You are here: Commune Wiernsheim / Wiernsheim / Portrait / Council wards / Iptingen

Hauptnavigation


Unternavigation


Seiteninhalt

Iptingen. The oldest municipal ward.

Wappen von Iptingen

After a description of the local history, the relative customs and conventions will be described, ending with a description of the coat of arms.

Aerial view of Iptingen

Aerial view of Iptingen

History of Iptingen

The foundation of Iptingen can be dated way back to earlier than year 500 AC. Iptingen originated as a settlement of groups of Alemanni tribes. The Alemannics did not set up their permanent establishment on the shell limestone surface of the higher-ground platform, but kept themselves to the much safer valley area, which was also much richer in water sources.

The written form of the settlement’s name was changed a number of times, i.e. from Ubotingen, Ubetingen, Uobetingen, Uobettiggen, Ubtingen, Uptingen, and finally Iptingen.

Iptingen, the oldest of the municipal wards, features an old, fortified church built on a mountain ledge on the ruins of a former castle, of which some mention is recorded as early as in 1250. The tower that is still standing today, formed a section of the relative fortifications. During the construction period of the fortified church (1250), the Alemanni circled the church with barns for the storage of supplies in times of need. The “churchyard”, featuring a fruit chest originating from the Maulbronn Abbey, was thus located internally to the construction built around the church. The access way provided to the overall structure showed considerable similarities with the entranceways to the castles built in the Middle Ages.

As of the 1.1.1974, Iptingen was annexed to the Wiernsheim municipality.

Of local customs and conventions

The inhabitants of Iptingen are known as the "Mondrahägler", or “Moon chasers”. The story goes that one night the town was lying peacefully asleep bathed in the light of the full moon, when one of the townsmen caught a glimpse of the silver moon hanging through the bare boughs of a tree and immediately woke up all the other townsmen yelling for help: "Kommet schnell, mir hagle de Mond raa, er isch eme Bomm henge bliewe!" i.e. "Hurry up all of you, the moon’s fallen down and it’s gone and caught itself in my tree!".

Coat of arms

The former Iptingen municipality coat of arms was described as follows: "A silver (white) trading-town emblem in the form of a circular belt-buckle with a transversal bar pin, on a blue background." The municipal colours are white-blue (silver-blue). Origins of the coat of arms: The coat of arms symbol originated - most probably as a trading-town emblem - appearing on the district milestones and landmarks during the 18th Century. Before year 1930, it was also used as the official seal by the village mayor. Its meaning remains unknown. The colours of the coats of arms were acknowledged for the first time in1948.

Your opinion

Rating: 4.1 of 5. 21 vote(s).
Click the rating bar to rate this item.
Recommend this page