artillery, with its Headquarters and Headquarters Battery (HHB) at Ramstein Air Base. The 3d Battalion, 60th ADA was a subordinate unit of the 32nd Army Air Defense Command. Major tenants at Kreuzberg Kaserne were USAISEC-EUR (Information Systems Engineering Command - Europe) and the USA MATCOMEUR (Material Command, Europe), later renamed the US Army Material Management Agency, Europe. During the US military draw down in the 1990s, control of the Air Base was transferred to the Bundeswehr. The base's housing toward the centre of the city and Kreuzberg itself were eventually also transferred to the German government by the mid-1990s.

Transport Zweibrücken is situated at the Landau-Rohrbach railway and offsets hourly connections to Saarbrücken. This line is operated by DB Regio Mitte with currently DMU's of the Class 642 (Siemens Desiro Classic). The public transport is operated by Stadtbus Zweibrücken GmbH, a Transdev Germany company, with currently eight bus lines (221-226, 228 and 229 on saturday from 2 p.m. and sundays). The company is integrated in the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Neckar (VRN). The bus service operates from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on weekdays, on weekends the times are changed depending on the requirements. On Sunday, the bus service does not start until 2:00 p.m. and is then only provided with lines 225 and 229. The end of operations is then 7:30 p.m. The fleet consists of 10 MAN Lion's City city buses from 2020, and 4 articulated buses Mercedes-Benz Citaro G and a further 3 MAN Lion's City buses are available for school buses and booster traffic in the rush hour.